Constructing influencing factors of sport event image and their consequential effect on tourists

Watching sport events at tourist destinations is an appealing attraction for tourists because it generates excitement and direct understanding of the event, as well as the destination. Thus, a good event image can motivate people to re-attend sport events, make priority choices among similar games and even attach their personal feelings to the events. However, few researchers have explored the factors affecting sport event images and its consequential effects, particularly in the post-pandemic era. In the current study, 417 valid questionnaires were collected by convenience sampling during the 68th Macao Grand Prix, and analysed by structural modelling, via SPSS23 and AMOS26. The results showed that travel motivation, tourist-resident interaction and event quality are all important factors that positively influence the event image, with event quality having the most significant effect. Subsequently, event images positively affect event attachment and loyalty. Considering that the continued coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic travel risk still exist, it was incorporated as a moderator, which revealed that it negatively moderated the relations between event images, attachment and loyalty. This study supplements theoretical defects in sport event tourism by enriching the causes and effects of event images, and provides practical suggestions for sport event policymakers, planners and tourism managers.