This study aimed to identify the practical and policy-based implications for the South African sport tourism organisations by highlighting strategic approaches to rethinking sport tourism planning and management. A content analysis of published academic and industry papers that focused on disaster management or mitigation within the sport tourism context, within a global and local context were analysed and thematically coded. The results reveal the vulnerability of the sport tourism industry to global threats while highlighting the lack of preparedness of this sector to strategically respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous pandemics and disasters may provide an impetus for rethinking sport event hosting as well as travel and tourism, however not without substantial financial investments and government support. The resilient theory emphasises the synergistic effects of crisis management in sport tourism. This study proposes strategies to guide industry stakeholders towards a research agenda that is based on identified gaps in knowledge within the sport tourism field in order to rethink sport tourism. This paper also contributes to the extant knowledge on crisis management and disaster management by incorporating strategic perspectives of resilient theory. There is significant value to current policies and practices regarding new strategic approaches to crisis management in sport tourism
This paper builds on the premise of the destination branding theory regarding the influence of destination brand associations on the sport tourism experience. The paper presents an empirical analysis of perceived brand messages of South Africa from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders and major event attendees. Data collected from 403 respondents and in-depth interviews conducted with 24 key industry stakeholders of sport events and destination branding organizations, revealed that South Africa is a competitive destination for sport event hosting as the destination annually attracts a significant number of international sport tourists. Destination brand images that were auspiciously perceived are the destinations' favourable climate, the currency exchange rate, and the natural landscape/setting. Other destination branding features such as improving safety aspects and more visible on-site branding are contingent on investment and leveraging strategies from both public and private entities. The paper theoretically contributes to the destination branding theory by focusing on the application of strategic constructs of co-branding in a unique, sport tourism environment. Accordingly, it advocates stakeholders to adopt useful approaches to augment long-term brand positioning strategies.
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