Inbound event tourism attendees: a group qualities-values approach at destination

Purpose – The inbound event tourists drawn to an Australian destination to participate in one of 14 annual international auto racing (AR) events can be sectioned to release each group’s behavioural perspectives around their tourism-related impacts on the destination. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Inbound event tourists attending the destination are surveyed during the three-day major event. Each respondent displays non-uniform, personally driven agendas and varying degrees of local tourism acceptance. Findings – Inbound event tourists self-select into one of six psychologically framed AR sport groupings, and exhibit micro-differences that can then be used to align local tourism around future. Research limitations/implications – The authors do not consider locals attending this international series AR event, but project their destination tourism and event impacts to be less than those of inbound event tourists. Totally, 90 per cent of inbound AR event tourists each fit one of six motive groups and each group exhibits behaviours, decision-making and spending patterns which can be later optimized in preparation for the destination’s next major event. Practical implications – AR attendees self-select into just one behavioural attendance motive. Group approaches unlock new understanding of event attendees and their behaviours. Inbound event tourists spend 2 to 1 on the destination’s tourism vs its major event. Destinations targeting inbound event tourists should grow their spend ratio by bundling local tourism offerings into short length-of-stay requirements offering conservatively priced (under $100/activity), adventure focused, tourism options. Originality/value – This study links inbound event tourist groupings; acquisitions; stay patterns and spending. It captures the economic components and their relative impact on the destination. By combining all the sub-groups of inbound (and local) AR event attendees, a better representation of their economic impact on the destination can be determined.