Sustainable development of tourist destinations
International research project examines the socio-economic impact of the POROSEA multisport event.
On June 8./9. the Municipality of Poros, the Saronic Triathlon Club and the company whynot organized for the 3rd time a multisport race under the name POROSEA 2019 (triathlon, aquathlon, swimming and running races) on the Greek island of Poros. In the course of an international partnership Heilbronn University/GER (Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kaiser-Jovy) and Macromedia University Freiburg/GER (Prof. Dr. Timo Becker) have come together for an applied research project, on behalf of the Municipality of Poros and the Region of Attica. The research team asked the athletes as well as the persons accompanying them about their perception of the location and the POROSEA event, as well as about their travel and consumer behaviour. The findings once again confirm that a medium-size regional sport event not only can be a significant economic stimulus of which the local community may benefit directly and indirectly in various ways. Being appropriately integrated into the destination-marketing strategy and given the support and the involvement of the local community and the various stakeholders it can also significantly contribute to prosperity and sustainable development of a touristic destination.
POROSEA 2019 generated a direct turnover of approx. 280.000 EUR on the race weekend, and this is only the so called “primary impulse”, excluding multiplier effects (future investments), excluding all visitors who were not accompanying an athlete, ex-cluding all indirect/long-term image and marketing effects (media coverage) and, not least, excluding all social/community effects (social cohesion, volunteering). The event brought approx. 1.400 people (athletes and visitors) to Poros who wouldn’t have been there without the event, which led to a good use of hotel capacity and thus also raised interest in the regions various cultural and historic spots. Not least events like POROSEA can have a strong positive effect on social cohesion involving volunteers from different age groups and backgrounds
The research project is part of a long-term research perspective of the Faculty of Busi-ness and Engineering of Heilbronn University/GER (Prof. Kaiser-Jovy) on the socio-economic and tourism impacts of sports and culture events, seeking to examine alter-native modes of sustainable touristic, economic and cultural development for Greek tourist destinations. This includes finding new ways to expand their touristic periods by developing unique sports activities.
Wissenschaftlicher Ansprechpartner:
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kaiser-Jovy (Fakultät Wirtschaft und Technik), Hochschule Heilbronn, Reinhold-Würth-Hochschule, Daimlerstr. 35, 74653 Künzelsau, Telefon: 07940-1306-245, E-Mail: sebastian.kaiser-jovy@hs-heilbronn.de; Internet: www.hs-heilbronn.de