Chinese Perceptions of Rio's destination image before and after the 2016 Olympics

ABSTRACT

This study investigates Chinese perceptions of Rio’s destination image before and after the 2016 Olympics. Samples of 573 and 564 residents from Shanghai were surveyed before and after the event. The Olympics raised awareness of Rio and as an Olympic host city. Post-games perceptions of affective image and tourist attractions were higher for people aware that Rio had hosted the Olympics. However, pre-games perceptions of tourism infrastructure and service in Rio were lower for participants aware that Rio would host the Olympics, and that the post-games perceptions of tourism infrastructure and service were lower than pre-games perceptions.

KEYWORDS:

• Major events
• host city
• sport
• long haul
• tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Chinese National Social Science Foundation.