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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the attributes of Blumenau city brand, from the residents’ perspective and its relation to their intention to remain living there.

This is a quantitative study using survey data collected from a sample of 417 subjects, stratified by neighborhood, income class, gender and age. The theoretical and methodological framework is the scale developed by Merrilees et al. (2009) and the FOCUS (2014) report about the self-image of the residents of Blumenau.

There is a positive relationship between the assessment of the attributes of the municipality and the residents’ attitude toward Blumenau brand. The study also verified a positive relationship between Blumenau brand assessment and the residents’ intention regarding their own future. In fact, the relative satisfaction of the respondents with the attributes of the city, as well as the positive socio-economic indicators, influenced the intention to stay in the municipality.

This work presents a methodological combination of the evaluation of city branding and the intention to remain living in a certain place. The study adds important information on the role of the residents on the process of city brand building, showing that besides the transient assessment, the intentions to remain in a place should be considered, given that such intent is linked to the image that residents have of the city.

Legitimacy is a classic theme, quite present in organisational studies in general, but in the field of tourism it still has room to advance. For that reason, this research seeks to delimit the concept of legitimacy and adapt it to the context of tourism events; and seeks to validate a measurement instrument that allows to evaluate of its recognition in the imagination of residents, and to evaluate the impacts of this construct on residents’ trust in the organisers of Brazilian Oktoberfest, on the negative externalities of those events and, ultimately, on the achievement of residents’ loyalty.

The locus of the research are the cities of Blumenau, Santa Catarina and Santa Cruz do Sul, Santa Catarina, both located in southern Brazil, whose residents answered an online questionnaire about the legitimacy of the Oktoberfest held there. A total of 365 valid questionnaires were collected, tabulated in statistical software and interpreted using exploratory-confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

The results show that festival legitimacy is a theoretical construct that can be measured as either a first-order or second-order factor, consisting of three factors, called moral legitimacy, pragmatic legitimacy and cognitive legitimacy.

This research provides a valid and reliable tool for assessing local residents' acceptance of ethno-cultural festivals. It also shows variations in the perception of legitimacy, demonstrating that this can influence other aspects of residents' perception of ethnocultural events.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically evaluate residents’ perceptions about the impacts caused by Oktoberfest, in Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil. More specifically, in addition to identifying how the residents of the destination perceive the impacts promoted by the festival, the study also seeks to validate an instrument that allows the objective measurement of the phenomenon over time.

The data collection instrument is composed of 25 items adapted from Gursoy et al. (2004), Prayag et al. (2013) and Small (2007), and 10 questions obtaining the sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. In data collection, the authors used a non-probability convenience sampling method. This gathering was in September 2016, reaching up to 520 valid questionnaires. The data analysis included mean tests, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.

Results show management and academic implications. Three dimensions were identified representing the festival’s advantages (economic, identity and socio-integrative benefits), and two other factors corresponding to the drawbacks (environmental costs and psychological and social costs), perceived by residents. The analysis of the factors identified through the various demographic cuts identified the existence of some crucial differences of evaluation between the residents of different genders or ethnic groups, and different ages or length of residence in the municipality. On the other hand, no significant differences were found regarding perceived costs and benefits of the event, among respondents from different civil status, schooling levels or family income.

From the academic point of view, the work offers a reliable instrument to measure the costs and benefits of a consolidated festival, in the view of residents, that can be replicated in the destination studied, or even adapted to other tourist destinations.

The present research seeks to contribute to the existing literature on the impacts of festivals in destinations, combining the theme with residents’ perception, seeking not only to identify the residents’ perceptions about the festival but also to relate these to the characteristics of the population.