Impacts of Leisure on Tourism
Small-scale Sport Event Tourism and Sustainability: A Case Study in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jennifer Velarde
Small-scale sport events have been argued to be a sustainable form of tourism development for communities (Gibson, 1999). This study analyzes four small-scale sport events all operated by NIGSA (Nómadas International Group SA) in the Magallanes region of Chile. The four events at the core of this study were: Patagonian Expedition Race, Patagonian International Marathon, Ultra Trail Torres del Paine, and the Ultra Fiord which operate partially or completely inside the Torres del Paine National Park. As a biosphere reserve established by the United Nations, Torres del Paine National Park requires a sustainable perspective of event sport tourism. A 2011 alteration of biosphere reserve qualification criteria from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has heightened the need for protection, preservation, and responsible management of Torres del Paine National Park and the small-scale sport events being studied. This document includes sustainability and event sport tourism literature, a detailed methodology, findings and discussion from the data collected, and a few suggestions for the industry and event organizers. This study reveals development potential or lack thereof as a result of small-scale event sport tourism in the Torres del Paine National Park.
Leisure Attributes of the Destination Product: Importance for Tourists and Impact on Their Feelings at a Destination
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lina Anastassova
Defining leisure is not an easy task and the efforts of academia in this research field reveal that it can not be reduced to a simple definition. The research field of leisure has therefore become more integrated with other fields of research (Hederson, Presley, and Bialeschski, 2004; Blackshaw, 2010). This empirical study conducts a literature and research review of preferred leisure activities at summer resorts in different countries in order to compose a list of leisure attributes of summer destination product, examines and defines the importance of various leisure attributes of the destination product according to the holiday makers in the destination, identifies the leisure attributes’ impact on the tourists’ feelings with regard to their social-economic, national, gender, and age characteristics. For the purposes of operationalization of destination product leisure attributes, a list of leisure activities is developed which concerns only the augmented product of the destination without the basic components of the tourist product, the accommodation and eating facilities of the hotels. The sample type constructed for the purposes of this empirical study is a random sample from six countries, Germany, UK, Russia, Finland, Hungary, and Poland, which represent nearly 90% of the tourists coming to Sunny beach resort in Bulgaria. The data collection methods are descriptive, including personal written questionnaires collected from the respondents and tourist diaries completed in two seasons by eighty tourists from four countries. They had to describe experiences with various leisure attributes of the destination product extracted from the questionnaire and to relate every experience with different emotions. The paper encompasses survey results and the main practical implication of the study is that the destination management can change its marketing strategy according to the survey results and namely to put stress in its branding strategy on shift from promotion based on physical attributes of destination product towards a strategy based on promotion of leisure attributes of the destination product which are provoking strong positive feelings in tourists, like happiness and excitement. This kind of destination branding strategy will contribute to the stimulation of active holiday behavior beyond the 3S-holiday model and will add more emotional benefits to the destination brand loyalty.
Lanzarote’s Art, Cultural and Tourism Visitor Centres and Their Links to Sustainable Tourism Marketing
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Magdalena Carballo Fuentes, Rita Carballo, Carmelo J. León
Can distinctive natural assets in tourist destinations be artistically recreated and used to improve destination image and attract more visitors? This paper analyses the formation of the tourist image based on artistically recreated local nature icons, and shows how those images can enhance the overall destination image. It focuses on the island of Lanzarote, a destination with its development based on promoting an environmental image founded on the creation of a network of multifunctional, high quality art, culture and tourism centres exhibiting artistic recreation of its unique environmental assets. The methodology utilizes a questionnaire (n=453) structural equations modelling approach in which the overall image of the destination is directly dependent on the image of the environmental conditions and indirectly influenced by the image of the artistically recreated centres. Results show that the destination’s image is significantly grounded on the image of the art, culture and tourism centres using art based on Lanzarote’s natural assets. They suggest that destinations have relevant opportunities to artistically enhance natural assets to improve their tourist image and marketing, that quality multi-functional visitor centres can be important within a sustainable tourism policy, and part of the emerging breadth of approaches taken by sustainable tourism marketing.
