Factors effecting destination and event loyalty: examining the sustainability of a recurrent small-scale running event at Banff National Park

Abstract

ABSTRACTAn important form of economic sustainability for tourism businesses is customer loyalty. Using a sample of 387 active sport tourists, factors that influence destination and event tourism loyalty are reported on in this paper. Thirty-six per cent of destination loyalty’s variance was explained – operationalized as intentions of active sport tourists to revisit and recommend Banff National Park (NP). Thirty-one per cent of event loyalty’s variance was explained – operationalized as participation in future offerings of an annual small-scale running race, Melissa’s Road Race, located in the park. Destination loyalty was directly and positively predicted by park attachment and indirectly influenced by event attachment, followed by nature-related travel motives, frequency of visits to the park and history of engagement in the race. Event loyalty was directly and positively predicted by event attachment and racers’ views regarding the appropriateness of Banff NP as a race context and indirectly by history of race participation. Running travel motives, perceived value of park entry and event fees failed to predict loyalty intentions. Two models were used to explore the ‘correct’ conceptualization of relationships between event attachment and park attachment. The model that depicted event attachment as an antecedent to park attachment demonstrated better fit with the data, and thus suggests support for the proposition that attachments which develop for special events may in turn support the development of destination attachment.