The Impact of Mega Sport Event Awareness and Destination Familiarity on The Country and Tourist Destination Image and the Future Visit Intention (Context of Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Elevating interest in hosting large-scale sporting events and cultivating the branding of Destinations and nations entail the strategic utilization of diverse information sources. This multifaceted approach serves to augment public awareness and familiarity with a given destination and, by extension, the encompassing nation. Several streams of literature have recently addressed country and destination images, including tourism and international marketing. However, limited tourism and international marketing research have investigated the differences in how mega sports events Awareness and destination familiarity affect them, highlighting their interactions. This dissertation explores the impacts of both awareness about the mega sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia and destination familiarity, including the self-rated familiarity and information sources of this familiarity on the perceptions of Saudi Arabia's country image, tourist destination image, and the visit intention for potential tourists. The study investigates the most important factors influencing the development of Saudi Arabia's country image and the tourist destination image. The dissertation addresses the importance of awareness about mega-sports events and destination familiarity in rebranding Saudi Arabia's nation and destination in line with the efforts of Saudi Arabia in 2030. The study highlights the roles of awareness about hosting mega sports events and the increase of destination familiarity in shaping and improving the perceptions of potential international tourists and motivating their decision to visit the Kingdome. A theoretical model is developed and tested in the current study to address this gap by examining the effects of awareness of mega sports events and destination familiarity on the country's image, the tourist destination, and the visit intention, and the relationship between the country's image and the tourist destination. To test the reliability and validity of the questionnaire measurement, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted on the proposed model on 207 students and staff from the University of Leeds. The results demonstrate that awareness about mega sports events hosted in Saudi Arabia positively influences the perceptions of the country's image and tourist destination image but has no impact on future visit intentions. The study found that destination familiarity positively enhances the country's image, tourist destination image, and future visit intention. This research presents important theoretical and practical contributions. for academics and practitioners in destination marketing and management. This research offers benefits. theoretical implications in tourism, branding, and international marketing literature regarding the interactions between country image and tourist destination image. And the role of mega sports events and destinations familiarity in shaping them and influencing the destination choice of potential tourists. The study highlighted how destination and strategic marketers branding and promoting a nation and destination such as Saudi Arabia under the mega sports events and information sources impacts.