What motivates sports event tourists?: a synthesis of three disciplines

Abstract

[Abstract]: Sport event tourism is a huge and growing global industry with important economic implications for both the sport, the event and the impact of travel and tourism related benefits on host destinations. Research within the tourism and event marketing fields reveal an abundance of studies on motivation and satisfaction (Crompton 1979; Dann 1977; Uysal & Jurwoski 1994; Gnoth 1992; Wann & Branscombe. However there is a lack of research into what motivates consumers to become sport event tourists and whether these motivations differ from the traditional sport consumption, tourism or event marketing literature. This paper synthesises the consumer motivation literature from three fields; tourism, events and sports spectating. It further provides a proposal for future research which advocates the testing of a new set of motivational variables and eventual identification of a sport event tourist typology.