The 2012 Olympic Ambassadors and sustainable tourism legacy

This paper examines the capacity of the London (2012) Olympic Ambassador volunteer programmes to create a sustainable tourism legacy. It contributes to the literature on event legacies, particularly the role of volunteers promoting tourism in their home destination. Using an exploratory inductive approach, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted, in 2012 and 2013, with managers of all 11 Ambassador volunteer programmes associated with London and the 10 other regional venues that hosted London Olympic and Paralympic Games events. These show that volunteer Ambassadors enhanced tourist experiences during the Games through the Ambassadors’ pride in their home city, enthusiasm and local knowledge. However, although the Ambassador programmes had aspirations to create a sustainable legacy, in the form of a pool of experienced volunteers to support future events and further tourist visits, this was severely constrained by cuts in local government budgets. The Government Olympic Executive provided a coordinating role leading up to the Games, but neither they nor the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games provided practical assistance for legacy development. This was a missed opportunity to channel the enthusiasm of mega-event volunteers into further volunteering to promote tourism.     

A Leg(acy) to stand on? A non-host resident perspective of the London 2012 Olympic legacies

This study extended the temporal and spatial evaluation of mega-event impacts, by investigating residents' perceptions of the Olympic legacies from a non-host community perspective. The study site was the Borough of Weymouth and Portland in South West England, which hosted the sailing competitions of the 2012 Olympic Games. Cross-sectional data were collected at two post-event intervals in 2013 and 2016. Across the two stages, the overall perceived legacies improved, with the most significant change related to perceived economic legacies and community legacies at the national level. Since residents’ attitudes toward the 2012 Olympic Games influenced their support for future event hosting, a strategic approach to event planning and leveraging is important to engender positive legacies that benefit broader communities than the host city. Future studies are recommended which replicate and extend this research to more fully understand resident support for mega-events.     

Rio 2016 and the sport participation legacies

The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions held by physical education professionals of the sport participation legacy associated with the 2016 Olympic Games (Rio 2016). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 professionals who resided in Rio de Janeiro at the time of the study. In general, apart from the tangible legacies, individuals were completely unaware of what is being proposed by the different levels of government and the organising committee to maximise the potential benefits of the event for the local community. According to participants, the local population was never consulted about, or properly informed of, what was involved in staging the event and its planned legacies. The perceptions of post-Games changes in sport participation, using the 2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan-American Games as a point of comparison, ranged from no impact to a short-term increase. The reason for this, according to participants, was the lack of long-term planning and policies to encourage and promote sport participation. In conclusion, in order for benefits of mega events to be leveraged, the different levels of government need to develop long-term actions and policies to encourage sports participation in conjunction with the employment of the infrastructural legacy towards this end.     

Disorganised host community touristic-event spaces: revealing Rio’s fault lines at the 2016 Olympic Games

ABSTRACT

We investigate the live staging spatial-organisational requirements of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, exploring the extent to which the project sequestrated, territorialised and commodified public space. Relatedly, we examine the role of new legal, regulatory and securitised event conditions in affording an effective and efficient ‘Olympic takeover’. We do this by drawing on i) official Rio 2016 planning documents, ii) observations of the live Olympic-city spatial effects, and iii) interviews with key informants. Findings reveal that Rio’s specially created Olympic event zones sought to transform visitor flows and circulations across the city, appropriating and regulating public space in-line with a desired tourist aesthetic. Rio’s public civic space became reimagined and controlled for commercial exploitation by Olympic sponsors, supporters and suppliers– facilitated by the creation of areas of exclusivity. And yet, we also reveal how the Rio Olympic city simultaneously emerged disorganised, open and fluid in places– a (temporary) break in the (neoliberal) economic logic we have come to expect. We argue that localised conditions affecting Rio afforded closer connectivity between event visitor economies and host communities. While these gains remain marginal and largely symbolic, they demonstrate that with effective planning, the Olympic host city need not only serve corporate interests.     

An Olympic legacy for all? The non-infrastructural outcomes of the Olympic Games for socially excluded groups (Atlanta 1996-Beijing 2008)

The use of mega sporting events to achieve social goals for socially excluded groups is heavily contested. Comparative evidence regarding the effects of the Olympic Games for these groups is scarce, and there is an even greater dearth of studies focusing on non-infrastructural programmes (such as sport participation initiatives, volunteering opportunities, training and employment schemes). This study identifies planning principles that allow for the development of such non-infrastructural benefits for socially excluded groups in host cities, and reviews their application in recent Olympic Games.This study examines data from 7 Olympic cities (Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, Turin and Beijing). It shows that the Olympic Games generally bring few benefits for socially excluded groups, although these benefits are often important justifications in the bidding stage. The study highlights the growing importance placed by the International Olympic Committee on environmental sustainability, and proposes a similar emphasis on social sustainability.     

The role of voluntary sport organisations in leveraging the London 2012 sport participation legacy

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to understand the perceptions of national Voluntary Sport Organisations (VSOs) managers towards a mega sports event and identify the components they felt enhanced or inhibited their organisations capacity to implement a sport participation legacy. London 2012 was the first Olympic Games to explicitly attempt to deliver this type of legacy, and an exploratory, online mixed-method survey examined the perceptions of 105 senior managers from 37 VSOs, post-event. Principal Component Analysis identified four distinct factors: ‘objectives, standards & resources’, ‘event capitalisation & opportunities’, ‘monitoring & evaluation’ and ‘club engagement & implementation’, explaining 51.5% of the variance. Also, relevant organisational characteristics such as sport type, funding and sport size were examined to investigate the influence this had on their capacity. From these findings, the main recommendations are that future mega sport event hosts should: 1) Engage and consult with multiple stakeholders to engender sustained sport participation. 2) Set clear and monitorable objectives. 3) Establish funding and support mechanisms relevant to each sport. 4) Engage non-competing sports in the leveraging process. 5) Finally, event organisers should try to ensure personnel consistency.     

The lived experience of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games volunteers: a serious leisure perspective

Along with other sporting mega-events, the Olympic Games, in all its versions, makes extensive use of volunteers. The 70,000 London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic volunteers, for example, played a vital role in the delivery of the event. Stebbins’ theoretical perspective of serious leisure includes consideration of volunteering and there are calls for its further empirical evaluation. This study, therefore, uses a qualitative study of the lived experience of London 2012 volunteers to test the relevance of the serious leisure framework to Olympic volunteering. The data are drawn from the reflective diaries of 20 participants who volunteered in a variety of roles during London 2012. It is concluded that all of the qualities of serious leisure are identifiable to various extents within the experiences of the London 2012 volunteers. This finding will help Olympic and other sporting mega-event managers to understand and improve the experiences of their volunteers. Recommendations are also made, in the light of the findings, for the further refinement of the serious leisure perspective. Particular attention is paid to highlighting how the findings might contribute to recent debates around whether sporting mega-event volunteering is best explained by the serious leisure quality of career volunteering, or by the serious leisure associated concept of project-based leisure, or alternatively by the competing term of episodic volunteering.     

The governance of Olympic legacy: process,actors and mechanisms

The purpose of this research was to examine the governance system used to monitor and manage the legacy accrued as a result of bidding for and subsequently hosting the Olympic Games (OG). More specifically, this study aimed to (a) examine the legacy governance process from the bid phase to post-Games, and (b) to identify the governance controls (e.g. actors and mechanisms) that impacted the governance system responsible for legacy at the OG. Two cases within a multiple holistic case study design (i.e. the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games) were built using a combination of archival material and interviews. Findings highlighted four governance phases specific to OG legacy: conceptualisation, planning and implementation, transfer/transformation and post-Games governance. Two legacy-related governance controls emerged: actors (e.g. government, sport organisations) and mechanisms (e.g. laws, contracts, policy).     

Building social capital in a divided city: the potential of events

Abstract

It is widely held that social capital can help build sustainable communities, yet researchers agree that further research is needed to fully understand the social dimensions of sustainable development. In event settings, understanding how social capital is formed remains limited. This paper addresses this issue by examining the extent to which the UK City of Culture 2013 (CoC13) succeeded in building social capital in post-conflict Derry/Londonderry. The authors adopted a case study approach and mixed qualitative methods in the form of in-depth interviews and focus groups. The findings suggest that CoC13 helped to generate both bonding and bridging social capital, however, while intra community bonds were strengthened, exclusivity was also fostered. More positive were the examples of bridging capital cultivated across communities, particularly between young attendees, and between event organisers, with cooperation building trust and goodwill between volunteers. Some of the cross community relationships developed have been sustained. However, the lack of legacy planning has meant that the long-term social goals have not been met. In summary, the study suggests that in a post conflict society, events can help build social capital. However, in the absence of legacy planning, the benefits gained may soon evaporate.     

Mega-sporting events and children’s rights and interests – towards a better future

Abstract

The public subsidy of Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup hosting opportunities is invariably justified on the basis that they will secure a range of public good outcomes. Problematically, the information available inspires less confidence that these ambitions will be met and highlights how social costs and benefits are unevenly distributed. As a result, interest in the social dimension of hosting has grown, yet the knowledge to support responsive and evidence-based events policy remains relatively underdeveloped, particularly in relation to the specific needs and experiences of affected communities. The impact on children as a particularly stakeholder group reflects this context of recognition and knowledge gap. For example, while it is accepted that immovable deadlines and risk of reputational consequences raise a variety of social justice concerns throughout the event lifecycle, the nature and scale of these impacts on children is poorly understood and frequently mismanaged. Findings drawn from research commissioned by Terre des Hommes International Federation which explored the intersections between children’s rights and social justice concerns highlights how such initiatives present risks and opportunities that cannot be managed effectively until children are included within associated planning processes as a specific stakeholder group with distinct needs and interests.     

The impact of four CSR dimensions on a gaming company’s image and customers’ revisit intentions

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives affect casino customers’ corporate image as well as the customers’ behavioral intentions (i.e., revisit intentions), through the lens of Carroll’s corporate social performance model, stakeholder theory, and legitimacy theory. This study also examines the mediating effect of corporate image on the relationship between perceived CSR and behavioral intentions. An onsite survey was conducted with 596 casino customers in South Korea. The results revealed that ethical CSR had the strongest impact on corporate image, followed by economic and philanthropic CSR. Only philanthropic CSR had a significant and direct effect on behavioral intentions. Corporate image mediated the relationship between three types of CSR (ethical, economic, and philanthropic) and behavioral intentions. Companies can benefit from these findings by understanding how specific CSR initiatives can enhance corporate image and increase customer retention. This study advances the emerging field of CSR in the gaming industry.     

Athletes’ Expectations,Experiences, and Legacies of the Winter Youth Olympic Games Innsbruck 2012

The first Winter Youth Olympic Games held in Innsbruck in January 2012 attracted about 1,000 adolescent athletes aged between 14 and 18. At large-scale events such as the Youth Olympic Games, coaches, chefs de mission, and others accompany athletes and, therefore, gain a deeper insight into their behavior. This study aims at assessing young elite athletes’ perceptions of the Youth Olympic Games experience from the point-of-view of different stakeholder groups. Qualitative data was retrieved during the games from 12 athlete and 4 other stakeholder focus groups. The data analyzes sports and educational legacies and indicates that social leveraging is another central benefit for the young athletes.     

Support of politicians for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro

The purpose of this research was to explore and describe politicians’ evaluations of the work done by the government, perceptions of legacy and support for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games. The literature has argued that organisers must know in advance the opinion of main stakeholders in order to plan, organise and stage sport mega-events which are going to leave important legacy to the hosts. Considering politicians have privileged information about costs and benefits of sport mega-events, they are more likely than any other group of stakeholders to be able to make rational choices about social exchanges related to such events. Social exchange theory provided the theoretical background to test a structural model, where evaluations of the work done and perceptions of legacy were antecedents of support. Out of 715 politicians, 13 senators, 40 congressmen, six Rio state representatives and five Rio city councillors took part into a survey responding a questionnaire. Controlling for political affiliation of respondents, the tourism legacy was evaluated as the most likely to happen, while the environmental legacy was evaluated as the least likely to stay after the games. Political affiliation affected the evaluation of the work of the government, but not perceptions about positive legacies and support. Overall, politicians’ support depends on evaluations of the work of the government and perceptions of legacy.     

Tourism Restructuring and the Politics of Sustainability: A Critical View From the European Periphery (The Canary Islands)

There has been considerable discussion of sustainable tourism development, in both theory and practice. Less attention has been paid to the discourses, ideologies and power relations which help to shape 'sustainable' tourism policies and planning instruments. This paper analyses recent initiatives introduced by the regional government of the Canary Islands, designed to bring about a more sustainable model of regional tourism, including a temporary moratorium on tourism development and the drafting of a strategic and normative set of guidelines for sustainable tourism. The paper considers the contested nature of the public debate that accompanied these initiatives within the wider context of the regionally distinct pattern of tourism and capitalist development. It is argued that the legacy of uneven development, and the entrenched power of regional economic and political élites, is likely to undermine the prospects for a just model of sustainable tourism, and to consolidate the continuing privatisation of space and socio-spatial inequalities across the region.     

Tour Booking: Do Travelers Respond to Tourism Accreditation and Codes of Ethics Initiatives?

Tourism and hospitality organizations are spending more time and money on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, but at the same time not fully understanding how such initiatives enhance travelers’ responses. This study investigates the impact of two CSR initiatives that have been widely adopted by many travel organizations: tourism accreditation and codes of ethics. A large-scale survey collected data on how potential travelers responded to an online tour brochure. The results showed that both accreditation and code of ethics information in a brochure have significant but varying impacts on perceived tour value, trust, and tour booking intention.     

Legacy perceptions among host Tour de Taiwan residents: the mediating effect of quality of life

Using the social exchange theory, the correlation between residents’ perceived importance and evaluation of legacy outcomes, with their support for the Tour de Taiwan, was explored. We examined the mediating role of residents’ quality of life (QOL) and how it affected the relationship between evaluation and importance of legacy outcomes and their event support. Results from a sample of 454 host residents indicated QOL significantly influences event support. The findings suggested to enhance event support, efforts should be made to leverage the legacies that are directly related to improving QOL. Implications focus on effective synergies of cross-leveraging different recurring events of the portfolio to sustain net benefits of the legacy outcomes.     

Corporate social responsibility and work engagement: Evidence from the hotel industry

This study aims at testing a research model which explains how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects work engagement. Relationships between variables were assessed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Research data were gathered from full-time hotel employees (N: 680) and managers (N: 325) in Antalya province of Turkey. SEM results indicate that perceived external prestige and organizational identification play a partially mediating role in CSR's effect on work engagement. The present research is the first study which examined the relationship mechanism between CSR and work engagement by focusing on CSR with a broader perspective (the stakeholder approach) in the hospitality literature. Furthermore, it contributes to hospitality literature through revealing on the basis of generalized reciprocity principle of social exchange theory that work engagement could be increased with the help of CSR.     

Assessing the environmental impacts of mega sporting events: Two options?

At a time when public and private agencies recognise the importance of sustainable development, the environmental impacts of mega sporting events are commanding increasing attention. However, despite event sponsors often flagging the importance of environmental as well as socio-economic legacy components, the environmental impacts of events are difficult to assess quantitatively, being complex and often occurring over extended periods. The general assessment issue is particularly acute with regard to mega events such as the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. The practical issues mean that any quantitative techniques seeking to assess environmental impacts are likely to be partial in scope. This paper examines two such approaches for quantitative impact assessment of selected environmental externalities connected with visitation at sporting events. The paper considers the use of Ecological Footprint analysis and Environmental Input–Output modelling. It provides examples of the applications of these techniques to discrete sporting events in a UK region, and discusses whether these techniques are appropriate for exploring the environmental impacts of mega events.     

Understanding strategic alignment for destination marketing and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games: Implications from extracted tacit knowledge

Major international hallmark events, especially the Olympic Games, represent a significant opportunity for marketing tourism to the host country. Due to the scale and importance of the event, the coordination between the Olympic organizing committee and the destination marketing organization of the host country becomes a knowledge-intensive and exceptionally complicated task. Analyzing on-site interview data collected from top executives of the two major organizations involved in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games (ATHOC and GNTO), this research achieved two objectives: (1) extracted and organized the tacit knowledge from both organizations to discover major issues concerning the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, and (2) identified the strategic alignment issues between the domains of Olympics planning and destination marketing and proposed a conceptual framework for the future Olympic host countries.     

Collaboration and meta-organisation in event tourism – Effects of the Olympic Agenda 2020 on planning the 2026 Winter Olympics

Mega-events such as the Olympic Games are often seen as the most prestigious tourism events in the world. However, public support for such mega-events has decreased over the past decades. To counteract this negative trend, the International Olympic Committee launched the Olympic Agenda 2020 and later amendments. With Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy) hosting the Winter Olympic Games in 2026, two independent tourist destinations will be required to collaborate and share resources in multi-contextual environments as they become members of a meta-organisation. Moreover, they will have to implement the requirements of the Olympic Agenda 2020. Building on meta-organisation theory and 35 semi-structured interviews, our findings highlight the organisational challenges in times of increased awareness of sustainability and positive legacy expectations. Our research makes recommendations for the further organisation of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in six areas of action that require the attention of professionals and the support of academics.