Mega Sport Events (Thesis Sample)

The Impacts on Tourism during and after Mega-Sporting Events (Name) (Course) (Instructor) (Date) Executive Summary While mega-sporting activities have remained crucial events across the world, the benefits of such events are broad. With these activities being scheduled somewhere in the world at least once annually, many countries tend to bid to host them in order to benefit from the wide array of gains associated with them. Essentially, the tourism sector, among the other economic sectors, has been considered to be the crucial source of trade flows into the host country for a mega-sporting event. Besides the conventional economic gains, hosting mega-sporting events is also associated with intangible gains including pride and social & cultural development among other benefits. Through the use of the gravity model of bilateral exchanges between countries, this study measures the impacts of hosting mega-sporting events on tourism sector of the host country. This has been done through the use of four mega-sport events including FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games (Winter and Summer) and Commonwealth Games from the year 2005-2010. Based on the results obtained, it was evidenced that mega-sporting events boost tourism significantly prior and during the event, but two years after the event the event becomes insignificant. Moreover, this study has evidenced that the type of the mega-sporting event is an important determinant of the magnitude of benefits to be enjoyed by the host country. The season of hosting such events was also considered as an important factor for successful hosting of the event, where winter events have been evidenced to be less successful than summer events. Table of Contents  TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724194"
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION  PAGEREF _Toc346724194 \h
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1.1 Background of the Study  PAGEREF _Toc346724195 \h
5  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724196"
1.2 Statement of the Problem  PAGEREF _Toc346724196 \h
6  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724197"
1.3 Research Aim and Objectives  PAGEREF _Toc346724197 \h
7  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724198"
1.4 Research Questions  PAGEREF _Toc346724198 \h
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1.5 – Structure of the Dissertation  PAGEREF _Toc346724199 \h
8  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724200"
CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW  PAGEREF _Toc346724200 \h
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2.1 Mega-Sporting Events  PAGEREF _Toc346724201 \h
9  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724202"
2.2 Major Mega-Sporting Events between the Years 2005-2010  PAGEREF _Toc346724202 \h
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2.2.1 Olympic Games  PAGEREF _Toc346724203 \h
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2.2.2 FIFA World Cup  PAGEREF _Toc346724204 \h
11  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724205"
2.2.3 Commonwealth Games  PAGEREF _Toc346724205 \h
13  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724206"
2.3 The Impact of Mega-Sport Events on Tourism in Host Countries  PAGEREF _Toc346724206 \h
13  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724207"
2.4 Common Mistakes Made in the Past Mega-Sporting Events  PAGEREF _Toc346724207 \h
16  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724208"
2.5 The Conceptual Framework of the Study  PAGEREF _Toc346724208 \h
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CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY  PAGEREF _Toc346724209 \h
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3.1 The Methodological Approach to the Research Problem  PAGEREF _Toc346724210 \h
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3.2 The Gravity Equation Model  PAGEREF _Toc346724211 \h
21  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724212"
3.2 Source of Data  PAGEREF _Toc346724212 \h
23  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724213"
3.3 Limitations of the Research Methodology  PAGEREF _Toc346724213 \h
24  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724214"
CHAPTER 4 – RESEARCH FINDINGS  PAGEREF _Toc346724214 \h
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4.1 The Impact of Mega-Sporting Events on Tourist Arrivals in the Same Year of Hosting the Event  PAGEREF _Toc346724215 \h
25  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724216"
4.2 – Impact of Different Mega-sport Events on Tourism  PAGEREF _Toc346724216 \h
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4.3 – The Lasting Legacy Created by Hosting Mega-Sporting Event on Tourism  PAGEREF _Toc346724217 \h
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CHAPTER 5 - DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS  PAGEREF _Toc346724218 \h
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5.1 The Effects of Mega-Sporting Events on Tourism in the Host Country  PAGEREF _Toc346724219 \h
30  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724220"
5.2 Lasting Legacies for Tourism in Host Countries for Mega-Sporting Events  PAGEREF _Toc346724220 \h
31  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724221"
5.3 The Future of Mega-Sporting Event- Related Tourism  PAGEREF _Toc346724221 \h
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CHAPTER 6 – CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS  PAGEREF _Toc346724222 \h
35  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724223"
REFERENCE LIST  PAGEREF _Toc346724223 \h
37  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc346724224"
APPENDIX  PAGEREF _Toc346724224 \h
42 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Over the past few decades, tourism has been one of the leading contributors of the growth of global trade services. While there are many factors influencing tourism growth in various parts of the world, mega-sporting events have been identified as one of the key boosters of tourism development in various countries (Andersson et al 2008, p. 164). According to Dansero & Puttilli (2010), mega-sporting events influence cultural, social and economic exchanges between countries due to their mass popular appeal and significance in the international context. Major sport events like FIFA World Cup, Common Wealth Games and Olympic Games among others have been considered as not only attracting increasingly international audience, but also seem to have played remarkable role in the shaping of the of various global tourism patterns. This has been done through highlighting new and unique tourism destinations through the creation of new legacies in the host states or cities. On this basis, the essence of mega-sporting events on tourism has drawn attention among scholars with the major focus being on how these events impact on international tourism trends. According to Fourie & Santana-Gallego (2011, p. 1366), most of these large sporting events have been considered to be the foundations of generating new territories that produce both tangible and intangible legacies that remain in the long-run even after the event. With the preparation of these mega events being associated with the restructuring of the available infrastructure and social amenities in the host countries, better training of services providers in the hospitality industry and improvement of the international awareness of the host country (Harris 2011), it is fundamentally conceived that mega-sporting activities represents a platform for the flourishing of the tourism sector both during and after the event. Essentially, the temporary transformation of the prevailing hospitality sector is converted into long-lasting changes which act as tourist attraction centers even after the end of the mega-event. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Various scholars have developed various models and theories on how global mega-sport activities influence the growth of tourism in the destination cities or countries. However, very little empirical evidence has been brought into focus to explore ‘how’ mega-sporting events yield cross-country tourism benefits (Eilat and Einav 2004, p. 1319). This is because most of the existing literatures on the existing relationship between global mega-events and tourism growth have been focusing on single events and in most cases usually they focus on type of sporting activity (Kasimati 2003). On this basis, it has been usually difficult to understand more comprehensively how mega events in the global platform affect the tourism sector of the host countries. Based on these literature gaps, this study seeks to explore how mega-sporting events impact on the host-country’s tourism sector by measuring across different mega-sporting activities hosted in various cities. Essentially, the research employs gravity specification standard in the international trade literatures to approximate any changes in the tourism capacities from hosting four different mega-sporting events which include FIFA World Cup, Rigby World Cup, Summer Olympic Games and Cricket World Cup over the period between the years 2005-2010. 1.3 Research Aim and Objectives The ultimate aim of this study is to explore and identify the major impacts of mega-sporting events on tourism sector of the host countries or cities. This study will provide a comprehensive analysis on how host country’s tourism sector is affected during the event and the legacy left behind on the entire tourism and hospitality industry. On this basis, the following are the key objectives for this study: The main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis on how future organizing countries for mega-sporting activities can take valuable examples from previous events in order to achieve maximum gains in their hospitality sector. This project also aims at highlighting the mistakes that were made during the past mega-events in order to provide a framework on how to avoid such mistakes in the future. Moreover, this aims at providing an insightful understanding on ways mega-sporting events and tourism activities in the host cities or countries are related. Another objective of this study is also to gain maximum acknowledgement of ways through which host country’s tourism sector can be improved to attract tourism even after the mega-sporting event. 1.4 Research Questions This project seeks at providing answers for the following research questions based on the aims and objectives outlined above: Do mega-sporting events im...