Vassilios Ziakas
Dr Vassilios Ziakas obtained his PhD from University of Texas at Austin. His research cuts across sport and leisure policy with emphasis on strategic planning, community development and sustainability. He has published extensively and his work is widely cited. His most well-known work is on conceptualizing event portfolios as a means for multipurpose development. Along these lines, his research explores linkages among the sectors of sport, recreation, leisure, events, tourism and culture.
Education
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PhD Sport Management, University of Texas-Austin, USA, 2007
MSc Recreation Management, Loughborough University, UK, 1999
BSc Physical Education-Sports Science, Aristotle University
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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My research cuts across sport and leisure policy through the lens of an interdisciplinary perspective that focuses on strategy development for enabling optimal design and delivery of sport, leisure services and events, as well as for leveraging sport and events to obtain a range of sustainable community benefits. My scholarly output is published in a range of journals and is widely cited. I sit on the Editorial Advisory Boards of International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Journal of Sport and Tourism, and International Journal of Hospitality and Event Management, and I authored the monograph ‘Event Portfolio Planning and Management: A Holistic Approach’. My academic experience includes previous appointments as Assistant Professor in Sport Management at European University Cyprus, Senior Lecturer in Event Management at Leeds Beckett University, and Associate Professor in Event Management at University of West London.
The underlying purpose of my research is to elaborate a model that engenders sustainable and mutually beneficial linkages among the relative, but seemingly fragmented disciplines of sport, recreation, leisure, tourism and events. To lay the groundwork for this interdisciplinary line of research, my immediate goal is to generate an essential theoretical context that discerns and explains interrelationships among those factors that facilitate or that constrain the incorporation of sport, leisure, tourism, and events into sustainable development strategies. This work has conceptualized and initiated the exploration of event portfolios as a means for multi-purpose development. Ongoing research investigates the interconnections of sport and leisure organizations with culture, heritage, tourism, and community development in order to enable the potential for leverage.
On these grounds, related research investigates the emergence of sustainability as a central pillar in sport, tourism and event-based policies, and the ways that it dictates the adoption and implementation of sustainable management practices by pertinent organizations. Findings of this line of research indicate the cogency and resonance of nonlinear dynamic systems for the sustainable management of leisure, tourist, sport, and event organizations, therefore calling for the need to systematically explore from an inter-disciplinary perspective, their adaptive capacity. A comprehensive understanding of the germane systemic processes can enable the synergistic leveraging of the interdependencies and common interests inherent across the domains of sport, recreation, leisure, tourism, and events.
Books
Articles
Issues, patterns and strategies in the development of event portfolios: Configuring models, design and policy
Published: Jan 01, 2018 by Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events
Authors: Vassilios Ziakas
Subjects:
Sports and Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality and Events
the purpose of this review paper is to identify the major issues in the use of portfolios by host communities and destinations aspiring to become eventful and delineate the emergent development patterns and strategies.
Linking corporate social responsibility in sport with community development: An added source of community value
Published: Jan 01, 2017 by Sport in Society
Authors: Sylvia Trendafilova, Vassilios Ziakas & Emily Sparvero
Subjects:
Sports and Leisure
This paper investigates the attributes of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes in sport and their potential for sustainable community development.
Fostering the social utility of events: An integrative framework for the strategic use of events in community development
Published: Jan 01, 2016 by Current Issues in Tourism
Authors: Vassilios Ziakas
Subjects:
Tourism, Hospitality and Events
the purpose of this conceptual paper is to shed light on the multi-layered processes that foster the social utility of events. To this end, the theoretical tenets of social leverage, event dramaturgy and social capital are employed and integrated.
For the benefit of all? Developing a critical perspective in mega-event leverage
Published: Jan 01, 2015 by Leisure Studies
Authors: Vassilios Ziakas
Subjects:
Sports and Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality and Events
The purpose of this article is to bring to light the need for developing a critical leveraging perspective on mega-events and propose a research agenda that extends the focus of the leverage concept towards this direction.
A chaos theory perspective of destination crisis and sustainable tourism development in islands: The case of Cyprus
Published: Jan 01, 2014 by Tourism Planning and Development
Authors: Nikolaos Boukas & Vassilios Ziakas
Subjects:
Tourism, Hospitality and Events
This research investigates the implications of the economic crisis and the interaction effects of unforeseen events, on Cypriot tourism through a chaos theory perspective.
Planning and leveraging event portfolios: Towards a holistic theory
Published: Jan 01, 2014 by Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management
Authors: Vassilios Ziakas
Subjects:
Sports and Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality and Events
This conceptual paper seeks to advance the discourse on the leveraging and legacies of events by examining the planning, management, and leveraging of event portfolios. This examination shifts the common focus from analyzing single events towards multiple events and purposes that can enable cross-leveraging among different events in pursuit of attainment and magnification of specific ends.
Olympic legacy and cultural tourism: Exploring the facets of Athens' Olympic heritage
Published: Jan 01, 2013 by International Journal of Heritage Studies
Authors: Nikolaos Boukas, Vassilios Ziakas & Georgios Boustras
Subjects:
Sports and Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality and Events
This study examines the effects of the Olympic Games on Athens’ cultural tourism and the city’s potential to leverage the Olympic legacy in synergy with its rich heritage in order to enhance its tourism product during the post-Games period. In doing so, a qualitative and interpretive approach was employed.
Towards reviving post-Olympic Athens as a cultural destination
Published: Jan 01, 2012 by Current Issues in Tourism
Authors: Nikolaos Boukas, Vassilios Ziakas & Georgios Boustras
Subjects:
Tourism, Hospitality and Events
This paper examines the effects of global change on the status and qualities of the Greek national capital, Athens, focusing on how they affect the development of cultural tourism in the city.
‘The show must go on’: Event dramaturgy as consolidation of community
Published: Jan 01, 2012 by Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events
Authors: Vassilios Ziakas & Carla A. Costa
Subjects:
Sports and Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality and Events
The purpose of this study was to explore the case of the Water Carnival, a celebratory event in a rural community of Southwest Texas, demonstrating the essence of this event as a symbolic social space, wherein event participants instantiate a shared and valued sense of community.
The Use of an Event Portfolio in Regional Community and Tourism Development: Creating synergy between sport and cultural events
Published: Jan 01, 2011 by Journal of Sport & Tourism
Authors: Vassilios Ziakas & Carla A. Costa
Subjects:
Sports and Leisure, Tourism, Hospitality and Events
This study employed ethnographic methods to examine the rationales and drivers for the use of an event portfolio in regional development. Fieldwork was conducted in the rural community of Fort Stockton in USA – Texas.