Emerging venue considerations for event management: the case of Ireland

Event venues represent a focal point for infectious disease transmission among attendees and event stakeholders, creating lasting uncertainty within the industry post-COVID-19. There is now a need to investigate emerging venue considerations for the event industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Ireland as a case, a quantitative questionnaire was used on a sample of event managers. Event venue monitoring for COVID-19 is lacking, while risk mitigation procedures focus more on attendees already at the venue rather than avoiding infected persons entering the venue. Risk assessments now comprise COVID-19 risk;however, a lack of resources means regular health and safety has shown signs of weakening. Government and local authority resources and financial support are required. Pre-venue procedures of symptom screening and proof of vaccination, combined with venue procedures for disinfection of venue spaces, table service, and appropriate ventilation have proven to be effective COVID-19 risk mitigation procedures. Additionally, ICT (information and communications technology) could disseminate up-to-date health guidelines through customer-centric digital environments representing enhanced information sharing to avoid uncertainty and support pro-social intentions of event attendees and compliance with event venue COVID-19 risk mitigation procedures.

Changes in young people at pre-camp sites for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games: focusing on sports life and attitudes toward sports

Clarifying the effects of mega sporting events is an important issue. This study was conducted on the residents of pre-camp sites to identify changes in their sports lifestyles and attitudes toward sports before and after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020). By examining these changes in relation to the hosting of Tokyo 2020, the effects of the mega-sports event were discussed. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey conducted before and after Tokyo 2020. The survey targeted students (elementary, junior high, and high school students) from schools located in the Tokyo 2020 pre-camp sites. The sample size was 3,129 for the pre-survey and 2,299 for the post-survey. A comparison of changes in sports life and attitudes toward sports before and after Tokyo 2020 did not reveal consistent changes in these survey items. However, positive changes were observed in some of the items related to sports spectating, sports volunteering, and attitudes toward sports after Tokyo 2020. These results suggest that mega-sporting events held in the social context of the coronavirus pandemic influence sports promotion, and may contribute to the promotion of sports spectating and sports volunteering, and the formation of positive attitudes toward sports. Previous studies on mega-sporting events have focused on the economic effects and regional benefits. In contrast, this study suggests that the holding of mega-sporting events may also contribute to sports promotion. However, this study could not identify the factors and mechanisms that cause the event holding effect. More research is needed to verify the effects of mega-sports events in the future.

Event satisfaction and interdependent happiness in sports volunteers: focused-on a triathlon event during the COVID-19 pandemic

Sports volunteers play an important role in sports event management. There are various motivations for the participants of sports volunteer activities. In particular, the occurrence of sports events has significantly decreased due to the impacts of COVID-19. At the same time, consideration should be given as to whether it is possible to find value and reward from volunteer activities or not. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between event satisfaction and interdependent happiness in sports volunteers. This research focused on sports volunteers of the 2021 Asia Triathlon Championships Hatsukaichi. The data was collected from 163 participants, with a significant response rate of 48.9%. The average respondent age was 54.0 years old, 123 respondents were male (75.5%), and 40 respondents were female (24.5%). The result of multiple regression was significant (F = 3.28, p < .01) and it accounted for 20% of the interdependent happiness. The predictors of socio-demographics were not deemed significant. On the other hand, event satisfaction was significant (p < .01) with regard to independent happiness. This research utilized the relationship between event satisfaction and independent happiness through structural equation modeling. The result of Structural Equation Modeling was significant at the .10% level. In sum, event satisfaction was significant in regard to independent happiness. This result shows a possibility to help understand the value of sports volunteers. Additionally, sports events in the community are expected to have not only an economic impact, but also, contribute to the sustainable social developments of the community.

Maximum effort

This article looks at the post-pandemic recovery of the Australian mass participation sporting events sector. The Australian Mass Participation Sporting Events Alliance (AMPSEA) is supporting the industry in the post-COVID world where organizers face reduced entry levels, challenges in attracting sponsorship, huge increases in input and other costs, and current rises in the cost of living combined with significant staff and volunteer turnover.

Future-proofing events management students through experiential learning

Universities are facing increased pressure to meet industry demands for work-ready graduates capable of succeeding in the future of work. In response, attention has been directed to experiential learning techniques and employability skill development within the curriculum. However, the success of such an approach relies on the ability to secure synergistic and sustainable partnerships with industry and community. This case explores the connections between technical, discipline-based skills learned in an undergraduate event management unit and transferable, generic employability skills developed by students in the course of their experiential learning. The unit is offered at Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia and features an extraordinary partnership with charity organisation Northcott Disability Services. The case study details the unique design features of this learning experience and how it contributes to positive stakeholder outcomes. This includes changes made in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Festival cities and tourism: challenges and prospects. (Special Issue: Festival cities and tourism.)

This paper provides an introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events on Festival Cities and Tourism. It provides a contextualisation of the conversations surrounding the relationship between cities and their festivals during the Covid-19 pandemic. Focussing on the 'festival city' of Edinburgh, we examine how festival organisers reacted to the challenges of the pandemic, and how they strove to maintain contact with audiences and other stakeholders. We then review the different contributions to the special issue, ranging from festivalisation and suburban food festivals in Barcelona to an art festival in Dublin, the European Capital of Culture in Hungary and the festival portfolio of Hong Kong.

Face-to-face, remote or hybrid, how events are forced to reinvent themselves

The events sector has suffered an unprecedented halt to its activity since March 2020. More than 300,000 jobs have been threatened since trade fairs, seminars, meetings and team building were brought to a halt by the Covid-19 epidemic. Far from being discouraged, the profession quickly thought about new models of encounters by imagining remote devices. The idea has been germinating for some time, but the health crisis has accelerated the trend towards the digitization of events without completely setting aside real encounters, but promoting a new form of hybrid encounters.

Managing events and festivals post-COVID- 19: maintaining the status quo or resetting for the sustainability agenda

This chapter provides insights into the various views associated with the future of the events tourism industry following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and introduces a framework for a resilient and sustainable tourism recovery plan post-COVID-19. It is argued that a good recovery plan will continually reinforce the positive strengths and minimize the vulnerabilities to make the system sustainable.

Special Issue: Sport and COVID-19: impact and challenges for the future: volume 2. (Special Issue: Sport and COVID-19: impact and challenges for the future: volume 2.)

This second volume of the 'Sport and COVID-19' special edition expands upon the themes of the first. Topics covered by the six papers include: corporate social irresponsibility's impact on a sporting goods brand;virtual sport behaviour of event participants;sport media coverage during the pandemic;and sport brand involvement and fan well-being during the pandemic.

Sport-tourism running events in the post-COVID-19 world: any sign of change? (Special Issue: Health, sport and tourism: searching for future synergies.)

The covid-19 pandemic has led to significant restrictions on sports and the sport tourism event industry. Consequently, event organisers must consider and implement new safety strategies to protect event attendees. This empirical study focuses on active runners and their intention to attend future running events following the covid-19 crisis, and the perception of how important they find some of the nonpharmaceutical safety-related protective measures when attending sporting events (e.g. limited number of people, prescribed minimum distance, no-contact payment etc.). To collect data, a survey questionnaire was conducted in February 2021 among the running community in Croatia. Besides descriptive statistics, anova and t-test were employed to test whether statistically significant differences exist in the perception of safety protective measures among participants depending on their motivation and the type of running event. Respondents are very impatient regarding events and it seems they do not perceive the safety protective measures as very important. The majority of respondents plan to attend one-day races in their home country within a few weeks and they are mostly motivated by competition and improvement of racing skills, socializing and fun. The type of motivation and the type of running event are not found to have a major influence on the perception of safety protective measures. Even though running is an outdoor sport, safety protective measures might be a challenge for event organizers in the future. Revealing the runners' intentions to visit running events and their attitudes towards safety protective measures, this study could shape event organizers' future managerial and security strategies.

New year's eve show: an opportunity to further develop sustainable local tourism in Chile

Although the pandemic is still with us and COVID-19 continues to saturate the news, everyone has abundant reasons to travel, whether it be physical and mental exhaustion from prolonged shutdowns, vaccine tourism, family reunions, long-awaited vacations, summer in the southern hemisphere, school break or year-end holidays. The main purpose of this research was to examine and understand the main motivations that lead consumers to attend national events as part of their local tourism activities. Through interviews, we have therefore collected the complementary experiences of specialists who work day-in-day-out to encourage local, quality and sustainable tourism. Using a naturalistic qualitative methodology, our hermeneutic analysis is structured in five phases and based on data-of a social nature-from public and private institutions which believe in endurable tourism. In order to validate these results and for them to be considered by other institutions and other countries when modifying and proposing activities to maintain sustainable tourism, the interviewees had to be representatives of public and private institutions and national tourists who have worked and attended the celebrations of the end of the year 2021 in this region of Chile. Our main conclusions from the analyzed units show that these types of local events enhance local tourism and lead to sustainable political, economic, social, and ecological activities.

Tunnel and crossing: the future road of the Olympics under Tokyo 2020 '+1'. (Special Issue: Asian Journal of Sport History & Culture, 2021, 3 - Special issue: Olympics.)

With the entire world plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo 2020 '+1' became a symbol of people passing through a dark tunnel into the light. If a historical period can be regarded as liminal, special attention must be paid to the thoughts and practices in this period. Based on previous liminality/liminoid research by Gennep and Turner, this study explored the behaviour and performance of five communitas - the IOC, the TOC, the Government of Japan, athletes, and Japanese people in the process of separation and tunnel crossing. (1) The separation state of the five communitas differs from the category included in previous theories. Liminoids may not necessarily have been designed in advance, but can also spontaneously arise as a force for changes in major events or disasters. (2) As a liminoid event, the tunnel functions as a liminal experience and exhibits a special ontological status and state of 'reinforced structure'. (3) The IOC may hold a special 'X + Tokyo2020' Olympics in the future to bring those involved out of the liminality. (4) The idea of a tunnel could help the Olympic Games or other sports events open up new ideas and form a creative mode of resistance to uncertainty.

Virtual is vital: the strategies, design, and attendee engagement of virtual events

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has changed the event sector and altered the event landscape worldwide. Thus it is imperative to understand how COVID-19 has changed the event sector, and what can be done to sustain this economic industry. The adaptation strategies are not only important for sustaining the event business but also to retain company visibility. The lockdown phases in Malaysia, which started in March 2020, gave rise to numerous fruitful webinars by event experts worldwide. To give support and guidance, the recorded webinars were made available for the public and shared through YouTube. A content analysis of five webinars was conducted, which presented the discussion of 17 event industry experts worldwide, revolving around three major themes. The themes included strategies of hosting virtual events, strategies for maximising attendee engagement;as well as the design of virtual events. The analysis of these webinars revealed that most of the experts were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly their event businesses, and as a result, tried changing their way of thinking, and brainstormed on how to transform their regular events into virtual events. The findings of this paper are vital as they present practical insights from event experts.

Recommendations for the return of spectators to sport stadiums: a South African sports medicine association (SASMA) position statement - part 4

All sports were discontinued in 2020 with the arrival of COVID-19. Since then most have been reinstated, albeit without spectators. However, several countries have put together a number of different risk-mitigating strategies to allow spectators back into stadiums. This position statement gives an outline of the minimum requirements that should be considered upon the return of spectators at live sporting events.

Participatory sport events in times of COVID-19: analysing the (virtual) sport behaviour of event participants. (Special Issue: Sport and COVID-19: impact and challenges for the future: volume 2.)

Research question: Due to government restrictions because of COVID-19, all participatory sport events (PSEs) were cancelled. As a result, knowledge is needed as to how and to what extent participants of PSEs modified their sport behaviour to fill the void of event cancellation. Therefore, this study aimed to (1) investigate to what extent event participants have modified their sport behaviour as a result of the COVID-19 measures, and (2) analyse the factors that determine participation in virtual events (real activities using an online recording platform). Research methods: A total of 2869 respondents completed an online survey which was widely disseminated in Flanders (Belgium) six weeks after the announcement of the COVID-19 lockdown. The sample included both event and non-event participants. Descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses were used to investigate how event participants adapted their sport behaviour and which factors determined virtual event participation. Results and findings: Since the COVID-19 measures, event participants did not decrease the frequency but only the intensity of their sport behaviour. Based on social ecological theory, participation in virtual events could be explained by both individual determinants (e.g. motivation towards developing skills), and interpersonal determinants (e.g. previous participation in a virtual event). Implications: This study contributes to research on the impact of COVID-19 measures and consequently the cancellation of PSEs on sport behaviour of event participants. Confronted with an uncertain future, the findings provide insights for event organisers to develop and optimise virtual event experiences in order to reach non-event participants as well.

Assignment of broadcasting rights as a source of financing sports activities

The goal of this paper is to provide a review of the transfer of rights to broadcasting sporting events as one source of financing sporting activities and clubs through comparative practice and current legal regulations. Sports and the law are deeply intertwined, primarily due to the fact that sports are exposed to various challenges, ranging from doping, prevention of violence at sports manifestations, all the way to competition regulations, managing sports organizations and business processes. In this paper, we will analyze the positive legal regulations that enable the realization of income based on the right to broadcast. Sources of financing are necessary for the conduct of sporting activities. The most successful clubs generate the biggest part of their revenue through leasing broadcasting rights for sporting events and marketing. Broadcasting sporting events not only enables generation of direct revenue, but also removes the shackles of previously existing spatial barriers and thus contributes to the popularity of sports, athletes and their clubs. Occurrences such as the coronavirus pandemic have led to the organization of sporting events in controlled conditions, without the presence of an audience or with numerous limitations and restrictions. In such situations, numerous institutions have offered interactive forms of communication with the consumers (online museum tours, concerts, etc.), thus not only minimizing losses, but also maintaining contact with the audience. This situation has proven the significance of digital communication with the consumers. Even though the year 2020 went by without the previously planned Olympics and, in most cases, without sports fans in the stands, the sporting industry recorded a jump (from 388.28 billion dollars in 2020 to 440.77 billion of dollars in 2021). The growth in earnings was achieved predominantly due to the increase in media revenues.

COVID-19, networks and sport. (Special Issue: Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-19.)

This commentary serves to provide a rapid analysis of the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on sporting mass gatherings. The focus of this commentary surrounds sporting mass gatherings and strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, with a particular focus on the UEFA EURO 2020 competition. Further references to the 2020 Olympic Games, and community recreational football are made. The intention is to stimulate discussion, analysis, interest and research on what the initial impact of COVID-19 has on sport. COVID-19 could fundamentally change the way sport operates in the future and requires further analysis. We hope this commentary provides an interesting record and reference point for future research and practice of those operating in sporting organisations. Learning lesson from this crisis, must ensure sport managers and practitioners are better prepared in sport and society for similar events in the future.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the events sector of Ouro Preto (MG)

The events sector in the municipality of Ouro Preto Minas Gerais is an important contributor to the local economy, they exercise the function of attracting thousands of tourists every year to the city and its districts, thus contributing to the image of the destination and generating employment and income for the Ouro Preto population. In the beginning of 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic, since then numerous biosafety measures have been adopted to minimize the spread of the new coronavirus, such as the use of masks and social distancing, measures which are incompatible and prevent the holding of in-person events, which caused major impacts in the events sector. Given this scenario, through a qualitative-quantitative approach and with exploratory descriptive purpose, this article aims to reveal the impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing in the events sector in the city of Ouro Preto - MG. Therefore, the research demonstrates the difficulties that institutions, entrepreneurs and workers in the event sector in the city are facing, as well as reports that show what measures are being taken to minimize damage and survive the crisis.

The COVID-19 outbreak and public perceptions of sport events in Japan. (Special Issue: Managing sport and leisure in the era of Covid-19.)

The pandemic of the COVID-19 has forced various sport organizations to postpone or cancel sport events. The current investigation provides a rapid analysis of public perceptions of (1) postponement and cancelation decisions made by sport organizations, and (2) whether the Tokyo Olympics 2020 should be held in July 2020. Data from Japanese citizens (n = 529) show that approximately 75% supported postponement decisions made by professional sport leagues. Surprisingly, only fewer than 50% supported the cancelation decision of the high school baseball tournament (i.e., Spring Koshien). Regarding the Tokyo Olympics, 35.2% disagreed with holding the games, which was almost identical to those who were in favour of holding it (35.3%). The government and decision-makers should recognize the potential biases in public opinions and prioritize the scientific evidence to protect the health of the community. (Note: The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics 2020 was postponed after the completion of this study).

Application of virtual reality technologies in the comrades' marathon as a response to COVID-19 pandemic. (Special Issue: COVID-19 impacts on tourism: Southern Africa's experiences.)

The purpose of this study is to analyse the perceptions of Comrades Marathon runners concerning the application of virtual reality technologies as a strategic response to the effects of COVID-19 in South Africa. Furthermore, the study also assesses the runners' challenges and readiness to participate in virtualised marathons post-COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from Comrades Marathon runners using online interviews. However, the study results showed mixed perceptions concerning virtual reality application to an outdoor sporting event like the Comrades Marathon in South Africa. Regardless of these perceptions, managers of sporting events are encouraged to make significant investments for the strategic development of virtual sports in the wake of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.