Abstract
One of the most serious concerns about mega event-related changes to small cities is how to effectively utilize newly developed public attractions after the Olympic Games. Making connections with existing local amenities and forming attraction networks can be effective strategies for continuing a city’s revitalization. However, despite the expected benefits, attraction network research shows that these benefits often fail to materialize. With the case of Gangneung, a 2018 Winter Olympic hosting city, this study investigated visitation patterns to 19 selected attractions using network analysis. The results indicate that the most influential nodes are located on the northern coast, the eastern coast, and in the south downtown area, those nodes being the central locations where the strongest of connections are made. New attractions such as the Olympic Park and Walwha Linear Park were rather isolated. While seasonal and periodic variations, visitors’ residences, and destination choice attitudes had a significant effect on visitation patterns, the attraction networks, modes of transportation, proximity to region, and type similarity were not significant factors in the forming of visitation patterns. The results make a methodological contribution to tourist behavior and network research. In addition, beyond individual attraction development, the results provide practical implications in regard to networking and cooperation between multiple attractions using temporal and spatial strategies such as management/investment prioritizing, travel route development, and program scheduling.
Highlights
Unlike Turin or Nagano where Olympic venues and related amenities are distributed around the city, in Gangneung city, all of the venues were located in Olympic Park
Results found that most attractions have a centrality value of more than 0.5, except for Olympic Park (0.36)
In order to fill this knowledge gap, this study examined multiple attraction visitation patterns and the influential factors in the case of Gangneung, a small vacation city hosting the 2018 Winter Olympic Games
Summary
Mega events such as the Winter Olympic bring great changes to small cities. According to a local research report [10], comparing three winter Olympic host cities, on average, 300,000 to 400,000 m2 of new public amenities such as a new plaza, a residential park, and a city park are developed in preparation for the Olympics. Despite having the largest population (0.9 million), had the smallest newly developed public outdoor space (286,000 m2), indicating the limitations of available land in high-density development. Nagano, with a smaller population (0.37 million), had the largest developed area (446,000 m2), indicating more available land in a lower density development than Turin.
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