Tourists’ perceptions, emotions, and attitudes during a mega sport event

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions and emotions of the sports-fan tourists experienced during a mega sport event to analyse the influence exerted by a sports event on a sponsoring brand. An empirical study was performed by collecting information from 364 sport-fan tourists during the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe. Results show that fans’ emotions, event perceived value, fans’ attitudes and sponsor perceived value are related terms. Moreover, to explain the success of a sponsoring brand, there are three relevant antecedents (attendees’ motivation, exposure to the event, and team identification). In comparison, two antecedents seem to be irrelevant (event involvement and sponsor familiarity). This investigation has made progress in researching the backgrounds that determine the sports-fan tourist behaviour in an integrated way to explain how a sponsoring brand can benefit from it.