150 likes | 340 Views
Motivations of Sport Tourists: A study of Masters Swimmers at a Short Course Championship Event. Nancy Hritz , Ph.D. University of North Carolina Wilmington William D. Ramos Indiana University – Bloomington SETTRA Spring meeting April 1, 2008. Introduction ~.
E N D
Motivations of Sport Tourists: A study of Masters Swimmers at a Short Course Championship Event Nancy Hritz, Ph.D. University of North Carolina Wilmington William D. Ramos Indiana University – Bloomington SETTRA Spring meeting April 1, 2008
Introduction ~ • Sport tourism motivation intrinsic • Active vs. non active sport tourist • (Gibson, 1988) • Past involvement in a sport may influence • their participation (McGehee et. al., 2003) • Adult active sport tourist different • than youth (Gill et. al., 1996)
United States Masters Swimming ~ • Adult only swim organization • National Short Course Championships • annual event • Qualify to compete
Need for the study ~ • Understand the motivations to be at the • event (compete or to travel?) • Motivations vary across the adult life • span (Elby and Molnar, 1991) • Aid event planners in increasing • numbers and destination selection • Lack of research on the adult sport • (swim) tourist
Research questions ~ What is the profile of the USMS Short Course participant? What is the relationship between age, past involvement in swimming events and travel and competition motivators?
Survey development ~ Demographic questions Travel Career Ladder: stimulation, escape, novelty (Pearce, 1991) Participation motivation questionnaire (PMQ): social development, win, fitness (Gill, et. al., 1983)
Method • Pilot • Paper and pencil survey at the 2006 • championships held in Coral Springs, FL, May 11-14 • Convenience sample
Participant profile: • 394 usable surveys were returned • Ages: 35 to 54 • Caucasian • Bachelors degree • Number of swim meets: 3-6 • Swim team experience: high school • Residence: 38 different states, • Bahamas, and international locations
Travel and Competition motivations ~ • Descriptively…. • Compete for fitness statements • rated as most important • Followed by compete in order to • win • Travel motivation statements • rated only as only of medium • importance
Data analysis ~ • Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) • Principal axis factoring with Varimax • rotation • Five factor solution accounting for • 61.6% of variability: • Travel for escape, stimulation, compete • for social development, fitness, to win
Regression models ~ a Significant at the .001 level b Significant at the .05 level
Regression models ~ a Significant at the .001 level b Significant at the .05 level
Conclusions ~ Relationship between the motivations to compete and to travel Greater emphasis on competition motivations Travel history did not appear to play a significant role
Future research ~ Survey non participants Alternative travel motivation approach Other events/sports
Thank you for your time. Questions?