Pro-environmental behavior in sport event tourism: roles of event attendees and destinations

Pro-Environmental Behaviour of Attendees at a Major Sport Event in Cameroon

“…Sustainability in events, in the context of the present study, refers to the triple-bottom-line, in terms of which the related economic, social and environmental concerns are posited as being of equal importance and thereby as deserving of equal consideration in the planning and management of sport events (Fyall & Jago, 2009). The growing interest in sport event sustainability arises from the industry trends, including the globalisation of sport, which attracts substantial numbers of attendees to hosting destinations, the increase in the strategic leveraging of major and mega sport events, the global movement towards sustainability and subsequently the inclusion of sustainability principles in the bidding and hosting requirements of mega and major sport events (Dolf & Teehan, 2014;Pereira et al, 2014;Han et al, 2015;McCullough et al, 2015;Boggia et al, 2018;Casper et al, 2019) .…”

“…Predominantly, most academic research examines the economic and social sustainability of sport events (see Smith, 2009;Balduck et al, 2011;Li & Jago, 2013;Taks, 2013;Ramchandani et al, 2014;Djaballah et al, 2015;Han et al, 2015;Schnitzer et al, 2017), so that, only recently has the inquiry into the environmental sustainability of sport events grown. Environmental sustainability can generally be understood in terms of the sport event industry, as consisting of the organisers involved striving to attain minimal impact on the natural environment in the hosting of such an event (Mair & Laing, 2013).…”

“…The present study extends the understanding of environmental sustainability by including consideration of the actions and behaviours of sport event attendees. The environmental sustainability of major sport events has become of importance to a number of stakeholders, ranging from sport event organisers and sponsors, to policymakers and sport event attendees (Bama & Tichaawa, 2015;Han et al, 2015;Boggia et al, 2018;Habitzreuter & Koenigstorfer, 2018;López-Bonilla et al, 2018;Minoli et al, 2018;Alonso-Vasquez et al, 2019;Casper et al, 2019;Chirieleison et al, 2019). McCullough and Kellison (2016) opine that an inquiry into environmental sustainability emerges from the inevitable impact of sport events on the natural environment, ranging from the construction of sport event facilities and stadia, as well as the subsequent operations, through to the travel-related implications of sport event attendees for the natural environment (Dolf & Teehan, 2014;Fekry et al, 2014).…”

“…Moreover, the sport event organisers, within the different hosting destinations, have established environmentally responsible measures, such as recycling systems and waste management and environmental campaigns in the hope of encouraging proenvironmental behaviour from the sport event attendees (Han et al, 2015). McCullough and Kellison (2016) further mention the fan engagement activities that form part of the corporate social responsibility of the sport event organisers and sponsors in an effort to encourage sustainable attendee behaviour.…”

“…Some scholars (see for example Cantelon & Letters, 2000;Jones, 2008;Collins et al, 2009) have argued that major sport events impact upon the local ecosystems, utilising reserves of irreplaceable natural capital, and contributing to carbon emissions related to climate change and pollution, as well as promoting irresponsible behaviour towards the environment (Han et al, 2015). While the major sport events organisers are increasingly becoming more environmentally sensitive in their planning and hosting of such events, the pro-environmental behaviour of the events' target groups, fans/supporters and participants remain a major concern (Tolkes & Butzmann, 2018).…”