‘‘The positive impacts of mega events are often exaggerated’.

Mega events provide organisers with a unique opportunity to modify the international image of the host country. They also provide impressions of host countries to direct spectators, television viewers and additional indirect audiences. Mega events offer the opportunity to project a desired image of a host country going far beyond the event itself, enabling a country to communicate assets that can be attractive for tourists. Getz, (1998), p.242 defines mega events as
“Planned occurrences of limited duration which have an extraordinary impact on the host area in terms of one or more of the following: tourist volumes; visitor expenditures; publicity leading to a heightened awareness and a more positive image; related infrastructural and organisational developments which substantially increase the destination’s capacity and attractiveness”.
Although the notion of events has been known for a long time, it is their scale and strategic use in late modern society that make them appealing for host places, media, researchers, visitors and others. Especially in tourism, mega events have attracted considerable interest. Roche (1994:1) states that ‘mega events are short term events with long term consequences for the cities that stage them’. Most of the numerous studies which have already been conducted on the nature of tourism determinants, such as that of Solberg and Preuss (2006), have found that the hosting of mega events tends to increase the number of arrivals of foreign tourists to the host country. More recently, however, a number of authors have been relatively sceptical, having come to regard past ex ante studies of mega events as having been too optimistic. In particular, Maennig, et al. (2009) found that, in connection with the hosting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup by Germany, the visitor numbers