The Impact of Consumer Behavior and Service Perceptions of a Major Sport Tourism Event

The Honolulu Marathon has consistently provided a positive economic impact to the state of Hawaii's economy. The purpose of this study was to assess the economic benefits of the 2007 Honolulu Marathon by runners from outside the state of Hawaii and their traveling companions on the city of Honolulu. Another purpose of this study was to compare the service perceptions of Japanese participants with those of English-speaking participants, with a focus on examining opportunities to increase economic contributions from the two groups. The 2007 Honolulu Marathon is the third largest marathon in the USA and six largest in the world, with over 27,000 runners registered. Only the New York City Marathon (34,729) and the Chicago Marathon (32,332) are larger. Of the 27,000 registered participants of the Honolulu Marathon, 19,500 runners are residents from outside the state of Hawaii. The data used in this study were collected by distributing a research instrument to marathon participants. The instrument consisted of 18 questions regarding length of stay, accommodation, and the amount of money spent by the marathon participants for food, lodging, souvenirs and other miscellaneous items while attending the marathon activities in Honolulu. A total of 1,643 participants completed the surveys for this study. Examination and analysis of these results will prove to be very helpful in determining the economic benefit the Honolulu Marathon has on Honolulu and the state of Hawaii.

The Honolulu Marathon accounted for an economic impact of $108,890,000 that generated $3.7 million in state taxes. The opportunity for internationally diverse participatory sports events to increase tourism substantially, especially in the state of Hawaii, suggests that further research in this area is necessary.