The Impact of Sports Events on Inbound Tourism in New Zealand

Abstract

Sports events are an instrument of destination marketing for host countries. Over the past 40 years, New Zealand has held sports events such as the Commonwealth Games and the America's Cup and many international tourists have visited New Zealand during these events. While past studies have examined the economic value of such tourism at a generic level, the impact of mega sports events at more specific levels is unknown. Thus, this study examines not only the impact of eight mega sports events upon New Zealand's international tourist arrivals over the 1983–2005 period at the overall level, but also the number of tourist arrivals from participating countries for each event. Results suggest that the 1990 Commonwealth Games, the 2000 America's Cup (yachting) and the 2005 British and Irish Lions Tour (rugby) had a significant impact on tourist arrivals overall and on arrivals from each participating country.

Keywords:

• New Zealand
• sports events
• sports tourism
• inbound tourists

Acknowledgement

This article was supported by Associate Professor Ron Garland, Waikato Management School, University of Waikato. Unfortunately, he passed away in December 2011. He loved New Zealand sports and frequently advised me when I wrote this article. I very much appreciated his contribution.