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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among athlete star power, enjoyment and revisit intention of sport event tourists in a sport mega-event (SME).

This study was conducted in the context of 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. A total of 419 respondents completed a survey. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.

This study proved the final structure model fit well by having the values and scores higher than the minimum cutoff in all categories. Path coefficients indicate that H1a, H1c and H2 were supported while H1b was not supported by the analysis. In addition, enjoyment partially mediated the relationship between athlete star power and revisit intentions. In particular, two mediating effects were found: enjoyment mediated trustworthiness and revisit intention and expertise and revisit intention. However, enjoyment did not mediate the relationship between attractiveness and revisit intentions.

The limitation of this study lies within two perspectives. Since the data have been collected in one country, the results may be viewed and interpreted for a specific location and time. Thus, it is strongly recommended to conduct the similar studies in the future Olympic Games. In the other perspective, the results could be different from one to another sport game because of the popularity by star power and game itself.

This study adds the literature on sport event research. Although there were a few studies on the effect of athlete star power, a dearth of research examined the relationships among athlete star power (trustworthiness, attractiveness and expertise), enjoyment and revisit intention. These results are valuable to SME managers to increase the propensity of tourists’ revisit intention at sport mega-event by understanding the factors that lead to increased tourist enjoyment.

Sports events are tourist attractions and their image components can relate to the destination image concept and structure. This study examined sports event images held by active and passive sports tourists at four marathon races in Germany. Some differences in the perception of event images were found for active and passive sports tourists as well as for different types of destinations. For active sports tourists, emotional, physical and organisational image associations were clustered closer. For passive sports tourists, social and historical image associations were clustered closer. The type of destination elicited different event images among active and passive sports tourists.

This paper aims to examine the event attendance motives and the underlying mechanism through which event attendance motives influence positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) and revisit intentions. It also investigates how event attendance motives differ by gender.

A self-completed survey administered in English among visitors to the 2016 Olympic Games generated 230 valid responses. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling was applied to test research hypotheses.

Event attendance motives of esthetics and escape positively influence host city evaluation. Host city evaluation positively influences PWOM and revisit intentions. Host city evaluation mediates the relationship between event attendance motives (esthetics and escape) and behavioral intentions (PWOM and revisit intentions). Male Olympic tourists show significantly lower means in the motives of social bond and escape when compared with female Olympic tourists.

This study adds to the body of knowledge concerning Olympic tourists, their motives and behavioral intentions. Research findings indicate that event attendance motives influence PWOM and revisit intentions through the mediating effect of host city evaluation. Considering the noticeable paucity of gender analysis weakens the understanding of the Olympic tourist behavior, this study contributes to the literature by examining gender differences in Olympic attendance motives.

Although the core phenomenon of events is the experiences and the meanings attached to them, there is limited management research on the experiential, existential and ontological dimensions of events. Phenomenology provides a sound philosophical framework for studying the multifaceted dimensions of experiences and associated meanings of events. However, quite surprisingly, phenomenology has not yet been systematically applied on the event management field. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to introduce phenomenology to the study of events, demonstrate its value for the field and encourage as well as guide its application on event management research.

A review and synthesis of the main phenomenological streams of thought was undertaken in order to develop a research paradigm for the application of phenomenology on the event management field.

The paper explains why phenomenology is needed in the study of events and their management, its conceptual underpinnings and streams of thought and finally suggests a research framework for conducting phenomenological studies in event management.

The consequences of the phenomenological perspective are delineated for explaining how the study of event meanings and experiences can be undertaken from this perspective. The limitations of phenomenology are noted such as the emphasis on “lifeworld” subjectivity and subsequent difficulty to claim the generalizability of research findings.

The suggested research framework can guide future event management research on how to apply phenomenology to the study of event experiences and meanings. On this basis, practitioners can get insight regarding how to develop and design events that optimize the perceived experiences of attendees.

While the experiential paradigm and the phenomenological turn have been spread across many disciplines emphasizing the essence of lived experiences in a variety of human interactions and exchanges, the event management field lags behind. This is unfortunate and has to be addressed as the experiences and meanings shape the essence of events. Therefore, this conceptual paper hopes to inspire, encourage and guide event management researchers to embrace and apply the phenomenological perspective on their future research endeavors, which can profitably complement and expand the predominant research paradigms in the field.

This study examines the relationship between authentic experience and festival identity as well as place identity among tourists visiting the 2018 Lugang Dragon Boat Festival, one of the largest traditional cultural festivals in Taiwan and the festival with the longest history.

Using an on-site survey with convenience sampling, a total of 1,360 valid questionnaires were collected in Lugang Township, a well-known, popular heritage tourism destination in Taiwan. The study also applies structural equation modeling to examine the proposed research model.

The findings of this study establish that the investigated authentic experience has relationships with image, value, satisfaction and identity, thus filling a research gap. In accordance with the theoretical model, the experience of authenticity affects satisfaction through festival image and festival value and strengthens both the attendee's perception of festival identity and place identity.

This research has both theoretical and managerial values. Regarding its theoretical implications, the study explains the relation between authentic experience and festival and place identity. Thus, it fills a research gap resulting from insufficient academic interest in the relationship between festival satisfaction and the formation of festival and place identity. Regarding its managerial implications, to achieve sustainable festival development, festival information services, programs, souvenirs, food and facilities and the convenience of festival activities should be strengthened.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between image congruence, tourist satisfaction and intention to revisit in marathon tourism. The results show that both affective image congruence (AIC) and cognitive image congruence (CIC) have a positive influence on tourist satisfaction and intention to revisit in the context of marathon tourism. The results also reveal that demographic and behavioural characteristics have a significant impact on revisiting intentions; and past experience of marathon tourism controls the relationship between image congruence and tourist satisfaction.

Mega-sporting events reportedly can offer many tangible and intangible benefits to the host country and regions, such as job creation, image improvement, local pride enhancement, social overhead capital investment and tourism business development. However, a paucity of studies in the literature have developed integrative models or have explored domestic tourist behavior in a general, or the sports tourism, context. To address this gap, the present study investigates the relationships between event quality, personal involvement, destination image and destination loyalty in the context of event sports tourism in order to provide sporting destination managers with valuable information for sustainable sports tourism development.

The authors collected information from 365 domestic tourists who attended the 100th National Sports Festival held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2019. Construct validity of the measurement scale was verified by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), factor loadings, average variance (AVE) extracted and construct reliability (CR). Reliability of the measurement scale was verified by Cronbach's alpha analysis. The authors utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimation to analyze the predicted relationships.

The findings display the positive impacts of (1) event quality on destination image, (2) personal involvement on destination image, (3) personal involvement on destination loyalty and (4) destination image on destination loyalty. The findings indicate the key roles for event quality and personal involvement in improving destination image and the important roles of personal involvement and destination image in building destination loyalty.

The present study (1) contributes to the recent debate in the sports tourism literature over the relationship between the destination image and destination loyalty and (2) shows that there is no mediating role of the destination image on the relationship between the event quality and destination loyalty, and personal involvement and destination loyalty.

The impact of national culture on tourist behavior has been analyzed in several studies, but none of them focused on its discriminating impact on behavioral intentions during a mega-event. Using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this paper aims to explore the influence of national cultural values on tourist behaviors (experience, satisfaction and behavioral intentions) during the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) in Naples.

The paper presents a quantitative analysis of primary data gathered through a survey of a convenience sample of tourists (n = 612) conducted during the ACWS organized by the City of Naples in April 2013.

The findings confirm that national cultural clusters represent an important driver of behavioral intentions: tourists from different geographic clusters showed different intention to return and intention to recommend by word of mouth, caused by different levels of individualism and uncertainty avoidance.

For destination marketing managers, this study throws light on how the national culture of tourists may influence their experiences and behavioral intentions.

Despite the richness of works on the tourism experience, few studies have investigated the effect of national culture on tourists’ experience, satisfaction and behavioral intentions during and after a sport mega-event.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structural relationships between destination image, tourist satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, with an emphasis on the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction on the relation between destination image and loyalty in the context of a small-scale recurring sporting event held in Asia.

Validity and reliability of the measurement scale were proved through a confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach’s α analyses and correlation analyses. A structural equation modeling test with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted to test the relationships among the research variables using 440 participants.

The results revealed destination image had a direct influence on tourist satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, and that tourist satisfaction had a direct influence on attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty. Moreover, tourist satisfaction was found to partially mediate relationships between destination image and attitudinal loyalty, and between destination image and behavioral loyalty.

First, destination marketers and organizers of a small event should provide tourists with an international or domestic newsletter of the small event. Second, destination marketers should place well-educated employees at popular hotels and restaurants and the event organizers should arrange that trained volunteers be positioned at stadiums, to enable tourists to find the locations of interest, which would help develop a positive image of the destination. Third, marketers and organizers should actively use social media to improve destination images and promote sporting events.

The authors offer a new perspective of tourist satisfaction as a mediating effect. Existing studies show tourist satisfaction fully mediates on the relation between destination image and loyalty, but the present study shows tourist satisfaction partially mediates this relation. In this respect, the term “sporting event” should be regarded important when attempting to understand tourist psychology and behavior because the level of tourist satisfaction can be affected by a term like “sporting event” in the mediating effect context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore structural relationships between quality, destination image, perceived value, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty with emphasis on the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction on relations between destination image and destination loyalty, and between perceived value and destination loyalty in the context of small-scale sporting events.

Construct validity of the measurement scale was verified by confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings, average variance extracted, construct reliability and correlation analysis. Reliability of the measurement scale was verified by Cronbach’s α analysis. A structural equation modeling test with maximum likelihood estimation was used to test structural relationships between variables in the proposed model using the responses of 311 participants.

Results showed significant and powerful impacts of: event quality, destination image and perceived value on tourist satisfaction; destination image, perceived value, and tourist satisfaction on destination loyalty and demonstrated; and tourist satisfaction fully mediates relationships between destination image and destination loyalty, and between perceived value and destination loyalty.

The study shows: it is meaningful to include quality and value in tourism destination image-satisfaction-loyalty models; provides empirical evidence that tourist satisfaction fully mediates the relation between perceived value and destination loyalty; and confirms small-scale as well as large-scale sporting events should be viewed as important aspects of marketing strategies aimed at improving quality, image, value, satisfaction and loyalty.