Factors Affecting Repeat Visitation and Flow-on Tourism as Sources of Event Strategy Sustainability

Abstract

The sustainability of including medium sized one-time sport events in an event portfolio is examined with reference to the capacity of one such event to stimulate flow-on tourism (i.e., tourism activities beyond the event but around the time of the event), a desire to return to the destination, and positive word-of-mouth. Relationships among four motives (socialising, escape, learning about the destination, and learning about athletics), identification with the event (self and social identity), previous visitation to the host destination, information search, tourism activities, and likelihood of recommending and/or returning to the host destination were examined for four categories of attendees at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships: primary purpose spectators, casual spectators, athletes, and non-athlete participants. All four categories of attendee engaged in some information search and participated in flow-on tourism, but to a low degree. Information search fostered flow-on tourism. Classic tourism activities (e.g., sightseeing, visiting museums) were motivated by a desire to learn about the destination, and encouraged future visitation and likelihood of recommendation. It is concluded that medium sized one-time sport events can play a sustainable role in event portfolios, but their efficacy requires greater integration of destination experiences with the event. It is suggested that future work should examine the means to cultivate that integration, including creation of more effective alliances between destination marketers and event organizers.

Youth multi-sport events in Austria: tourism strategy or just a coincidence?

“…Furthermore, Blake (2005) and Kaiser, Alfs, Beech, and Kaspar (2013) reveal that the touristic impact varies across cities, regions and countries, leading to the assumption that the impact partly depends on the current state of tourism in a city, region or country, with established touristic destinations having proportionally less ground to make up than less established ones. Taks, Chalip, Green, Kesenne, and Martyn (2009) suggest that events can be useful for raising the probability that tourists and participants will return, but that the challenge could lie in generating better collaboration between tourism marketers and event organisers, thus creating more effective ways of etching the experiences of attendees and tourists into their memory. According to Halpenny, Kulczycki, and Moghimehfar (2016), whether or not tourists re-visit a destination is greatly influenced by their attachment to the destination itself, which can also be positively influenced by events hosted by a particular destination.…”

Planning and Leveraging Event Portfolios: Towards a Holistic Theory

“…Specifically, small-scale events can be built in a portfolio reinforcing the benefits of large-scale events and fostering the human capital that is necessary for them. In addition, one-off events can be included in the destination's portfolio to foster repeat visitation and flow-on tourism (Taks, Chalip, Green, Kesenne, & Martyn, 2009). This means that sport mega-events can play a strategic role within a host city's portfolio as long as they are cross-leveraged with other events in the portfolio and the host community's overall product mix.…”

The role of travel conditions in cycling tourism: implications for destination and event management

“…Many small scale participant sport events have problems with longevity as success that is sustainable over several years can be quite difficult especially if the event is not organized in an optimal manner and/or properly bundled with the destination (Chalip & McGuirty, 2004). If events and destinations are organized towards their current and past participants only and not the overall market then they are likely discouraging many individuals from attending and as a result event sustainability will become a serious problem (Taks et al 2009). Freeman and Thomlinson (2014) argue a similar point claiming that sustainable community based mountain bike tourism is contingent on community partnerships, physical geography (i.e., trails access, design), legislation (i.e., land access, liability insurance), and funding sources.…”

“…Still, few scholars have examined the concept of flow-on tourism associated with hosting these events (Taks, Chalip, Green, Kesenne & Martyn, 2009). Taks et al defined flow-on tourism as "tourism activities beyond the event but around the time of the event" (p. 121) and identified four segments of event attendees of whom first timers were more likely to take part in other tourism activities, as were those who engaged in searching for additional information about the destination before their trip.…”