Abstract
Although destination image is known to be an important antecedent of behavioral intentions and other factors such as evaluation and satisfaction in the tourism field, research on developing a scale particularly examining the images of sport tourists is scarce. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the destination image construct of sport tourists and to examine the influence of sport tourists’ destination image on behavioral intentions. As a result of analyzing data collected from participants at a sport event, 4 factors emerged; Feeling, Atmosphere, Activity, and Access. Furthermore, sport tourists’ destination image also showed a significant influence on behavioral intentions such as participating to the event again, and revisiting the destination in the future. These results indicate the need for event organizers to consider sport event participants not just as participants of an event, but also as a tourist.
