Abstract This study examines the effects of event advertising on peoples' attitudes and visit intentions toward event-hosting cities. One hundred and ninety-two samples were collected for this study. A 2 × 2 factorial multivariate-analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test the first and second set of hypotheses, whereas a separate univariate-analysis of variance (ANOVA) was run to test the last hypothesis. Event advertising was found to have a positive effect on people's attitude toward the hosting cities. Also, people's different levels of city recognition (well-know vs. unknown) significantly influence their attitudes toward the city. However, the effects of event advertising on peoples' attitude toward the city are greater if the city is relatively unknown. In this sense, an unknown city could benefit more than a well-known city by improving the image of the city using event advertising as a promotional tool. Lastly, image congruence affects peoples' attitude toward the event-hosting city.