Donna Wong

Understanding Tourism Behavior: Examining the Combined Effects of Prior Visitation History and Destination Status:

All tourism markets can be deconstructed into two basic dimensions: whether people have visited before (first/repeat) and the role played by the destination (main/secondary). As such, all destinations attract four basic types of tourists: first-time main-destination visitors (FM), repeat main-destination visitors (RM), first-time secondary-destination travelers (FS), and repeat secondary-destination travelers (RS). Previous research has examined the effect of one dimension on tourism without considering the moderating effect of the other. This article examines the combined effect of both dimensions. The authors conclude that the main/secondary-destination dimension is most appropriate in developing an understanding of differences in demographic profile of tourists, their origin and trip characteristics, while the first/repeat dimension helps understand differences in behavior and satisfaction levels.

The Youth Olympic Games: Past, Present and Future

Hailed as the flagship of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) strategy regarding young people, the organising of the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) was approved by the IOC in 2007 and Singapore was subsequently selected as the first host city for the summer YOG. Although the YOG is going to be the first new event the IOC has staged since the 1924 winter Olympic Games, its novelty may not be as radical as first impressions may suggest. This paper charts the chronological development of the YOG through a broad overview of little-known Youth Olympic Festivals, which the YOG is reported to be modelled after, and traces the political/economical/ideological contexts for the conception of the YOG. Despite being the latest addition to the Olympics family, the YOG is not spared from conflicts and tensions which inundated the Olympic Games. This paper aims to exemplify the range of debates presented by the launch of the YOG and contribute to the literature examining the opportunities and challenges presented by the launch of the YOG.

Expect the unexpected? An evaluation of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games

The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) was an initiative launched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2007 with adapted sports targeting young people between the ages of 14 and 18. Singapore was selected as the first host city for the Summer YOG in February 2008, with the inaugural event taking place from 14 to 26 August 2010. Through the YOG, the IOC aims to create an event for young people to participate in sport, to learn about Olympic education and to share experiences with their peers. To this end, a unique feature of the YOG is the inclusion of an extensive Culture and Education Programme (CEP) to introduce young people to Olympism and Olympic values of respect, excellence and friendship, alongside the sports element of the event. The decision to de-emphasise the competitive aspect of sport and to encompass a cultural- and educational-based component at the Games invited criticism from various corners of the Olympic Movement. This paper provides an overview of the YOG and its CEP. With the inaugural YOG brought to a close, the Games was declared a success ‘beyond expectation’ by the IOC President. This paper critically analyses the promises of the YOG CEP, focusing on the extent to which the CEP has met its intended goals. The evaluation offers possible implications for development of the CEP for future editions of the YOG.

Risk and (in)security of FIFA football World Cups – outlook for Russia 2018

Abstract Preparing and hosting a FIFA World Cup has often been perceived to bring tremendous opportunities to the host country. These include stimulating a sense of patriotism and fostering nation‐building to help further modernize and fast-track infrastructural development within the country. Nevertheless, as with any sporting mega-events, hosting an event of such magnitude and international interest comes with exceptional risks. This essay presents an assessment of risks relating to previous FIFA football tournaments, namely – 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany; 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, to reflect upon a number of threats and challenges associated with the hosting of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. With a lapse of eight years from the award to the tournament, the planning and operational decisions for Russia 2018 are undertaken under conditions of high ambiguity. The essay aims to identify the effects of uncertainties that may compromise the Russian World Cup through the assessment of potential and emerging threats that hold the potential to jeopardize the safety and security of the tournament.

The EPL drama – paving the way for more illegal streaming? Digital piracy of live sports broadcasts in Singapore

Along with the rise of digital media technologies, digitisation disrupted and reconfigured the established practices of previously discrete media markets. The erosion of conventional media divisions has resulted in wide-ranging ramifications for sports broadcasts as it shifts from the historically dominant platform of broadcast television to the digital environment of the Internet in the new mediascape. This paper considers how these emergent practices from the advent of media technology have represented significant challenges to the mediascape of sports broadcasts in Singapore. Given the popularity of mediated Western sports in Singapore, it comes as no surprise that the challenge of sports broadcasts piracy is acute in the country. Singapore has an exceedingly high degree of online infringement compared to other countries in the region. Data discloses that Singapore’s per capita infringement ranks first in Asia and fifth highest globally. This paper seeks to review the phenomenon in Singapore, examining the drivers that created the unique market dynamics which shaped the piracy of sports broadcasts in the country. The paper goes on to discuss provisions in Singapore in terms of copyright law and enforcement that are in place for the deterrence of sports broadcasts piracy. It considers the adequacy of these current approaches and concludes with an observation of how Singapore will seek to adjust to the continual digital advancement in its battle against digital sports piracy. The outcome of this assessment helps provide an additional account for its comparison with existing discourse on the challenges of digitisation on sports broadcasts development in advanced capitalist Asian countries.

The Olympics: the basics

With the London Olympics just around the corner, the publishing market is overflowing with books on the subject and this is one of them. If you would like to gain a basic understanding of the Olympic Movement, then this book does the job. The stated aim of this collaborative book is to provide ‘essential reading for newcomers to Olympic studies and offer new insights for Olympic scholars’, offering readers ‘a range of contemporary philosophical, social, cultural and political matters’ (book jacket). As such, the book is written in a light manner that makes it accessible and easy to read, even to a layperson who does not possess any prior knowledge of the Olympic Movement. The strength of the work undoubtedly lies in the provision of a useful survey of contemporary developments within the Olympic Movement, delivering an introduction to a range of philosophical, social, cultural and political matters on: peace development and diplomacy; management and economics; corruption, terror and activism and the rise of human enhancement and ethics and environmentalism. Each of the eight chapters considers a different facet of the Olympic Movement with a list of key concepts to be discussed. Chapter one discusses critical elements of Olympic History, providing an entry point to the understanding of key issues within the development of the Olympic Movement, shedding light on opportunities and challenges for the Games in modern times. Chapter two considers how the Olympic Games have been defined by concerns about social issues and identity in the past and their implications for future Games. The chapter goes on to examine current sites of resistance within these aspects of identity, focusing on the tensions between global, corporate and exclusive versus local, community and inclusive policies and processes. Chapter three looks into culture and education as core parts of the Olympics experience. It begins by outlining key mechanisms for cultural expression in the Olympic Games programme, illustrating this with significant cultural artefacts throughout the Olympic history. The chapter concludes with an overview of the Olympic educational infrastructure, exploring how scholarship and intellectual inquiry provide an important foundation for the Olympic Movement. Chapter four launches into a discussion of how the Olympics have been politicised in the past and argues how this affects the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) current cautious orientation towards political matters. It is argued that the Olympic Games can only be made sense of as a political project. Chapter five addresses ethical issues in the Olympic Movement and focuses on selective ethical themes that have concerned the Olympics over its life course. The authors argue that a number of broad societal concerns about justice and ethics have been highlighted through the Olympics and their significance will continue to grow in future Games. Chapter six considers aspects of the management and economics of the Olympics that have been central to the Leisure Studies Vol. 31, No. 3, July 2012, 373–383