Strategic Management of Events and Perceived Urban Destination Attractiveness: Evidence from Lisbon

Urban destinations increasingly deploy events as strategic instruments to amplify competitiveness, stimulate visitation and sustain demand beyond peak seasons. However, their effective contribution to destination management, particularly in the post-pandemic urban tourism landscape, remains insufficiently evidenced. This study examines Lisbon through a mixed-methods design that combines a structured intercept survey of 388 non-resident visitors with a focus group involving nine directors of four- and five-star hotels in the metropolitan area. Quantitatively, events emerge as a relevant but segmented pull factor: their importance is concentrated among short-stay visitors, younger and highly educated travellers, and full-time professionals, who also register the highest satisfaction with event experiences. Satisfaction with events is generally favourable and is closely associated with their experiential, symbolic and emotional value. Qualitatively, hotel directors describe large concerts, congresses and public programmes as decisive triggers of demand, generators of extended stays and catalysts of repeat visitation, while noting that these effects are systematically under-captured by hotel booking and reporting systems. The discussion further reveals structural coordination gaps, including limited communication between event organisers, municipalities and accommodation providers, the absence of an integrated events calendar, and the lack of shared data on event-motivated travel. The study argues that events in Lisbon operate not only as temporal attractors but as experiential enhancers of destination image, memorability and competitiveness. Yet, their strategic potential remains only partially realised due to governance and information constraints that limit integrated planning and evidence-based management.