RESEARCH ARTICLE Perceptions of Pafos as European Capital of Culture: Tourism stakeholder and resident perspectives Anna Farmaki 1 | Prokopis Christou 1 | Alexis Saveriades 1 | Elena Spanou‐Tripinioti 2 1 Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus 2 Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Correspondence Anna Farmaki, Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, Cyprus University of Technology, 115 Spyrou Araouzou, Limassol 3036, Cyprus. Email: anna.farmaki@cut.ac.cy Abstract The purpose of this paper is to qualitatively examine the perceptions of the residents of Pafos regarding the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) title awarded to the city in 2017, in response to the need for greater research on residents' perceptions within the context of cultural events. Utilizing the social exchange theory, the study iden- tifies four types of residents based on their “perceptions” and “involvement in the tourism industry” and concludes that resident support of the ECoC initiative is impaired by the governance structure in place in the awarded city as well as factors emanating from the socio‐political environment. KEYWORDS cultural events, Cyprus, European Capital of Culture, residents' perceptions, social exchange theory 1 | INTRODUCTION A fortiori, cultural events are emerging as a significant tourism product (Christou, Sharpley, & Farmaki, 2018) that may offer numerous benefits to destinations. In particular, cultural events have been acknowledged as a key constituent to destination success as they may enhance destination attractiveness and competitiveness, improve seasonality, offer employment opportunities, and initiate urban regen- eration (Boland, 2010; Richards & Wilson, 2004). Consequently, the importance of cultural events and festivals within tourism planning and destination management has been elevated, as cultural capital is considered an essential aspect of sustainable tourism development. Indeed, several researchers argued that cultural events contribute towards the preservation of local cultures by promoting cultural activities, increasing residents' pride in their culture, and protecting their cultural identity (Andereck, Valentine, Vogt, & Knopf, 2007; Gursoy, Jurowski, & Uysal, 2002; Jaafar, Noor, & Rasoolimanesh, 2015; Kim, Uysal, & Sirgy, 2013). Evidently, the success of events depends considerably on the host community's perceptions of events (Lorde, Greenidge, & Devonish, 2011; Pappas, 2014). In fact, host community involvement in the preservation of a destination's cultural capital is a fundamental principle of the International Cultural Tourism Charter (European Commission [EC], 2011). Cultural events developed without preconsultation with the local community may lead to com- munity opposition, which in turn could undermine the success of events (Higgins‐Desbiolles, 2018). Generally speaking, it has been argued that residents will hold positive perceptions of an event if per- ceived benefits outweigh the costs (Chen & Tian, 2015; Jackson, 2008); consequently, residents will exert greater support towards the event when positive perceptions exist (Prayag, Hosany, Nunkoo, & Alders, 2013). Despite the important role of residents in the success of cultural events and festivals, there is a paucity of research on resident per- spectives of this genre of events. Although a number of studies can be found on residents' perceptions of various types of events such as sport mega‐events (Kim et al., 2013; Lorde et al., 2011; Pappas, 2014), investigations of residents' perceptions of cultural events are rare. This is surprising considering the valuable contribution that cultural events make to destinations' managed event portfolios, and particularly in terms of the symbolic inferences they carry regarding the destination's culture and, by extent, associated image, identity, and brand. Indeed, generic event development strategies tend to be ineffective considering that there are different types of events which in turn require different strategy and marketing tactics as they vary in size, level of development, target markets, resource requirements, and associated impacts (Getz & Page, 2016). Insofar, the focus of stud- ies on cultural events has been attendance motivators and experience (Chang, 2006; Lee, 2000; McKercher, Mei, & Tse, 2006), socio‐ economic impacts (Paiola, 2008; Pasanen, Taskinen, & Mikkonen, 2009; Tohmo, 2005), and supply‐side stakeholder perspectives (Buch, Received: 6 July 2018 Revised: 14 November 2018 Accepted: 21 November 2018 DOI: 10.1002/jtr.2257 Int J Tourism Res. 2018;1–11. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jtr 1