For Sustainable Benefits and Legacies of Mega-Events: A Case Study of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics from the Perspective of the Volunteer Co-Creators

Abstract

This study examined the outcome of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics from multiple perspectives. Tourism and sport researchers have focused on the legacy of mega-events, due to the opportunity they provide to transform a city positively, including through the development of the tourism industry. However, outcomes are not always positive, and the effects differ for every event. The effects of an event can be short-term or long-term. An event, to be truly successful, should aim to have a long-lasting and sustainable positive effect for everyone involved in hosting the event. Additionally, the outcome effects are perceived to be different by each stakeholder of any event. While the roles of volunteers are critical to the success of an event, their perspectives of the event outcomes have been relatively overlooked. Therefore, this study examined the legacy of the 2018 Winter Olympics, as the most recent and unique Olympics (also known as the Peace Olympics), from the perspectives of the volunteers as co-creators. Specifically, volunteers were asked to explain their perceptions of the success of the Olympics. Furthermore, they were asked to identify the legacy of volunteering and the legacy of the Olympics, in order to examine whether volunteers can distinguish the difference between the legacies of volunteering and the Olympics (i.e., event legacy). Using a modified version of content analysis, the results of the volunteer interviews indicated that volunteers identified the legacies of volunteering on a more personal level, emphasizing personal experience, while they identified the legacies of the Olympics on a community and national level.

Risk perception and visit intention on Olympic destination: Symmetric and asymmetric approaches

“…Mega events, especially sports extravaganzas, have been a popular research area owing to their power in initiating various transformative changes in host cities, communities, and countries (Preuss, 2015). Higher tourist arrivals and tourism receipts, increased destination awareness, enhanced host image, higher likelihood of repeat visits, improved infrastructure, local pride, and more employment opportunities have been cited among the tourism-related benefits of mega events (Getz and Page, 2016; Kim et al, 2019; Walker et al, 2013). These benefits largely motivate countries and cities to seek opportunities to host mega sports events (Kim et al, 2019).…”

“…Such media coverage made the host city less desirable to potential visitors. Furthermore, the host country and the specific host city of its mega event may differ vis-à-vis associated attitudes and visit intention (Kim et al, 2019; Minnaert, 2012). For this reason, researchers have investigated mega events multi-contextually.…”

Productivity Evaluation of Tourism and Culture for Sustainable Economic Development: Analyzing South Korea’s Metropolitan Regions

“…In terms of increasing awareness, South Korea has hosted three international-scale mega events: the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The successful hosting of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics showed that investing to bid and host Olympic events can be financially beneficial with a low budget and a high efficiency, even though other recent Olympics have been financial disasters [28]. These mega events helped place South Korea on the world tourism market.…”

Sustainability in Mega-Events: Beyond Qatar 2022

“…Other subjects considered are buildings [121][122][123][124], business [125], education [126], climate [127], and organization [128][129][130]. One last trend to consider in the studies is the role, expectation, and importance of volunteering in the success of the SMEs, specifically in the OG [131,132].…”