International Journal of Heritage, Tourism and Hospitality Vol. (11), No. (2/2), September, 2017 By: Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University 1 Events Tourism: A Potential to Build a Tourist Destination Branding: the Case of Cultural Events in Egypt Dalia Amara College of Management and Technology, Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport Abstract Cultural events of different types are part of the attraction of a destination and have become an increasingly significant component of destination branding. Many destinations throughout the world have developed events portfolios as a strategic initiative to attract tourists and to reinforce their brand. This implies the need to evaluate the contribution of an event not just in terms of the direct financial contribution that it generates but also in terms of its consistency with the destination brand values. The study aims to analyze and interpret the expectations and the potential impact of cultural events on destination branding, highlighting the importance of achieving a good ‘nation brand’, which became a valuable asset for any tourist destination. The paper suggested that cultural events are the key tourism marketing tool and that they present an opportunity for destinations marketers to help position their destination amongst its competitors. A field survey based on qualitative approach was conducted through interviews with the industry key stakeholders, in addition to the observational descriptive research, investigating the interaction of both cultural events and destination branding attributes on tourists’ intention to visit the destination. The study introduces the contribution and the effects of selected examples of ‘cultural events’; El-Moez street festival and Abu Simbel Sun festival. These events were selected according to latest tourist online reviews, which are so identified with the spirit or ethos of the place or the destination, gaining widespread recognition, enhancing awareness, and thus having a potential to be particularly effective in promoting, regenerating and branding Egypt as a tourist destination. Keywords: cultural events, tourist destination, destination branding, Egypt. Introduction Today, events are central to our culture as perhaps never before. Increases in leisure time and discretionary spending have led to a proliferation of public events, celebrations and entertainment. Governments now support and promote events as part of their strategies for economic development, nation building and destination marketing (Glenn.A.J.Bowdin et al., 2011). Events are part of the attraction of a destination and as such should be included in the integrated marketing for the destination and incorporated into a destination’s branding strategy. This suggests and mandate a reconciliation and frequent redefinition, reevaluation of events and its social, economic, political direct and indirect impact, both on long and short term. During the last two decades, the number of sports and cultural events designed to attract tourists to every corner of the globe has multiplied many times (Williams and Bowdin, 2007; Jackson, 2008). More recently, the growth of events became a worldwide phenomenon. Cities and towns have added major events with increasing recognition of the role that events can play beyond merely entertainment, linking in to cultural, arts, regeneration, education, tourism and other strategies. These events include exhibitions, crafts expos, themed markets, festivals, and fairs to their traditional offerings (monuments, museums, mountains). The UK is widely recognized as a leader in the events field, for example, with successful events such as the Edinburgh International Festival, the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. Liverpool successfully hosted the European Capital of Culture 2008. This prompted a series of events before, during and after 2008 and significant investment in cultural infrastructure, revitalizing the city (Garcia, Melville and Cox, 2010). The increasing interest in events in Asia was reflected in the