Expos legacies, cultural identity and competitiveness of destinations

The paper aims to analyze the Expo in a territorial marketing perspective, as an opportunity to strengthen the competitive advantage of a destination. A model to study the competitiveness of Expo has been elaborated, based on Expo's legacies and on the link between the event and the local cultural identity. Methodologically, the model has been developed on the basis of a review of literature on the topic, and has subsequently tested on Expo98 of Lisbon, the last Exposition of the 20th Century. The paper contributes to the scientific debate on events with a focus on the legacies of Expos, that are a subject still little explored in literature. The analysis and the model developed can be a valuable support for policy makers who have to design and manage the events taking into account the sustainability and competitiveness of the destination.