Abstract
Abstract : Extant research has established that destination branding through sport events is deemed to be a valuable resource for brand development and positioning, as well as for accessing social, economic and environmental benefits for both developed and developing nations. However, the destination branding discourse remains widely contested among academics and practitioners, as there is, as yet, no commonly accepted framework for the destination branding theory. Moreover, the theory underpinning sport event leveraging towards informed branding practices, especially in the developing destination context, is lacking. The current study conceptualises the leveraging of home-grown sport events for destination brands; extending the scope of other known sport event leveraging studies in the developing context. The research critically examines key stakeholders involved in sport and destination branding by detailing their perceptions in relation to the leveraging of home-grown sport using the South African brand as a case study. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were employed to collect the data. In total, 403 sport event attendee questionnaires were completed across two home-grown sport events, the Comrades Marathon in Durban and the IRONMAN triathlon in Port Elizabeth, using simple random sampling. Purposive sampling was implemented in targeting 24 key industry stakeholders from the relevant public and private organisations in sport, tourism and destination branding. The study reveals the significant effect of home-grown sport on destination branding through competitive brand positioning. A number of similarities and differences were observed between the sport event attendees and the stakeholder groups, in terms of the brand messages that were shown during the hosting of such sport events. Whereas the sport event attendees had indicated their intention to stay beyond the event, they were sceptical about the safety and security of the overall destination. Although the stakeholders agreed on the issue of safety and security, they observed the perception to be unjust to the brand, due to the skewed international media portrayal of social issues in especially the developing countries. Crime and other social issues, like education and health and safety, were, therefore, seen to be key challenges facing the South African destination’s perceived image. The study revealed outstanding opportunities for retaining sustainable tourism, and for attracting new tourism markets through the implementation of effective leveraging practices that are mainly linked to stakeholder commitment to investing in effective public and private partnerships. The key findings of the study conceptualise the role of leveraging strategies and the activities of stakeholders during the hosting of these specific types of sport events, so as to achieve augmented destination branding benefits. Although the above applies to both the developed and the developing contexts, distinguishing socioeconomic factors affecting developing nations have led to the adoption of a sport event leveraging framework in relation to home-grown sport. The study makes a theoretical contribution by developing a conceptual framework that articulates and underlines homegrown events for developing nation brands, by considering a developing country’s perspective by topics investigated largely in the developed Global North context. Further research questions were identified to inform future destination branding studies aimed at deriving additional definitive comparisons across stakeholder perspectives on strategic destination branding, as informed by sport event leveraging.
D.Phil. (Tourism and Hospitality)