Host Destination Research Articles

Special Sport Events—Part II

As noted in Part I of Special Sport Events which appeared in Volume 22, Issue 4 of the Journal of Sport Management, sport events are increasingly contributing to the economic and social development of cities, regions, and countries. The justification to host large-scale sport events is often done on the role these events play in building social capital, attracting tourists, foster trade relations, enhance the host destination’s brand, and serve as catalysts for the development and improvements of infrastructures. It is imperative to understand the unique challenges of managing and marketing special sport events. We believe that Part I of the special issue on special sport events and this collection of articles (Part II) address many of the challenges related to these sport events. In the following pages, we outline the articles featured in the second issue devoted to the topic of special sport events.

Special Sport Events—Part I

Cities, regions, and countries are making increasing use of special sport events in their economic and social development mix. Governments and event organizers often justify special sport events on the grounds that such events can build social capital, attract visitors, foster trade, enhance the host destination’s brand, and serve as catalysts for the development of new infrastructure. As a result of the proliferation of special sport events, there is an increasing need to determine the means via which events do (and do not) contribute to their stated social and economic development objectives. Consequently, it is vital to understand the unique challenges of managing and marketing special sport events.

Ecotourism SMTEs Opportunities in Northern Thailand: A Solution to Community Development and Resource Conservation

SMEs have become a core component of Thailand's economic development strategies, including tourism initiatives. Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs), with an emphasis on ecotourism and community-based tourism, play a vital role in rural and regional transformation, as these places change from primary to tertiary-industry-based economies. In northern Thailand in particular, a growing number of indigenous communities have been turning to ecotourism as an alternative to expanding their commercial agriculture. However, while tourism has become an important source for generating economic benefits of foreign exchange income, employment, government revenues, private sector growth and infrastructure development, the tourism product in most destinations has begun to deteriorate both culturally and environmentally. It also caused conflict of interests among stakeholders, as over 70 per cent of revenues are in the hands of private entrepreneurs. This begs the question of how to operate tourism that can really be a sustainable solution to the development of initiatives in the region. With a view to answering this question, this paper presents the perceived impacts of ecotourism on host destinations in northern Thailand and identifies how to implement ecotourism successfully by combining the philosophy of ecotourism with the commercial presence of SMTEs in a destination.

Destination Selection Criteria: Key Success Factors Evolve and Dominate

Billions of dollars are spent annually on events that span a variety of genres. Furthermore, different types of events demonstrate their own unique goals and objectives. Physical and operational requirements may change by organizational size, budgetary constraints, and internal business policies. The importance of event type in the choice of a host destination is of considerable interest. Previous studies pertaining to destination selection criteria have focused on specific destination characteristics without taking into consideration the various event types. The current study investigated similarities and differences in destination selection criteria based on event type. The results provide evidence that event planners assign different levels of importance to destination selection criteria based on event type. The study compares results to previous studies that utilized the same methodology and data analysis approach. Over time, it appears there may be melding of importance for multiple destination criteria as a result of industry and global standards.

Association Members' Meeting Participation Behaviors

Understanding meeting participation behaviors of association members is the key to a well-attended meeting, which is a common goal of both associations and host destinations. However, little research has contributed to theoretical development in this area, and the lack of a theoretical framework may negatively influence the validity of research. This study attempts to explain association members' meeting participation behaviors by introducing the meeting participation model (MPM) derived from existing human behavior models (the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior). The proposed MPM was examined empirically using the data collected from 245 members of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (CHRIE). The results reveal that the MPM fits the data very well, providing a fuller understanding of association meeting participation. In addition, findings from this study suggest that past behavior and subjective norm are strong predictor of meeting participation intention. Several implications and marketing strategies for meeting planners and destination marketers are discussed.

International Sport Event Participation: Prior Sport Involvement; Destination Image; and Travel Motives

Research into sport event participation from an international perspective remains underdeveloped. This study utilized the attraction process within the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) to develop and examine five hypothesis related to motives of international participants (N=239) who registered for a hallmark Australian running event. Structural equation modelling revealed registration in the event is motivated by prior running involvement; desire to participate in organized running events, favourable beliefs and feelings toward the host destination and perceived travel benefits of escape, social interaction, prestige, relaxation, culture experience, cultural learning and knowledge exploration. Subsequent MANOVA analyses reveal participants from dissimilar cultures are more likely to perceive travel benefits of relaxation and cultural learning while gender differences emerge as females perceived opportunities of socialization, relaxation cultural experience, knowledge exploration and cultural learning. Results indicated that four broad categories of participants emerged: males of ‘similar culture’; females of ‘similar culture’; males of ‘dissimilar culture’; females of ‘dissimilar culture’. Marketing and event experiences need to cater for each of these variations in order to motivate participants’ registration and then provide the best active sport tourism experience based around the event.

Beyond Ecotourism: The Environmentally Responsible Tourist in the General Travel Experience

Ashift of attention from the dominant product orientation in environmentally sustainable tourism to a demand orientation has been suggested as a way of minimizing the effects of the inherent trade-offs the tourism industry faces between maximization of profits and investment in environmental sustainability. The success of such an approach depends on the existence of a class of tourists who are not only motivated to take care of the natural surroundings of the host destination, whether they are traveling in an ecotourism or general tourism context, but also represent an economically attractive market segment. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is empirical evidence for the existence of such a segment among the wider tourism population and, if so, how can it be characterized and thus marketed to. Willingness to pay is used as a criterion to define this segment, as it implicitly accounts for the trade-off that suggests environmental protection comes at a price. Results from the empirical survey study conducted in Australia indicate that environmentally responsible tourists who are willing to pay for environmental initiatives taken on by their tour operator can be characterized by a distinct profile with respect to travel information seeking, destination preferences, travel behavior, and willingness to pay—indicating that targeting such a segment of tourists in the general tourism context represents an attractive supplementary strategy to traditional supply-sided measures of sustainable destination management.

Major Sport Events and Long-Term Tourism Impacts

Hosting major sport events can cause positive shifts in tourism demand on a long-term basis, but the additional revenues might not counterbalance the investment costs that are required of the host destination. Whether positive shifts have actually occurred cannot be measured solely by counting the additional number of tourists. Increases might also come from positive shifts in supply. Megaevents require expensive investments in sport facilities, as well as in nonsport city-related infrastructure. These investments must fit into the city’s long-term plan to make the event economically successful. The demand from tourists can subsidize the production of goods and services that are characterized by the advantages of economies of scale. This provides local residents with goods and services that they otherwise could have only consumed outside the region. Many of the benefits from sport events fall into the category of public goods. This represents a rationale for governmental funding if those who benefit are driven by free-rider incentives. The prospect of governmental funding, however, provides motives to exaggerate the socioeconomic value of the events. This complicates the job of deciding which events to support and by how much.

Planning for sustainable tourism in southern Pulau Banggi: An assessment of biophysical conditions and their implications for future tourism development

A priori assessments of a site's biophysical and socio-economic capacity for accommodating tourism are less common than tourism impact studies. A priori evaluations can provide a contextual understanding of ecological, economic and socio-cultural forces, which shape the prospects for sustainable tourism development at the host destination, and can avert adverse impacts of tourism. We conduct an a priori assessment of the biophysical environment of Pulau Banggi, in the Malaysian state of Sabah for sustainable tourism development. We characterise baseline conditions of the island's marine biodiversity, seasonality, and infrastructure. We then evaluate how existing biophysical conditions will influence options for sustainable tourism development. In particular, we suggest conditions, if there are any, which constitute a limit to future tourism development in terms of compatibility for recreation and resilience to visitor impacts. We find that the biggest constraint is the lack of adequate water and sanitation infrastructure. Blast fishing, although occurring less than once per hour, can potentially destroy the major attraction for tourists. We conclude that while Pulau Banggi possesses natural qualities that are attractive for ecotourism, financial and institutional support must be made available to provide facilities and services that will enable local participation in environmental protection and enhance prospects for future sustainable tourism.

Tourists' Experiences of Film Locations: New Zealand as ‘Middle-Earth’

ABSTRACT Over a decade ago it was noted that there was a lack of academic research on film-induced tourism. A number of studies since have explored this phenomenon and the benefits, both during production and after cinematic release, for host destinations. As an example, The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) film trilogy has exposed New Zealand to a global audience of potential travellers. By packaging and promoting it as the ‘Home of Middle-Earth’, New Zealand – and destinations within it – have become the iconic landscapes of the trilogy. However, as with many other film tourism destinations, the screen locations are a mix of real places, film sets and digital enhancements; the tourists will not necessary be able to experience the landscapes of the films. This paper presents empirical research undertaken with three tourism operators offering LOTR-themed products: surveys were conducted with tour participants to explore their motivations, expectations and experiences of the cultural landscapes of LOTR films. The findings suggest that the more perfect the representation of hyper-reality in the tours, the higher the satisfaction and the more enhanced the tourist experience. In addition, some film tourists desire to step into the former backdrop of the film to be part of the film when re-enacting film scenes. By better understanding how tourists experience these cultural landscapes, tourism operators and destination marketers can provide the experience film tourists are seeking and thus expand the beneficial effects of film tourism on destinations.

Córdoba,D.; Sáez,J. y Vidarte,P. "Teoría Queer"

The current migration of Ecuadorian families to Europe, specifically to Spain, have brought changes with deep implications for the family. In parallel, the school environment (both in the country of origin and the host destination) has become a site for the socialisation of Ecuadorian children and adolescents. The purpose of this study is to present some results of our research from a transnational theoretical and methodological point of view. This article analyzes the new transnational family dynamics and their relation to the changes in child rearing practices, and to and the links with the schools in the country of origin.

Changes in education and family life in current Ecuadorian migration: a transatlantic perspective

The current migration of Ecuadorian families to Europe, specifically to Spain, have brought changes with deep implications for the family. In parallel, the school environment (both in the country of origin and the host destination) has become a site for the socialisation of Ecuadorian children and adolescents. The purpose of this study is to present some results of our research from a transnational theoretical and methodological point of view. This article analyzes the new transnational family dynamics and their relation to the changes in child rearing practices, and to and the links with the schools in the country of origin.

Mega-Events and the "Showcase" Effect: Investigating the Moderating Influence of Exposure to the 2004 Olympic Games Telecast and Interest in the Olympic Movement—An Australian Perspective

Survey-based research explored the moderating effects of "exposure" to the Australian free-to-air telecast of Athens 2004 and "interest" in Olympic Games in developing behavioral intentions to visit Greece in the future. Differences were found between groups with low and high levels of exposure to the telecast, and also between groups with high levels of interest in the Olympic Games, but these were only marginal. When the combinatorial influences of these two variables were considered simultaneously, their effects were generally synergistic. The article calls for further research on this area of mega-events, as the results, while of significance, provide food to continue the broader debate on the role of mega-events in developing tourism to their host destinations after their staging.

Affective Event and Destination Image: Their Influence on Olympic Travelers' Behavioral Intentions

Despite the growth of academic and business significance of sport tourism, little is known about the direct emotional experiences with sport events and their impacts on travelers' behavioral intentions. The purpose of this article is twofold: a) to examine whether Olympic travelers' trip purpose and characteristics (e.g., age, previous visits, continent of residence) influence their affective event and destination images and b) to test the impact of affective destination and event images on Olympic travelers' intentions to return to the host destination, and to travel to future Olympic Games. The results revealed Olympic travelers from different continents had different affective destination images, and that older travelers felt more positive about the image of the destination. Spectators perceived the event as more cheerful compared to tourists. Finally, the perceived destination's excitement and pleasantness predicted Olympic travelers' intentions to return to Athens in the future. Specific recommendations are provided for destination and event marketers.

Understanding Associations and Their Conference Decision-Making Processes

A critical question for organizations and businesses involved in destination marketing and the provision of services for conferences and meetings is how associations decide where to hold their conferences and meetings. An understanding of these decision-making processes could provide valuable insights into how a destination can best promote themselves to this sector. The aims of the study presented in this paper were to identify the decision processes of association conference planners and to explore the attributes that they consider important when organizing a conference. The study used in-depth interviews with association conference organizers who had either planned an event in a regional Australian center during 2003 or who were currently in the process of planning for a future event to be held in that destination. The interviews revealed that while similar attributes were important to all planners, their importance differed between different types of associations. Major findings from the study included the importance of the bid process and the use of committees for the planning and organizing of tasks. Budget constraints were also a major component of the decision-process, as a majority of the associations studied were non-profit organizations. The venue was the most important attribute regarding the decision of host destination. The study concludes with an expanded model for convention planner decision processes based on Crouch and Ritchie's 1998 model.

VFR: Is it really marginal? A financial consideration of French overseas travellers

The economic contribution of the VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market to host destinations has been underestimated, largely due to a lack of accurate data and research on this segment. This underestimation seems to be linked to the noncommercial accommodation usage and assumed within-group homogeneity of VFR travellers. Using a large-scale national survey among French travellers visiting 17 different destination countries, this study aimed to re-evaluate the financial value of VFR travellers and test their within-group differences. The results of the study suggested a need to reconsider the stereotypical description of VFR travellers; a significant portion of the French VFR market seems to be more lucrative compared with other types of travellers. In addition, these high-spending VFR travellers differ sharply from the low-spending VFR visitors in terms of their expenditure patterns and trip-related behaviours. Implications for destination marketing are also provided.

The Third Force in Events Tourism: Volunteers at the XVII Commonwealth Games

This paper explores the opportunities for developing a third force in sustainable tourism development through recruitment and involvement of volunteers at events. It takes as its focus the example of Manchester and its efforts to engage with volunteers for the XVII Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester, UK in 2002. As part of the Games legacy, Manchester also sought to encourage and develop a pool of potential future volunteers within the North West region of the UK. However, although the findings from a survey of volunteers at the Games suggests that volunteers have strengthened their level of support for the host destination there are many potential barriers to retention of volunteer interest and commitment. The study concludes that volunteers could become more important for events tourism in the North West region of the UK but that there is a case for a volunteer infrastructure that acts as a ‘broker’ of volunteering opportunities.

Sport Event Tourism and the Destination Brand: Towards a General Theory

Sport events are being used with increasing frequency to build the brand of their host destinations. Events can take different roles relative to the destination brand: as co-branding partners with the destination brand, as extensions of the destination brand, or as features of the destination brand. Which role is appropriate depends on the nature of the event's brand. Since each role presents different opportunities, risks and requirements, events must be incorporated strategically into the destination's marketing plan. Strategic incorporation of sport events into destination branding requires that each event be cross-leveraged with others in the destination's event portfolio, as well as with the destination's other sport activities and attractions.

Marketing Sport Tourism: Creating Synergy between Sport and Destination

Marketing sport tourism requires sport and the host destination to be cross-leveraged to optimize the quality of experiences that the sport tourist obtains. Different forms of sport tourism (spectating, participating, venerating sport sites) are therefore potential complements, and the quality of infrastructure and services at the destination provide essential support for the overall sport tourism experience. Opportunities to socialize with tourists who share a sport interest can also enhance sport tourists' experience. Cross-leveraging of sport and destinations is facilitated when vertical and horizontal alliances are formed among sport and tourism providers. Further research is needed to explore the social and psychological worlds of sport tourists, and to identify effective leveraging tactics.

HOSTS AND HOSTS: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF COMMUNITY‐BASED ECOTOURISM IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON

For environmental anthropologists, ecotourism is an especially timely and practical topic. Increasingly, anthropologists are talking with conservationists, development specialists, tour operators, policy‐makers, and local leaders about ecotourism and its impacts on local communities and ecosystems. This is good, as anthropologists are especially well suited to focus ethnographic attention on the general but critical question of what happens when people in host destinations near and in protected areas become involved in ecotourism. Do local “hosts” become etter stewards of wildlife, forests, and other ecosystems when ecotourism is introduced? If so, what is the process by which that happens, and what are the challenges along the way? This paper highlights various methods and insights gained during four years of research on a community‐based ecotourism lodge called Posada Amazonas, located in Madre de Dios, Peru. As a joint business venture between a private company and a local community, Posada Amazonas represents a new standard for local participation in ecotourism. Here, members of the local community of Infierno work not only as boat drivers, cooks, and guides, but also as directors, owners, and decision‐makers in the company. Learning and telling the story of Posada Amazonas ethnographically and from both sides of the partnership allowed me to move beyond a standard impact study of costs and benefits. Anthropological analysis entailed adding nuance to “the local community” and unraveling why people were or were not choosing to participate in ecotourism, and how their decisions were often related to social and cultural roles and perceptions. The ethnographic approach also led to analyses of processes and impacts—that is, how and why there were gains and losses in Infierno, in addition to what the changes were. Answers to these types of questions can have important implications for conservation, beyond calculating jobs gained or income earned. Finally, in addition to deepening the analysis of ecotourism, anthropologists can play important roles as cultural brokers between ecotourism partners, helping to facilitate communication across an array of perspectives and expectations.