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It is a fact that tourism endeavors require the backing of the residents of the communities where it takes place to be sustainable. To date, most social impact studies measure a single instance of residents' tourism social impact perceptions. However, the literature reveals that residents' perceptions might change over time, and therefore a panel data measurement approach is suggested. It was the purpose of this study to use panel data to measure (over 3 years) the social impact perceptions of residents in the impoverished city of Kimberley in South Africa towards the annual Kimberley Diamond Cup skateboarding event. In total, 1,039 questionnaires were collected over 3 years using stratified sampling. Four factors were revealed: city development, negative impacts, community upliftment, and increased tourism activity. When examining social impact perception trends, a general decline was observed in the positive perceptions, while the negative perceptions remained unchanged. This reveals that the event is not contributing towards positive social impact perceptions as in the beginning, and it did not improve adverse social impact perceptions. This study contributes towards the strategic planning and management of more sustainable sports events through multiple interval social impact measurements.
