Over and over: local fans and spectator sport tourist engagement

Renzo Cordina, Martin Joseph Gannon and Ross Croall

The Service Industries Journal, 2019, vol. 39, issue 7-8, 590-608

Abstract: This study investigates consumer engagement within the live sport-as-service industry by exploring the match-day experiences of spectator sport tourists. It highlights the importance of authentic and sincere experiences manifest through tourists’ interactions with local fans. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with international tourists who had visited Glasgow and attended a Celtic FC match. The findings demonstrate that football clubs may overlook the importance of consumer engagement, and that local fans are crucial in sustaining sports tourists’ engagement. To this end, the findings suggest that tourist interactions with local fans can stimulate more memorable and enjoyable travel. Furthermore, the vocal, visual displays provided by local fans contribute to an authentic and sincere travel experience. The study therefore suggests that local fans are a resource under-utilised by professional sports teams, with their contribution serving as a vital bridge between organisation and tourist in fostering engagement.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02642069.2018.1534962 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:servic:v:39:y:2019:i:7-8:p:590-608

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FSIJ20

DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2018.1534962

Access Statistics for this article

The Service Industries Journal is currently edited by Eileen Bridges, Professor Domingo Ribeiro, Ronald Goldsmith, Barry Howcroft and Youjae Yi

More articles in The Service Industries Journal from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().