Abstract

Event tourism has become popular in recent decades, with an increasing number of tourists attending music festivals every year, attracted by various concerts in different international destinations. Given the magnitude these music festivals have reached, it is relevant to analyze the sustainability of such events. While most of the studies have focused on how this tourist movement affects environmental sustainability, in this article a deeper reflection is made, moving toward another dimension of sustainability: social sustainability. Three different surveys were carried out to analyze the social sustainability of a music event. A survey about the degree of acceptance from residents was used in the social sustainability analysis. A panel of experts measured the opinions about the social impact of the event. Finally, the assistants’ survey included questions such as type of tourist, expenditure profile, and satisfaction. The attendance of tourists at a festival must maintain harmony with the destination and its inhabitants; in this relationship both parties should benefit. The residents of the destination expect to obtain an improvement in their standard of living thanks to what the tourists bring them, which through their socially sustainable behavior describes a model that generates prosperity. The model that represents social sustainability is the one that will be developed after confirming the hypotheses put forward from the perspective of the prosperity of the residents and the contribution of the tourists themselves to social sustainability.