International Sport Event Participation: Prior Sport Involvement; Destination Image; and Travel Motives

Abstract Research into sport event participation from an international perspective remains underdeveloped. This study utilized the attraction process within the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) to develop and examine five hypothesis related to motives of international participants (N=239) who registered for a hallmark Australian running event. Structural equation modelling revealed registration in the event is motivated by prior running involvement; desire to participate in organized running events, favourable beliefs and feelings toward the host destination and perceived travel benefits of escape, social interaction, prestige, relaxation, culture experience, cultural learning and knowledge exploration. Subsequent MANOVA analyses reveal participants from dissimilar cultures are more likely to perceive travel benefits of relaxation and cultural learning while gender differences emerge as females perceived opportunities of socialization, relaxation cultural experience, knowledge exploration and cultural learning. Results indicated that four broad categories of participants emerged: males of ‘similar culture’; females of ‘similar culture’; males of ‘dissimilar culture’; females of ‘dissimilar culture’. Marketing and event experiences need to cater for each of these variations in order to motivate participants’ registration and then provide the best active sport tourism experience based around the event.