Event sustainability and sustainable transportation: a positive reciprocal influence

In addition to positive externalities, hallmark events can generate negative social and environmental effects, giving rise to significant sustainability issues. Thus, sustainability is often a necessary constraint to containing damage. The aim of this article is to investigate the existence and the extent of a positive reciprocal influence between event sustainability and sustainable transportation. On the one hand, visitors using sustainable urban transportation can enhance events’ environmental and social sustainability, while on the other hand, sustainable events that urge attendees to use public transit can contribute to economic sustainability of a green means of transportation. A method to measure the extent of this positive mutual relationship has been proposed using the main hallmark events held in Perugia, Italy, and that city’s urban light rail transit (LRT) as a case study. Performing a statistical regression model, the additional LRT tickets sold due to these events are quantified, allowing us to estimate both the CO2 savings and the effect on the LRT costs and revenues. The results suggest that sustainability can be seen from a win-win perspective, demonstrating that sustainable events can offer a significant contribution towards the economic sustainability of transport modes with a low environmental and social impact.