Tourists’ Perceptions of London,United Kingdom (UK), as a Safe Host City During the 2012 Olympic Games

The Olympic Games 2012 provided the host city London with the opportunity to showcase its cultural diversity and world-class tourist attractions. However, the build-up to the world’s largest sporting event attracted considerable negative publicity primarily related to security at the Games, namely terrorism and its potential to disrupt the spectacle. Intercept interviews were carried out with 354 spectators during the Games at public viewing sites and key tourist attractions to elicit the perceptions of London as a safe host city. The findings demonstrate that visitors to the Olympics perceived London to be safe, in terms of both crime and terrorism, with positive consequences for their future plans to revisit London. Ultimately, a better understanding of spectators’ perceptions of safety and security of the Games can help improve communication messages to combat misperceptions in an effort to increase tourist arrivals to host cities during the staging of mega-events and after such events.     

国内外奥运旅游研究进展综述

自公元前776年举办第一届古代奥运会以来,旅游与奥运会便形影相随.随着现代人类休闲时间的增多与经济承受力的增强,作为大型事件的奥运会吸引了越来越多的旅游者观光游览,同时也受到旅游学术界越来越多的关注.本文以奥运旅游的起源、奥运旅游的定义与特点出发,从奥运旅游研究历史、吸引物研究、市场特征研究、经济社会影响研究等多方面对国内外奥运旅游研究进行了总结.     

Approaching paradox: Loving and hating mega-events

This paper examines the role of paradoxes in research and proposes strategies of engaging with them. For this purpose, it analyses the ways in which six paradoxes are constitutive of sports mega-events such as the Olympic Games: the universalism paradox, the compliance paradox, the winner's paradox, the participation paradox, the uniqueness paradox and the passion paradox. It then develops three strategies of how researchers and practitioners can approach paradox. The first, exploration, examines the consequences and effects of the ambiguity of paradoxes. The second, differentiation, enquires into the spatio-temporal and social make-up of paradoxes. The third, reframing, recasts paradoxes by shifting theoretical perspectives. Instead of pressing to resolve paradoxes, researchers and practitioners alike should make productive use of their ambiguity.     

Residents’ perceptions of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games

This study examines the perceptions of local residents prior to the 2014 Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Games. A survey conducted amongst residents, 5 months prior to the Games opening, reveals a lower level of support for the Games during the preparation period compared to other Olympic host cities. Socio-demographic data about the residents help explain the varying attitudes towards the Games that were identified. The conclusions suggest that Sochi residents’ perceptions have been largely influenced by their thoughts regarding potential economic and socio-cultural impacts, whether positive or negative. When these opinions are analysed further, three main considerations were found: (1) impacts on urban development and quality of residential life; (2) positive impacts on tourism and the destination’s economy and (3) negative results of hosting the Games. The study also finds, using structural equation modelling, that residents of Sochi, who could receive some benefit from the Games, were involved in the decision-making process or had more information about the upcoming Games, demonstrated more positive attitudes towards hosting the Olympics.     

Small tourism business networks and destination development

This paper is based on ongoing research into networking between small tourism businesses and its contribution to destination development. The fieldwork is being carried out in a peripheral rural location. A detailed conceptual framework comprising of a literature review, background to an ongoing study and the methodology being implemented is discussed. The review finds an increased awareness of the importance of networks in mainstream business research, however, research within small tourism businesses is still underdeveloped. Furthermore, there is little or no direct research in terms of collective tourism business networks within a destination. Destination development research is also reviewed and particular consideration given to the rural context. Destination models are discussed with the recent chaos-based theories providing new understandings. Networks are established within the destination concept. Finally, the location for the data collection is discussed with a justification of the qualitative, in-depth interview approach.     

Influence of popular culture on special interest tourists' destination image

In this study the role of pop-culture on shaping destination image was derived from focus groups and interviews with 24 fans from different nationalities of the Korean pop star Ahn Jae-wook. Three main theses emerged from the study: 1) the destination image induced by pop-culture was changed in a positive way; 2) the pop-star's event reinforced a positive place image through experiences of the event and travels in South Korea; and 3) the positive image from pop-culture experiences had a strong impact on future behavior. Results of the study suggest that pop-culture as an autonomous agent delivers a more powerful and stronger influence on destination image than previously recognized in the literature. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.     

重大节事的经济效应实证研究——以北京奥运会的市场反应为切入点

文章基于公司层面,以北京奥运会为例研究了重大节事的经济效应;采用事件研究法和趋势分析法,选择奥运板块上市公司为研究样本,实证检验了奥运会这一重大节事的短期与长期经济效应。研究发现,从短期来看,申奥成功事件具有显著的经济刺激效应;从长期来看,奥运筹备期间体现出一定的财富积累效应。总体上来说,研究证实,北京奥运会的经济影响在微观层面是有限的,这一结论适用于经济总量较大情况下重大节事的经济影响评价,对于重大节事的管理与参与有一定的借鉴意义。     

Tourism on two wheels: Patterns of motorcycle leisure in Wales

The motorcycle leisure sector has evolved from a rebellious culture of the 1950s to a large mainstream market sector today. Motorcycle touring has grown significantly in recent years, with a shift to larger capacity motorcycles and an increase in the average age of motorcyclists. The demographics of this group has meant that, increasingly, motorcycles are used for leisure purposes rather than commuting. Peripheral locations, with a high proportion of the mountain and scenic roads favoured by motorcyclists, have seen a dramatic influx of these recreationists. Despite this significance there has been little academic work on the subject, or concerted efforts to embrace this market sector by destination marketing organisations. This paper discusses the findings of an investigation into the motorcycling leisure and tourism sector in Wales, UK, examining travel patterns of motorcycle tourists, motivations and preferences of this group and the potential economic impact.     

The “Pink Night” festival revisited: Meta-events and the role of destination partnerships in staging event tourism

This paper adopts a managerial perspective to revisit an original case study of the “Pink Night” festival presented by Giovanardi et al. (2014) in an earlier issue of this journal. Our in-depth qualitative study contributes to the event tourism planning and management literature in three ways. First, we shed light on how and why competing Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) cooperate to plan, develop and manage event tourism. Second, we introduce and describe the brand new concept of the meta-event, which is the main theoretical contribution of this work. Third, we elucidate the role of meta-events as brand architecture tools to rebrand and reposition wide tourism areas. We illustrate the theoretical and managerial implications of the meta-event concept for event tourism studies and destination managers.