Marathons as serious leisure tourism

Abstract

This study investigated the runner's satisfaction with the First Knoxville Marathon, held in Knoxville, Tennessee. A total of 963 questionnaires were obtained and confirmed as data for analysis. The four-page survey instrument attempted to extract runners' satisfaction with race attributes and general demographic characteristics. The study employed factor analysis to delineate the underlying dimensions of the runners' satisfactions about 17 race attributes and MANOVA to investigate whether there were significant satisfaction differences among delineated factors based on general demographic information related to the First Knoxville Marathon. Approximately 23% of respondents indicated their household income to be over $120,000, over 80% of respondents had a college degree, and age of approximately 80% of respondents was ranged from 26 to 55. MANOVA results showed that there were significant differences of satisfaction levels among different distance completed by marathoners. Recommendations and limitation are discussed in the conclusions.

Citation

Smith, S., Costello, C., Kim, K. and Jahn, W. (2010), "Marathons as serious leisure tourism", Chen, J.S. (Ed.) Advances in Hospitality and Leisure (Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Vol. 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 43-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1745-3542(2010)0000006007