Tourists' Consumption and Interpretation of Sport Event Imagery

Abstract

In an era when popular and mass cultures are positioned further up the symbolic hierarchy, sport events are deemed by cities to be a valuable image or branding tools. Event strategies are often justified by their envisaged image effects and the celebrities, iconic structures and media exposure associated with sport events means that they are viewed as being particularly effective for this purpose. This paper evaluates the image effects of strategies deployed by three English cities; Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield. Each of these cities has used a combination of regular sport fixtures, 'mega' sport events and event bids to further their reputations as tourist destinations. Semi-structured interviews with a representative sample of potential tourists were used to provide evidence of the impacts of these initiatives. Despite some participants making connections with traffic chaos and violence, in general sport events appear to have encouraged positive connotations amongst potential tourists, including modernity, progress and vitality. Events seem to be regarded favourably at a cultural level, generating widespread positive meanings even when individual preferences vary. This has positive implications for cities deploying sport events as re-imaging or branding tools.2

Post-Event Visits as the Sources of Marketing Strategy Sustainability: A Conceptual Model Approach

“…In the research annals of event tourism there are many opinions on the purpose of a city holding "event". Some scholars believe that the main purpose is to build destination image (Vaughan 2001;Kotler 2004;Smith 2006;Crowther 2010b); some believe the main purpose is to enhance the media exposure and to draw attention of medias to the host city (Ritchie, Smith 1991;Chalip et al 2003;Kim, Petrick 2005). Others believe that the principal purpose is to change the attitudes of tourists to the host city and to increase the competitiveness of the city (Ahmed 1996;Bramwell 1997); yet others think that it is to improve city's infrastructure and to add tourism attractions (French, Disher 1997;Spilling 1996).…”

The nation branding opportunities provided by a sport mega-event: South Africa and the 2010 FIFA World Cup

“…Kim & Morrison, 2005;Smith, 2006), international observers (e.g. Bodet & Lacassagne, 2012;Fullerton & Holtzhausen, 2012;Harris, Lepp & Lee, 2012;Heslop et al, 2013;Ritchie & Smith, 1991); or residents (Armenakyan, Heslop, Nadeau, O'Reilly, & Lu, 2012;Lee 2010); or a media content analysis (Lepp & Gibson 2011;Swart, Linley & Hardenberg, 2012).…”

Exploitation touristique des stades des métropoles d’accueil des Coupes du monde de football (1994-2014)

“…]), le grand public crédite l'accueil des méga-événements sportifs d'impacts sociaux positifs par l'image de modernité et de vitalité qu'ils diffusent (Smith, 2006), par le renforcement de l'identité culturelle et des interactions sociales qu'ils promettent (Hritz et Ross, 2010) ou par la régénéra-tion urbaine et le changement d'ambiance qu'ils font espérer (Ohmann et al, 2006). Les résultats varient selon la catégorie sociale (Ritchie et al, 2009).…”