Agata Niemczyk

Cracow University of Economics

Poland

agata.niemczyk@uek.krakow.pl

Consumption of specific tourist products – the value of participation in mega-event and its influence in shaping visitor loyalty to a destination

Renata Seweryn

Cracow University of Economics

Poland

renata.seweryn@uek.krakow.pl

Received: January, 2014

1st Revision: March, 2014

Accepted:April, 2014

ABSTRACT.  This paper aims to answer the question of whether a mega-event can act as an incentive for tourists to return to a previously visited destination. In order to find an answer to this research question, hypotheses were proposed with the aim of revealing dependencies between selected aspects of consumption of tourist products such as UEFA European Football Championships (EURO). The pertinent analyses were performed on the basis of research conducted in Krakow in 2012. In order to verify six of the main hypotheses of a lack of relationships between variables Xi, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used wherever possible; in other cases the test c2 was used (and to calculate the strength of correlation, the V-Cramer coefficient was used).  The analyses carried out confirmed prior theoretical constatations that satisfaction with a stay in a destination concurrently hosting a mega-event translates into improvement of that destination’s image and greater loyalty among tourists; and that the better the image of a mega-event venue, the stronger the effect of the tourist’s loyalty towards that place. The research shows also that the higher the frequency of visits to the venue of a mega-event, the longer the time spent in that place.

DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2014/7-1/10

JEL Classification: C49, D01, D11, D12, Z11, Z13

Keywords: tourist consumption, mega-event, tourist satisfaction, emotional loyalty, behavioural loyalty