AN INVESTIGATION OF DESTINATION ATTRIBUTE PREFERENCE
AMONG SPORT TOURISTS 

 ONG TAH FATT
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam

INTRODUCTION 

As a fast growing industry, tourism has become the second biggest foreign exchange earner for the country (Utusan Malaysia, 2004).  Recent statistics showed that sport-based activities are growing to be the main tourism product in Malaysia.  In the year 2002, 25% of the total revenue earned by the tourism industry were from those involved in sport and recreational events (Yap Lee Ying, 2004).  It was also predicted that Malaysia’s sport tourism has a year-on-year growth potential of 8-10 per cent, and is capable of continuing up to one third of total tourism receipt within the next five to eight years (Svrcula, 2003).  Realizing the important contribution of sport tourism to the tourism industry, many international sport events , such as F-1 Sepang Grand Prix, Penang International Dragon Boat Race, KL Towerthlon and many others,  were organized and promoted to attract the attendance of  local and foreign sport tourist. 

Sport tourism is a relatively new area of study that has become increasingly pervasive over the past decades.  The term ‘sport tourism’ is generally being describe as ‘sport –related leisure travel’ (Gibson, 2003).  Gammon and Robinson (2003) identified sport tourist as ‘individuals and/or groups of people who actively or passively participate in competitive or recreational sport, while traveling to and/or staying in places outside their usual environment (sport as the primary motivation of travel)’

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 

Though sport tourism has been recognized as one of the main contributors in generating country’s tourism revenue as well as encourage economic activities, studies in further understanding the sport tourism market is still lacking.  The tourist, as the main component of the demand factor in the tourism system, need to be given attention. In sport tourism market, identifying the characteristics of sport-based travelers or sport tourists is vital. Information about the characteristics of the sport tourist will enable tourism marketers to identify the target market more accurately and develop strategic plans to attract sport tourists to go to a particular destination.  This will further provide a conceptual framework upon which sport tourism marketers can develop effective planning, management and promotion strategies.

            Tourism research literature showed that demographic, socio-economic and travel trip characteristics are the factors commonly used in understanding the sport tourist.  However, researchers also acknowledged that demographic and socio-economic attributes alone are not enough in understanding tourist’s vacation destination choices (Lehto et al, 2002).  Chen and Gursoy (2001) has revealed that research on choice factors has primarily centered on the empirical examinations of critical destination attributes used by tourists as criteria for determining their travel alternatives.  As mentioned by Baloglu and Uysal (1996), destination attributes is generally accepted as the pull factors in the study of tourist motivations.  Pull factors are those tangible resources such as beaches, recreation facilities and historic resources that attract the individual to a specific destination (Uysal and Hagan, 1993).   It has been suggested that information pertaining to the pull motivation factors/variables of tourists can be used to assist in making tourism development and management decisions

Since there is limited study on the pull motivation of sport tourist travel in the country, the present study aims to investigate :  What characteristics do sport tourists possess? What are the destination attributes preferred by sport tourists? And whether there are any differences between local sport tourists and foreign sport tourists, in terms of  demographic background, destination attributes preference, and other activities involved in the destination visited?  

Purpose of study 

The purpose of this study attempts to identify the profile of local and foreign sport tourist sport tourist based on their demographic characteristics. The destination attributes preference among local and foreign sport tourists were compared to provide further understanding of pull motivations on sport tourists.   The activities considered important to local and foreign sport tourists were also investigated to give additional information in comprehending the behavior of sport tourists.            

RESEARCH DESIGN, INTRUMENTATION AND PROCEDURE 

Design of the study 

This is a survey research with questionnaire constructed based on literature reviews regarding tourist destination choice and attributes preference.  A pilot test was then performed to examine the reliability of the questionnaire.  Self-administered questionnaire were distributed and collected from visitors on site

 Selection of subjects 

 Since the target population is the sport tourists, a purposive sampling technique was adopted. Data were collected from a sport venue, Sepang F-1 Circuit, utilizing convenience sampling whereby the respondents for this study were visitors to the mentioned destinations. A total of 180 questionnaires were collected.  Due to some incomplete questionnaires, only 158 questionnaires were used for further analysis. 

Instrumentation 

The questionnaire for this study was designed in three sections.  The first section  emphasizes the demographic data of respondents which contains several demographic questions regarding their age, places of origin, gender, marital status, education level, income and occupation. The second section consists of 29 items measuring the five components of destination attributes which are attractions, facilities and services, infrastructure, hospitality and cost.  The final  section investigates other  activities that were considered important to the respondents during the period of stay.   Five-point Likert-type scale was used and the scale ranges from 5 (very important) to 1 (not at all important). 

A pilot study was conducted to test the reliability of the questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability score for the destination attributes preferred was .781. 

RESEARCH FINDINGS 

Demographic profile of respondents 

The results of the demographic background of respondents were summarized in Table 1 .

Gender : 

The distribution of gender between local sport tourist and foreign sport tourist from a total of 158 respondents were 87 males and 71 females. Among the foreign sport tourist, there were more male (57.5%) than female respondents (39.4%). On the other hand, female (60.6%) composed of higher percentage that  male (46.3%) in the group of local sport tourist. 

Marital status :

Married respondents show the higher percentage among local sport tourist (50.0%) and foreign sport tourist (57.7%) in the respective group. By marital status, there is not much differences of percentage between the local and foreign sport tourist.               

Age groups:

Majority of the local sport tourist were between 19-30 years old group (80.2%) followed by 31-40 years old group (15.0.%). However, majority of the foreign sport tourist were from the 31-40 years old group (50.0%) followed by 19-30 years old group (38.5%).  This would most likely indicate that local sport tourists are from the younger age group compared to foreign sport tourist. There were no clear differences observed among the other age groups (41-50 years old). 

Occupation :

Three main types of occupation (93.7%) amongst the foreign sport tourist were professionals (25.6%), company employee (25.6%) and followed by businessman (20.5%).  Majority of the local sport tourist (75.0%) were company employee (60.0%) and civil servants  (15.0%).  The data shows that there is an obvious distinction of occupation, in the category of  business and professional,  between foreign sport tourist and local sport tourist. 

Income :

Comparatively, the highest percentage of income group for the foreign sport tourist are  the RM6,001 and above (30.8%) income group followed by RM4,501-RM6,00 income group (29.5%) .  As for the local sport tourist, the two highest percentage of income group are the group of RM1,501-RM3,000 (50.0%) and the group of  RM 3,001-RM4,500 (25.0%) 

Education Level :

Basically, the data obtained represents that the foreign sport tourist (92.3%) generally has higher tertiary education as compared to local sport tourist (48.8%). Majority of the foreign sport tourist (71.8%) has education in the degree level compared to local sport tourist (30.0%).  At the diploma level and secondary level, the local sport tourist (58.8%) has higher percentage than foreign sport tourist (28.2%). 

TABLE 1 : Demographic profile of respondents

Demographic profile of local and foreign  sport tourist 

Chi Square statistical test for the demographic variables indicated that significant differences exist between local and foreign sport tourist, except for marital status (p = .600) which has p value greater than .05.  Therefore, there are significant differences between local and foreign sport tourist in terms of gender, age, occupation, income and education level. (refer Table 2)   

TABLE 2 : Differences of Demographic Variables Between local and foreign sport tourist

Destination Attribute Preference mean between  Local & Foreign Sport Tourist           

As seen from Table 3, generally the mean score of destination attributes preference for the local sport tourist is higher than the foreign sport tourist, except for ‘attraction’ factor.  

TABLE 3 :  Destination Attribute Preference Mean Between  Local & Foreign Sport Tourist

However, both groups indicated ‘hospitality’ to be the most important factor to be consider in the choice of travel destination.  Interestingly, it was found that local sport tourist and foreign sport tourist perceived the ‘cost’, ‘attraction’ and ‘facilities and services’ factors quite differently. While the local sport tourist indicated that ‘cost’ as the second most important factor, the foreign sport tourist placed ‘cost’ as their least important factor among the preferred destination attributes.  Although the foreign sport tourist consider ‘attractions’ as the second most important factor, the local sport tourist perceived ‘attractions’ as their second least important factor among the preferred destination attributes.  

Comparison of  Destination Attribute Preference Between  Local & Foreign Sport Tourist 

From the results shown in Table 4, there were statistically significant differences in two destination attribute components namely: cost and infrastructure, between local sport tourist and foreign sport tourist. 

TABLE 4: Results of T-Test among destination attributes between local & foreign sport tourist 

                  *p < .05

 Other Activity considered Important by Local and Foreign Sport Tourist.

 Table 5 below shows the comparison of other important activity considered by local and foreign sport tourist while visiting a destination. The four top rank important activity for local and foreign sport tourist are almost the same, i.e. sight seeing activities, visiting beaches, shopping and sightseeing in country site. There is an obvious difference in the rating of attending cultural events between the foreign and local sport tourist. The foreign sport tourist rated ‘visiting cultural events activity’ as the fifth important activity (mean=3.87), whereas the activity was ranked eighth (mean=3.27) by local sport tourist. 

TABLE 5: Comparison of Important Activity among Local and Foreign Sport Tourist

 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS 

The result of the present study shows that foreign sport tourists are  likely to be male, married, age from 31 – 40 years old, well educated, relatively affluent (monthly income of RM4,501 and above) and employed full time with inclusion of businessman. Generally, the demographic profile of foreign sport tourist identified in the study is rather consistence with other studies conducted in America (Yiannakis, 1992), Great Britain (Mintel International Group, 1995), and Japan (Nogawa, Yamaguchi & Hagi, 1996).  However, the local sport tourist in the study are found to be generally younger compared to foreign tourist.  Most of them are employed full time and with inclusion of civil servants.  Majority of the local sport tourist in the income group of  RM1,501 – RM4,500.  

            Generally,  the three aspects of destination attributes considered by the local sport tourist to be important in choosing travel destination are ‘hospitality’, ‘cost’ and ‘infrastructure’.  However,  foreign sport tourist are more concerned about ‘hospitality’ and ‘attractions’.  Therefore, the most prominent destination attributes considered important by both local and foreign sport tourist in choosing  a travel destination is ‘hospitality’.   This factor consists of element such as helpfulness, cleanliness, language, warm and friendly people, in which extra attention should be given.  The local sport tourist is particular about ‘cost’ factor, which includes value for money, price of transportation, shopping, food and beverage.  The foreign sport tourist give priority to ‘attraction’ factor in selecting travel destination. This factor consists of scenery, climate, cultural experience, ethnicity and historical sites.  The third important factor for both local and foreign sport tourist is ‘infrastructure’,  which are made up of elements such as communication network, highways, safety/security system, and health care. 

Concerning other important activities, both groups of sport tourist seems to have a common interest to indulge in activity such as sight seeing, visiting beaches, shopping, walking/hiking/tracking and sightseeing in country site.  Foreign sport tourist are found to particularly interested in attending cultural events.       . 

            With information about demographic profile of sport tourists, tourism providers and administrators can easily identify the potential target market and design suitable packages and program suitable for the target group.  Since the foreign sport tourists are likely to be male, married, age from 31 – 40 years old, well educated, and relatively affluent, more interesting and relaxing recreation activities highlighting local attractions should be incorporated in the travel package.  Tourism products that provide cultural events/activities ought to be given priority where the foreign tourists can have a taste of local, unique real-life cultural experience.  As for local sport tourist,   economical travel packages with reasonable and affordable price should be emphasized.  To meet the demand of good ‘hospitality’, service quality  of tourism destination play an important role in promoting the attractiveness of the destination. Well-trained personnel would be able to upgrade the service and image of  travel destinations.

For future research, it is recommended that wider areas and more destinations should be included  to determine if  sport tourist in other areas or sport events in Malaysia possess their own characteristics. To provide better generalization, larger population of respondents would be needed to enhance the finding of  the study.  This, perhaps, could provide more information for different marketing strategies in the sport tourism industry.