Associations of Sport-Event Image with Cultural Heritage Tourism Loyalty: Sequential Mediation in a Cross-Sectional Survey

Summary

This cross-sectional field study investigated whether embodied experience and place attachment sequentially explain the association between sport-event image and tourist loyalty at a cultural heritage destination.

Abstract

Sport events are increasingly used to promote cultural heritage destinations, yet the mechanisms linking event image with tourist loyalty remain insufficiently understood. This field-based cross-sectional survey examined the associations among sport-event image, embodied experience, place attachment, and tourist loyalty. A structured Chinese-language questionnaire was administered to tourists attending a heritage-themed sport event. After data screening, 386 valid responses were retained from 412 collected questionnaires (valid-response rate among returned questionnaires, 93.7%). Each construct was measured using five reflective Likert-scale items. Partial least squares structural equation modeling showed positive associations between event image and embodied experience (β = 0.470, t = 10.82, p < 0.001, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.383–0.551), embodied experience and place attachment (β = 0.507, t = 11.36, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.421–0.589), and place attachment and tourist loyalty (β = 0.524, t = 10.74, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.430–0.611). The direct association between event image and tourist loyalty was weak and not statistically significant (β = 0.100, t = 1.88, p = 0.060, 95% CI = −0.004 to 0.203), whereas the sequential indirect association through embodied experience and place attachment was significant (β = 0.125, p < 0.001, 95% CI = 0.074–0.184). Because the data were cross-sectional, these estimates represent statistical associations rather than temporal causation. These findings are consistent with a sequential association in which a favorable sport-event image is linked to greater tourist loyalty through embodied experience and place attachment in a cultural heritage tourism context.

Introduction

Sport events have become an increasingly visible means of connecting tourism promotion with place-based cultural resources. In heritage destinations, events such as marathons, cycling activities, walking festivals, and community-based sport gatherings can bring tourists into direct contact with historical streets, cultural landscapes, symbolic architecture, and local visitor routes. Recent empirical work on the Yongding Tulou Marathon suggests that sport-event image can be linked to heritage-site loyalty, although this relationship is not necessarily direct¹. Earlier sport-tourism research also indicates that event image and destination image m....

Protocol

This cross-sectional field survey was conducted in accordance with ethical requirements for research involving human participants. The protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Human Research Ethics Committee of Nanjing Vocational Institute of Transport Technology (Approval No. HJJ1990129). All participants were adults and provided informed consent before completing the questionnaire. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. No names, identity numbers, telephone numbers, facial images, exact home addresses, or other personally identifiable information were collected. Participants could discontinue participation before submitting the questionnaire witho....

Results

Final analysis sample

A total of 412 questionnaires were returned during the field survey. After eligibility and response-quality screening, 26 questionnaires were excluded, leaving 386 valid responses (valid-response rate among returned questionnaires, 93.7%). The valid sample comprised 54.1% female respondents; the largest age group was 25–34 years (36.3%); 45.3% held a bachelor's degree; 55.2% were first-time visitors; 39.9% participated in the heritage fun-run category; an.......

Discussion

This study examined the sequential associations among sport-event image, embodied experience, place attachment, and tourist loyalty in a cultural heritage tourism setting. Event Image was positively associated with Embodied Experience, Embodied Experience was positively associated with Place Attachment, and Place Attachment was positively associated with Tourist Loyalty. The direct Event Image–Tourist Loyalty path was weak and not statistically significant after the two intervening constructs were included. The sig.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Clipboards	Any commercial supplier	N/A	Used to support paper questionnaire completion at the field site.
IBM SPSS Statistics	IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA	Version 27.0	Used for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and robustness checks.
Microsoft Excel	Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA	Version 16.0	Used for independent double data entry, cell-by-cell verification, coding, and data management of paper questionnaires.
QR-code survey cards	Study investigators	N/A	Printed survey cards used to provide participants with access to the online questionnaire via QR code.
Sealable collection envelopes	Any commercial supplier	N/A	Used for secure collection and temporary storage of completed paper questionnaires.
SmartPLS	SmartPLS GmbH, Monheim am Rhein, Germany	Version 4.1.1.8	Used for reflective Mode A measurement-model assessment, structural-model testing, mediation analysis, and bootstrapping (5,000 resamples).
Survey questionnaire (paper and online formats)	Study investigators	Supplementary File 1	Chinese-language questionnaire measuring Event Image, Embodied Experience, Place Attachment, Tourist Loyalty, and participant characteristics.
Wenjuanxing online survey platform	Changsha Ranxing Information Technology Co., Ltd., Changsha, China	Web platform (version not applicable)	Used for online questionnaire administration via QR code and export of survey responses (https://www.wjx.cn).