Current Issues in Tourism
Editor: C. Michael Hall (Department of Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand) and Chris Cooper (Foundation Professor of Tourism, University of Queensland, Australia) Michael and Chris are joint editor of the book series Aspects of Tourism. Reviews Editor John Jenkins (University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia)
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Volume: 7 Number: 3 Page: 242–261
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Changes in Host Community Reactions to a Special Sporting Event
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G. David Twynam and Margaret Johnston
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Special events are a popular component of tourism and economic development strategies for communities and regions in many parts of the world. Researchers continue to develop an understanding of the positive and negative aspects of the events, and to assess residents' support for these
events and their views about impacts. The main objective of this paper is to assess residents' reactions over a one-year period to hosting a special sporting event. The analysis is based on three community surveys, one undertaken before the event, the next immediately following the event,
and the final one six months later. The research found that support remained high over this period, though a decline in overall support was evident. Over time, views about changes to facilities and services in the community shifted and there were distinct differences in residents' opinions
on the impacts of hosting the event. The paper concludes that longitudinal studies must include a time-frame that extends beyond the immediate post-event period and, further, that a comprehensive event hosting impact scale would be useful for research in this field.
Keywords: SPECIAL EVENT, COMMUNITY REACTIONS, LONGITUDINAL STUDY, SPORT TOURISM
© 2004 Channel View Publications
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