Events tourism as catalyst to promote destinations: Event attendees’ perceptions of events in East London, South Africa.

Abstract

Globally, events have demonstrated rapid growth as unique types of attractions within tourist destinations. Such events have the potential to propel the image of host destinations to new heights. Events have been identified in many destination as a strategic tool to attract tourism investment especially in the context of developing economies such as South Africa. The aim of this study was to assess the event attendee’s perceptions of the sport tourism events in East London, South Africa. The empirical findings elucidate respondents as being 18-30 years old (with the 31-40 years old also being a notable), most were white females who were married. The study indicated that the 93.5% showed an interest in the continuation of sport tourism events. The study further highlighted the majority (53.2%) respondents perceived an increase of destination awareness due to a larger number of tourist influx. The results further suggest that the majority (81.8%) of respondents concur that the events provide opportunities for people to have fun with their family and friends and that the event was thus seen to appeal to family and friends to get away and visit a different destination. Generally, the respondents’ perceptions concerning the overall event, included the following: enjoying a different destination supporting family and friends, economic benefits, marketing and image enhancement, opportunities to meet people and opportunities for entertainment. Consequently, the provincial tourism marketing boards, local municipalities and events bureaus, should develop strategies that are events-oriented in order to promote their destinations to the World aesthetically and identify with especially, the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Keywords

• Events tourism
• South Africa
• sporting events
• Tourism board
• marketing