Touristic experience at a nomadic sporting event: Craving cultural connection, sacredness, authenticity, and nostalgia

Abstract

Despite the advancement of event research, which provides necessary foundations on large and mega events that are based on multiple countries joining together to exercise sports competitions, there is a lack of attention paid to nomadic sporting events, such as the Naadam that is joined by nomadic tribes. The study investigates a nomadic sporting event called the Naadam, which is held in the Republic of Mongolia, part of Russia, and several provinces of China. Such an event renders an opportunity for tourists to appreciate a rich culture and history, sacredness, and authentic offerings. The objective of this study aims to examine tourist views of nomadic events through the lens of cultural connection and sacredness with data collected from the Naadam festival in Inner Mongolia, China. A person-administered face-to-face survey was conducted. The tourists were mainly from Inner Mongolia and its neighboring provinces. By modeling differences among tourists with respect to their ethnicity and gender, this study provides a deeper understanding of what tourists appreciate most about these eloquent manifestations of nomadic traditions.