Abstract
As one of the important forms of intangible cultural heritage, heritage sporting events are becoming a potential catalyst of tourism. Commodification of heritage sporting events becomes popular for local authorities to boost economic development and express cultural authenticity, given that authenticity creates genuine performances and moving tourism experiences. However, commodification of heritage is a double-edged sword. It is a dilemma to commercialize a heritage sporting event while keeping its authenticity. Therefore, this study proposes a tourist-based model of authenticity to solve this problem, in which the authenticity of heritage sporting events incorporates “cool” and “hot” factors. The model examines these factors and their impact on tourist satisfaction and loyalty using Naadam as the example. Seven hundred questionnaires were distributed at six sites located from east to west of the Inner Mongolia, China. Factor analysis shows there are two factors in cool and hot authenticity, respectively. Both factors of cool authenticity have direct impacts on hot authenticity, satisfaction, and loyalty. Though both intrapersonal and interpersonal factors of hot authenticity have direct positive impacts on tourist satisfaction, only the former affects loyalty directly. The results show the authenticity of event culture is the most important and effective authentic factor, while authentic auxiliary products—the direct expression of commodification—is indispensable for authenticity. This study is helpful for maintaining authenticity and cultural sustainability of heritage sporting events as a destination tourism attraction, given the fact that commodification and the marketing of heritage sporting events has become popular for heritage destination development.
Highlights
Event-led strategies and event tourism are increasingly recognized as a potential catalyst for tourism and local sustainable development [1,2,3]
Two factors of the cool authenticity were obtained by using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which were named as event culture and auxiliary product
The results show that the intra-factors of cool authenticity, Authenticity of event culture (AEC) and auxiliary product (AAP), are related
Summary
Event-led strategies and event tourism are increasingly recognized as a potential catalyst for tourism and local sustainable development [1,2,3]. Integrating heritage tourism, sport tourism, and event tourism, heritage sporting events have been vehicles for social, political, and economic initiatives, but major attractions for both sport tourism and heritage tourism. Currently they are analyzed mainly in the scope of nostalgia tourism [6]. This is unfavorable for the sustainable development of heritage sporting events, especially the social and cultural sustainable development of ethnic minority regions. Using Naadam as an example, this study intends to perform further investigation of heritage sporting events from heritage management and tourism perspectives. We construct a tourism-based model to show how authenticity is formed and how it affects tourist satisfaction and loyalty
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
