Värt att vara värd? : En kvantitativ studie om Mega-sport events påverkan på destinationsbild och reseintention hos svenska sportintresserade personer.

Sammanfattning: This study aims to create a greater understanding of how mega-sports events can be used as a means of nation branding to influence the destination image and travel intention of the host nation. In this thesis, the authors, through a deductive approach and a quantitative research strategy, conducted a survey of Swedish people interested in sports. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used to process the collected quantitative data from the questionnaire. The empirical results of the thesis were analyzed with previous research to strengthen the study. The result of the study shows that mega-sports events can be a pull-factor for tourist’s travel intentions and mega-sports events can also be used as a means for nation branding. Furthermore, the study shows that interest in sports functions as a push-factor when traveling, for Swedish people interested in sports. However, the effects of nation branding on the destination image and travel intentions vary, and largely depend on whether people have visited the event or not. Media surrounding a mega-sport event also has an impact, as do the host countries' geographical and cultural differences to the targeted market. Differences in the empirical result mean that it is not possible to draw conclusions about how mega-sports events affect the destination picture.