TY - JOUR
T1 - Why hotel rooms were not full during a hallmark sporting event
T2 - The 2009 World Games experience
AU - Sun, Ya Yen
AU - Rodriguez, Ariel
AU - Wu, Jih Hwa
AU - Chuang, Shu Tzu
N1 - Funding Information:
Assistances from the Kaohsiung Organizing Committee and Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau are highly appreciated. Financial support from the Taiwan National Science Council under NSC 98-2410-H-390-029-SS2 is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2013/6/1
Y1 - 2013/6/1
N2 - Hosting mega- and hallmark-events is perceived as an important vehicle for tourism development. However, in the case of the 2009 World Games, the first international hallmark sporting event in Taiwan, the volume of hotel occupancies and revenue fell short of expectations, despite 4 years of planning and an investment of US$218 million. This study set out to investigate this phenomenon by adopting semi-structured interviews to gather opinions from key stakeholders regarding their business operation and societal conditions. Factors contributing to the lower than expected revenue included inefficient collaboration among stakeholders, a substantial displacement effect to regional hotel competitors, and the unfriendly local atmosphere associated with the fear of H1N1, Typhoon Morakot, and controversial political events. To mitigate inefficiencies from stakeholder collaborations, the study results suggest greater equality in terms of responsibility, information distribution, and risk sharing is needed among the broader tourism industry, the event planning association, and the event supervising authority. In addition, business strategies should take into account Taiwan, an island destination, and current tourism characteristics to counter the displacement effects of loyal and potential customers.
AB - Hosting mega- and hallmark-events is perceived as an important vehicle for tourism development. However, in the case of the 2009 World Games, the first international hallmark sporting event in Taiwan, the volume of hotel occupancies and revenue fell short of expectations, despite 4 years of planning and an investment of US$218 million. This study set out to investigate this phenomenon by adopting semi-structured interviews to gather opinions from key stakeholders regarding their business operation and societal conditions. Factors contributing to the lower than expected revenue included inefficient collaboration among stakeholders, a substantial displacement effect to regional hotel competitors, and the unfriendly local atmosphere associated with the fear of H1N1, Typhoon Morakot, and controversial political events. To mitigate inefficiencies from stakeholder collaborations, the study results suggest greater equality in terms of responsibility, information distribution, and risk sharing is needed among the broader tourism industry, the event planning association, and the event supervising authority. In addition, business strategies should take into account Taiwan, an island destination, and current tourism characteristics to counter the displacement effects of loyal and potential customers.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tourman.2012.09.011
DO - 10.1016/j.tourman.2012.09.011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85027951949
VL - 36
SP - 469
EP - 479
JO - Tourism Management
JF - Tourism Management
SN - 0261-5177
ER -