Liz Fredline

Sport Tourism or Event Tourism: Are They One and the Same?

Abstract Sport tourism has become the subject of an increasing level of both academic and government interest. It is perceived to be important because of its economic contribution as well as other influences such as the impact on community well‐being and the sense of pride that sport tourism may engender. The concept, however, is fraught by definitional issues and this paper provides a discussion for developing a more succinct definition and framework for sport tourism to add to the debate. It is argued here that sport tourism is essentially event tourism and, as such, it is governed by the issues that effect events and event management.

Providing an explanation for service failure: context, content, and customer responses.

This study investigated the role of explanations or accounts in mitigating the impact of service failure on customer satisfaction and loyalty in a hospitality context. The study used a between-subjects experimental design with different scenarios, which were presented to a sample of experienced hotel customers via a postal survey. The scenarios differed in terms of the severity of the service failure, the type of explanation (referential or justification) and the thoroughness of the explanation. The results suggest that referential explanations were associated with higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty than justifications, when the service failure was severe. Evidence was also found that account adequacy was an important mediator for the effect of thoroughness on satisfaction.

Resident Reactions to a Major Tourist Event: The Gold Coast Indy Car Race

There has been an increasing tendency for hallmark events to be included as an integral part of tourism destination marketing strategies, with events in effect becoming extensions of the regions inventory of attractions. This trend, coupled with the growing acceptance of sustainability as a guiding principle for managing tourism development, has highlighted the importance of systematically monitoring the social impacts of major events in much the same way as for tourism generally. The study described in this article contributes to the development of such an approach by drawing on past research on the social impacts of tourism to provide a foundation for examining local resident perceptions of the Gold Coast Indy event. It reveals that, although there is overwhelming support for the event among the resident population irrespective of their exposure to its impacts, negative impacts are nevertheless recognized. Thus, although the benefits of the event with regard to tourism promotional effects, community self-esteem, and business and employment opportunities are broadly appreciated, costs of the event associated with noise levels, traffic congestion, overcrowding, and disruption to lifestyle are also acknowledged. This response appears to indicate that the benefits are generally regarded as outweighing the costs. However, in an unambiguous signal to organizations responsible for event/tourism planning, variations in the response of residents also indicate a strong relationship between acceptance of the event and resident perceptions of social justice outcomes and satisfaction with the level of public participation. Residents who regarded the events costs and benefits as being justly distributed and public participation in its planning as adequate tended to be more positively disposed to the event.

Yield Measures for Special-Interest Australian Inbound Tourism Markets:

Different tourism stakeholders mean different things by ‘yield’ and this presents a barrier to communication and policy discussion. Primarily, this paper provides an overview of different concepts of yield. It also operationalizes several of these measures using inbound tourism expenditure data for Australia so that the origin markets and market segments identified as generating high yields under the various measures can be compared. The paper further identifies the manner in which the concept of yield can be broadened to embrace sustainable yield by incorporating measures of environmental and social impact. It concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the study.

Enhancing the employer-employee relationship through corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand how hotel managers perceive the benefits that may accrue to employees and hotels through their engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Design/methodology/approach – In-depth interviews with 23 hotel managers, representing various functional responsibilities, were undertaken across four provinces in Thailand. The sample included local and international chain hotels. Findings – Hotel managers from all functional areas and levels acknowledged that CSR substantially enhanced the employer–employee relationship. Five themes depicting the beneficial effects were identified: a relationship unifying process, having fun, feeling pride, developing skills and building teamwork. These themes reflect three core factors of emotional responses, social capital and task-related skills. Practical implications – The paper illustrates that CSR activities can be customised to elicit specific effects that will engender beneficial outcomes for both hote...

A framework for the development of social and socioeconomic indicators for sustainable tourism in communities.

This article presents a framework for the development of social indicators to measure the impact of tourism on communities. It is a research project funded by Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) and emanates from the Green Globe 21 Standard that incorporates indicators for the environmental impact of tourism and seeks to develop other indicators. The article provides the theoretical background to the concept of sustainable tourism and examines the preliminary findings of the key themes from some exploratory research. It also examines the main literature in the field, extracts the key impacts such as overdevelopment, the relationship between tourists and residents, the management of tourist flows, and the facilities that are created as a result of increased tourism. These impacts are then examined against the exploratory research undertaken. The article concludes with a potential list of indicators to be used for measuring the social and socioeconomic impacts of tourism on communities.

Adapting the Tourism Satellite Account conceptual framework to measure the economic importance of the meetings industry.

This article presents the findings from research undertaken for the United Nations World Tourism Organization that examines the global meetings industry. In particular, the research investigated the type, source, and credibility of data collected on the meetings industry and the potential to use the data for evaluating the economic contribution of the meetings industry. In so doing, the article details the data that are available and presents a method, using the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), to evaluate the meetings industry on a global basis. The research found that the industry lacked clear definitions and therefore inconsistent data. The article provides suggested definitions and a conceptual framework for use in a TSA evaluation of the meetings industry.

Corporate responsibility as essential to sustainable tourism yield.

In parallel with the development by other social scientists of the philosophy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and, relatedly, triple bottom line reporting, tourism researchers have been developing indicators of tourism yield. The notion of �sustainable yield� includes the dimensions of economic, social, and environmental yield. This article first discusses the link between these developments highlighting the results of the authors� attempts to develop financial, social, and environmental measures of tourism yield. It discusses these measures with regard to specific tourist markets. It also discusses the challenges faced in converting these independent measures into an overall measure or index of �sustainable yield� consistent with CSR reporting.

Tourism in a small community: risks and benefits.

This article presents the findings from a Sustainable Tourism Co-operative Research Centre study into the risks associated with the impacts of tourism on the quality of life of residents in a small community in the Australian state of Tasmania. This state is known for its pristine environment and potential difficulty in coping with large numbers of visitors to popular areas. One of the icon regions in the state is the Coles Bay town and the adjacent Freycinet National Park. This research investigates community attitudes to tourism and the potential benefits and risks to this iconic region if the tourism levels are not managed. It discusses the development of indicators to monitor these risks and the problems associated with tourism development. The article provides details of the findings from community workshops and a 2005 survey of the communitys ratepayers (n=174). In so doing, the article elaborates on the community perceptions of tourism and the potential risk to both the environment and the communitys well-being.

An investigation of measurement error in visitor expenditure surveys

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether providing additional prompts in a visitor expenditure survey results in higher reported expenditure.Design/methodology/approach – Respondents to a self‐completion survey of event visitors were randomly allocated either an aggregated or disaggregated expenditure format in a quasi‐experimental design. ANOVA is used to identify significant differences in mean reported expenditure to the alternative formats.Findings – The research finds that provision of additional prompts in the expenditure module of a visitor survey results in higher reported expenditures in half the expenditure categories and, most importantly, in total expenditure.Research limitations/implications – Collection of accurate visitor expenditure data is critical to estimation of the economic benefits of tourism and special events. Over or under estimation of direct expenditures associated with an event may have implications for future investment in the event by public and/or privat...