Why travel to the FIFA World Cup? Effects of motives, background, interest, and constraints

Events have become a significant component of destination marketing. Previous work suggests that event interest, risk constraint, and financial constraint will affect potential attendees’ desire to attend and their sense that it is feasible to attend. For large sport events, interest in the event and perceived constraints should derive from the level of fan motives, travel motivations, and the potential attendee's background. These expectations are tested in a survey of 556 members of American soccer clubs prior to the FIFA World Cup. Results were generally consistent with expectations, although some motives had both positive and negative effects. Event interest and constraints fully mediated the effects of motives and background on respondents’ sense that it was feasible for them to attend. Financial constraint did not affect desire to attend. The desire to learn about the host country had direct effects on interest in the event and the desire to attend the event. Results suggest the value of segmented sport event marketing that appeals to both travel and fan motives.     

Redefining stakeholder relationships in mega events: New Zealand Chinese and the Rugby World Cup

Through a proposed stakeholder framework with different participation modes, this study of the Chinese migrant community in Auckland explored the relationships around their participation in Rugby World Cup, namely, their awareness of the event and its link to event participation, economic links, identity, and national pride. Adopting a pre- and post-event approach, data from self-administered and online questionnaires were collected and examined using a multivariate analysis. A multidirectional participation effect was found for multicultural value, linkages, sense of identity and pride, business engagement, and recommending the country. Finally, stakeholder relationships were redefined by regrouping stakeholders in a mega sporting event.     

Local residents’ perceptions of the impacts of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 on Barbados: Comparisons of pre- and post-games

This study analysed Barbadians’ perceptions of the impacts on Barbados of jointly hosting the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup 2007. The aim was to investigate the pre- and post-perceptions of Barbadian residents on the impacts (direct and indirect) of hosting the ICC CWC 2007. Statistically significant differences between pre- and post-games perceptions were found for all seven factors: benefits of cultural exchange, social problems, economic benefits, natural resource and cultural development, traffic congestion and pollution, price increases, and construction costs. While pre-games expectations were that the costs of hosting CWC 2007 would outweigh the benefits, after the games Barbadians perceived that the benefits had outweighed the costs. Within this context, it is recommended that there be a greater level of engagement with local residents prior to hosting a mega-event, to maximise benefits, minimise costs, and ensure successful outcomes.     

Mapping research on legacy of mega sporting events: structural changes,consequences, and stakeholder evaluations in empirical studies

ABSTRACT

Findings from empirical studies on the legacy of hosting a mega sporting event are inconclusive. This paper considers empirical studies published in English language peer-reviewed journals between 1997 and 2016 to identify trends and gaps in current knowledge related to event-attributed changes in structures, consequences, and stakeholder evaluations. Following systematic literature search guidelines, 233 articles (238 studies) were coded. The authors assessed structural changes, consequences, and stakeholder evaluations. Contextual factors, such as type of event, timeframe, and geographical location were also considered, as well as research design, methods, and a risk of bias assessment. Most studies considered structural changes per se, without further specification (such as the urban and human level). Economic and social consequences were the two most often considered consequences. The range of stakeholders considered in the studies was diverse, although host city residents received the most research attention. The mapping helps scholars better understand dominant themes, critically appraise studies as well as identify gaps in existing research. The authors discuss managerial implications and propose research directions that address concerns: unclear definition and biased selection of relevant stakeholder groups, short legacy timeframes, and the low-level evidence for cause-effect relationships in the legacy production process.     

Budget traveler accommodation satisfaction: The case of Yogwans during the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan

The preference attributes of budget-conscious travelers have been researched in detail, since the budget segment is important to the hotel industry. Special events, where budget-conscious travelers are major patrons and a huge volume of rooms is needed for a specific period, require accommodation alternatives. Yogwans, Korean-style hotels, have historically been utilized as such an accommodation alternative during special events in Korea. This study of the 2002 World Cup found that budget-conscious travelers were generally not highly satisfied with yogwans. Using a factor analysis technique, this study also identified five factors that were considered important for choosing to stay at yogwans. Finally, multiple regression analysis was then applied to examine the relative importance of each of these factors in influencing the overall satisfaction level of yogwan use. In order of importance, room quality, external quality, value, staff service quality, and accessibility were significant factors in determining the overall satisfaction level of yogwans. This study recommends that accommodation alternatives for budget-conscious travelers should match the needs of specific customers during special events by considering the unique attributes of the event and classifying attributes into fixed and variable categories.     

Communicating the World Heritage brand: visitor awareness of UNESCO's World Heritage symbol and the implications for sites,stakeholders and sustainable management

The World Heritage (WH) brand signals property so irreplaceable that its values must be sustained intact in perpetuity. A primary function of the WH symbol, one element of the WH brand, is to prompt positive visitor emotions and behaviors favored by management agencies. This paper investigates if the symbol communicates any message to viewers. To determine visitor recognition and recall of the WH symbol tested against a variety of variables, 1827 visitors to five WH sites in Queensland, Australia and 712 visitors to the WH part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA were surveyed. Sixty percent of visitors to the Queensland sites and 19% of visitors to the Hawaii site were aware of the site's WH status; 96% of Queensland site visitors, and 99% of Hawaii site visitors could not recall what the WH symbol represented. Park agencies appear to take a laissez-faire attitude to branding, have little interest or capacity to brand properly or have strategically restricted usage of the WH brand to de-clutter their brand landscape. This limits opportunities to transmit to visitors and communities why WH properties should be valued and sustained, with significant implications for the long-term sustainability of WH sites.     

Walking through World Heritage Forest in Japan: the Kumano pilgrimage

The purpose of this study is to analyse visitors' experience and likelihood of return to the Italian Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art (MART) based in Rovereto. The empirical data were obtained from a survey undertaken in the months from September to November 2009. A motivation–satisfaction theoretical model is used to analyse the attractiveness factors of the museum based on internal forces (push motivations) and external forces (pull motivation) and the causal relationship to satisfaction and loyalty. A structural equation model is used as a confirmatory tool of the hypothetical model. The findings reveal that tourists visiting the MART are mainly motivated by push factors, such as relaxation, looking for a new experience and learning new things. Loyalty also positively influences the probability of returning to the MART and the likelihood of recommending it to friends and family. Visiting the city or the surrounding region of Trentino had no impact on visitors' satisfaction and loyalty to the MART. Also, loyalty to MART also did not mean that visitors would recommend a visit to the city of Rovereto.     

重大事件公众参与的有效管理模型研究——基于2010年上海世博会公众参与市民问卷调查的结果

从整体上看,目前在奥运会等重大事件的申办和组织过程中公民参与是非常有限的.与之相对应,现有相关研究对公众如何有效参与重大事件中的公共决策回答得还不够深入,特别是所提出的对策缺乏可操作性.本研究通过引入托马斯的公众参与有效决策模型,并结合专家访谈、问卷调查和统计分析的结果,构建了重大事件公众参与的有效管理模型,以期为重大事件的公众全过程参与提供一种理论范式.     

Promoting Gondwana: presentation of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area in tourist brochures

An 800 km stretch of the Eastern coast of Australia contains some of the last remnant fragments of the sub-tropical rainforests that once covered much of the region. This natural resource – declared as World Heritage in 1986 as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia, but now known as the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia – serves as an important drawcard for tourist visitation to the region. Using a content analysis of 343 tourism brochures collected across one section of the Gondwana Rainforests area, this study examined the extent to which ‘rainforest’, ‘World Heritage’ and the ‘Gondwana Rainforests’ are present within text and imagery. Findings reveal a low prevalence of this ‘branding’; indeed only 3% of brochures mention ‘Gondwana’ or ‘Gondwana Rainforests’. As presentation is a key component of World Heritage-listed forests like Gondwana, the study's results reveal the importance of building awareness of the brand in the minds of users and the community.     

Identity,Politics, and the Beach: Environmental Activism in Surfers Against Sewage

Abstract

Academic accounts of leisure activities like surfing tend to emphasise their individualistic, hedonistic and commercialised qualities, seeing this as characteristic of leisure consumption in late capitalism; that culture is increasingly dominated by the market and attention is diverted from collective and political issues. Yet empirical research in such lifestyle sport cultures reveals a more complex and contradictory picture of leisure consumption. This paper examines the pressure group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), founded by surfers in Cornwall, England. It draws on subcultural media discourses about SAS and interviews with SAS members and personnel. Whilst acknowledging the limitations in the political significance and impact of SAS’s activism, the paper argues that through their sport consumption, participants from a range of minority water sports cultures have formed a politicised trans‐local collectivity based around a concern with their own localised environment, one which has become articulated into broader trans‐national political issues. It is argued further that SAS is part of a broader wave of new social movements and direct action protest groups that gathered momentum in Britain in the mid to late 1990s. In such groups the politics of identity take centre stage. The paper therefore challenges us to rethink the meaning of political activism, and the capacity of leisure and sport to contribute to the politics of identity.