FiT Publishing

This paper investigates the regional economic impact of the 1996 Olympic Games in Georgia. It questions the findings of Hotchkiss, Moore, and Zobay (2003), who identify significant positive effects of the Olympics on employment in Georgia/USA by first challenging their approach that used a level shift model with no trend inclusion. Second, the original trend regressions are modified to capture spline trend shifts. Third, a nonparametric identification strategy using complex continuous treatment measures extends the original study. After controlling for the two concerns and extending the...Read more

Mega sport events are believed to positively and significantly impact the host country’s destination image (from the tourism perspective) and country image (from the international marketing perspective). Focusing on the short-haul market, this study questioned the prevailing “optimism” and empirically examined the impact of hosting a mega sport event on the destination image and country image through a pre-post study design. The results presented a mixed (i.e., both positive and negative) impact on the two images, and patterns of image change varied according to sport involvement, media...Read more

While mega events substantially contribute to a hosting community’s economy and marketing appeal, small-scale events might result in more positive effects because they operate within an existing infrastructure, require a smaller budget, create a more manageable level of crowd congestion, and have high-impact regional effects on the community. Despite the positive effects and prevalence of small-scale events, few have examined their conceptual development. The purpose of this study was to investigate the hierarchical relationship among event image, satisfaction, and behavioral intention (i....Read more