Comparison of Japanese and North American Runners of the Ideal Marathon Competition Destination

The Honolulu Marathon has a significant economic impact on the state of Hawaii's economy. Some 25,000 runners registered for the 2007 Honolulu Marathon, making it the sixth largest in the world as well as the third largest marathon in the USA, trailing only New York (34,729) and Chicago (32,332). Of the 25,000 Honolulu Marathon runners, over 17,000 were out-of-state runners. This study asked out-of-state participants in the marathon to assess the attractiveness of Honolulu and its marathon compared with that of an ideal marathon. Data used in this study were collected by distributing a research instrument to marathon participants. The instrument consisted of 30 items to represent the destinational attributes for an ideal marathon location city based on an extensive review of the literature on the selection of sport tourism event destinations. Over 473 surveys were collected for this study. Examination and analysis of these results will be very helpful in determining what the marathon runners believe are the ideal attributes of a city to host a marathon. This information will provide marketing guidance to the organizers of the Honolulu Marathon based on a segmented analysis of participants' perceptions of the event as well as give assistance to community and event organizations interested in attracting and marketing similar events.