Understanding spectator sustainable transportation intentions in international sport tourism events

Rute Martins,Elsa Pereira,António Rosado,João Marôco,Brian Mccullough,Margarida Mascarenhas

doi:10.1080/09669582.2021.1991936

Abstract

It is vital to study spectator responses to environmental campaigns to advance environmental sustainability initiatives. Therefore, this investigation aimed to identify which factors influence spectator sustainable transport intentions and perform a spectator segmentation based on their responses. Data were collected from 355 spectators at an international surfing event hosted in a renowned surfing destination. The data were analysed in two stages. First, through the sport sustainability campaign evaluation model to infer spectator sustainable transport intentions. Second, through non-hierarchical cluster analysis, to segment the sample based on those intentions. The results added a direct relationship between the points of attachment and sustainable transport intentions. Furthermore, the results highlighted the effect of constraints, points of attachment and past sustainable behaviours as predictors of spectator sustainable transport intentions. In addition, differences in needs (i.e., aesthetic), attachment to the community, lack of time, lack of access and past sustainable behaviours were found within the three analysed clusters. Organisers of sport tourism events should develop sustainable transport campaigns promoting the destination’s aesthetic features, strengthening the connection between the local community and the event spectators, and improving the availability of information on transport services to increase spectator commitment to more sustainable modes of transport.

Highlights

The study of environmental behaviour has been extended to many tourism industry segments beyond its initial focus on ecotourism
Prior transportation research examining sport tourism has primarily assessed the carbon emissions of sport events resulting from participants and spectator transport choices to get to an event (Dolf & Teehan, 2015; Edwards et al, 2016; Pereira et al, 2019; Triantafyllidis et al, 2018)
Following the sustainability campaign evaluation model (SSCEM) (Trail & McCullough, 2020), this study proposed nine hypotheses (H1-H8) to identify which factors influence spectator sustainable transport intentions at international surfing events

Summary

Introduction

The study of environmental behaviour has been extended to many tourism industry segments beyond its initial focus on ecotourism. Scientific research examining the demand for sport tourism has focused on the predictive factors of environmental behaviour. Further inquiry is needed to improve environmental behaviours because transportation is commonly the most significant percentage of an event’s carbon footprint (Mascarenhas et al, 2021; Peeters et al, 2019). Prior transportation research examining sport tourism has primarily assessed the carbon emissions of sport events resulting from participants and spectator transport choices to get to an event (Dolf & Teehan, 2015; Edwards et al, 2016; Pereira et al, 2019; Triantafyllidis et al, 2018). Few scientific examinations have been dedicated to sport spectators’ sustainable transportation behaviours at destinations (i.e., events; Mascarenhas et al, 2021; McCullough et al, 2020 )

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Discussion

Conclusion