Factors shaping spectators’ consumption patterns: controversial arisings from an international sport tourism event

Abstract

Purpose

Sport events’ contribution to the destinations’ local economy implies in-depth knowledge of the economic benefits generated by non-resident spectators (NRS). Thus, this study aims to answer: What is the profile and shaping factors of the consumption patterns of the several types of NRS in international surf tourism events?

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 263 questionnaires applied to the NRS of an international surf event were collected and analysed. The identification of the NRS profile and the predictive factors of their total expenditure were performed through the correlation of factors and multiple linear regression, respectively.

Findings

Mostly, the event attracted generation Y NRS, with a high level of education and regular sport practice. The results showed differences among the NRS: the “casuals” included more women than men; the “extensioners” integrated the NRS whose surfing practice is higher; the “event visitors”/”time switchers” mostly integrated the domestic tourism flows; the “casuals” and “extensioners” spent the most at the destination, and those whose intention to recommend/revisit the destination, respectively, was higher; and the shaping factor that most influenced the increase in NRS expenditure was the overnight stay, added by older age, higher education level and foreign origin.

Originality/value

Regardless of the initial motivation that led to the trip to the destination, the results verified that the event’s attributes are capable of contributing to the recommendation/visitation of the destination. Consequently, the study of economic benefits (tangible and intangible) provided by sport events in destinations should be guided by an integrative analysis of NRS.

Citation

Mascarenhas, M., Vieira, H. and Martins, R. (2023), "Factors shaping spectators’ consumption patterns: controversial arisings from an international sport tourism event", Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/CBTH-08-2023-0108

Introduction

Sport tourism events can cause several economic benefits in the destinations that host them, namely, due to the direct consumption resulting from the tourist flows they generate (Duglio and Beltramo, 2017; Mascarenhas et al., 2020; Preuss, 2005) and the projection of the tourist image of the destination they magnetize (Jones and Navarro, 2018; Malchrowicz-Mośko and Poczta, 2018). Comparing to mega events, the literature has shown some advantages in favour of non-mega events, such as:

• when they strengthen the tourist advantages of the host region, enhancing the germination of wealth in the local community, they represent a sustainable option for the tourist and economic development of the destination (Duglio and Beltramo, 2017; Malchrowicz-Mośko and Poczta, 2018); and

• as the “Global–Glocal Paradox” (Duignan et al., 2023, p. 150) decreases in the same direction as the size of the event, and in non-mega events the local tends to be more prevalent than the global, the paradox loses relevance, creating more opportunities for the rise of community interests, as a result of the lower level of tension instigated by potential impositions for the convenience of global giants.

Coastal tourism, which includes surf tourism, represents the largest economic share of the sectors that economically exploit the European ocean asset, being responsible, namely, for 44% of gross value added and 63% of total employment in the European blue economy (European Commission et al., 2022). Furthermore, several studies (Hritz and Franzidis, 2018; Martin, 2022) have highlighted the contribution of surf tourism to the development of the local economy of destinations.

According to the Tourism Strategy 2027 (TS27) of the National Tourism Authority of Portugal outlined for 2017–2027 (Turismo de Portugal, 2017), the sea is a strategic asset of paramount importance, and hosting international sport events boosts the projection world image of Portugal as a tourist destination; therefore, TS27 chooses the consolidation of Portugal as a destination for international sport events as one of its strategic goals. Conclusively, Portugal has been consolidating its aspiration to become one of the world’s top surfing destinations through the regular hosting of surf events of great international relevance (e.g. World Championship Tour [Peniche], Big Wave Tour [Nazaré]), which have considerable potential for increasing the economic and social development of the coastal locations that host them (Duignan, 2023). In addition, Ericeira, in Portugal, has been a world surfing reserve for over 10 years, and this status is recognized by local stakeholders as having a positive and direct impact on local development, justified by the increase in tourist flows (Martins et al., 2023).

Nevertheless, research on surf tourism has mainly focused on studying the characteristics and expenditures of active surf tourists “with applied marketing and socioeconomic interests in mind” (Martin, 2022, p. 134), with scarce literature based on the passive ones who attend the events (Martins et al., 2021; Mascarenhas et al., 2021), i.e. non-resident spectators (NRS). Subsequently, this empirical research addresses the need to study the passive surf tourism segment given the potential of the NRS of surf events in contributing to the economic development of the host destination.

In this research, the results revealed differences between the various types of NRS, supporting the recommendation of an integrative analysis of NRS in the study of the economic benefits (tangible and intangible) generated by sport tourism events, which refutes certain methodological recommendations towards the exclusion of NRS whose expenses at the destination could not be directly related to the event.

In view of the above, this investigation aimed to answer the following question:

Q1.

What is the profile and shaping factors of the consumption patterns of the various types of NRS in international surf tourism events?

Literature review

Event tourism and sport tourism

According to Getz (2008), event tourism should be viewed in two ways: on the demand and supply side. Regarding demand, it is necessary to understand who travels to events and why. What do “event tourists” do on their trips? Where do they spend their money? How do they value events as promoters of a positive image of the destination (i.e. place marketing in general, including contributions to promoting a better place to live, work and invest)? And, how do they evaluate the value of the events in co-branding with the destinations (i.e. the connection of the brands used in the events to the creation/reinforcement of the image of the destination and its respective contributions)? In turn, on the supply side, destinations develop and promote events of all kinds to attract tourists (especially in the low season); serve as catalysts for urban renewal and the growth of the destination’s infrastructure and tourism capacity; promote a positive image at the destination; contribute to the overall place marketing of the host city; and to liven up specific areas of the city.

Despite the debate surrounding the theoretical foundations of sport tourism (Weed, 2009), there is currently a consensus regarding the tripartite typology of sport tourism (Gibson and Fairley, 2022), namely:

• travel to actively participate in sport;

• travel to spectate a sport event; and

• travel related to nostalgia.

According to Gibson et al. (2018), in a given sport event, physical participation as an athlete versus spectating as a fan is the main distinction between the first two forms of sport tourism. The third relates to trips to visit sporting attractions (e.g. sport museums/exhibitions).

Sport events are an integral part of sport tourism because they constitute one of the segments of event tourism (Getz and Page, 2016). The high importance of sport events for the host destinations is based on the economic and social benefits that the events are able to generate in the host destination, although economic ones have been more studied than the social ones (Duignan, 2023; Schulenkorf et al., 2022; Tomino et al., 2020).

Economic benefits of sport events

The financial flows caused by NRS (i.e. national/international tourists who attend the sport event) are a substantial source of direct economic benefits generated by sport events, and have been frequently underlined by the literature (O’Reilly et al., 2020; Preuss, 2005) as the main responsible for the “entry of new money” (Mascarenhas et al., 2020, p. 340) in the host local economy. There are several types of NRS. In this study, depending on the type/level of motivation underlying the trip to the destination (Kwiatkowski and Oklevik, 2017; Preuss, 2005), the following are considered:

• “event visitors”, whose main purpose is to attend the event;

• “time switchers”, who visit the host region regardless of the event, but attend the event;

• “casuals”, who attend the event because it coincides with their stay at the destination; and

• “extensioners”, who anticipate/extend their stay at the destination to attend the event.

According to the methodological recommendations of some authors (Kwiatkowski and Oklevik, 2017; O’Reilly et al., 2020; Preuss, 2005), the evaluation of the direct economic impact of the event should only quantify the expenses incurred by spectators at the destination directly related to the event; consequently, both the expenses of “casuals” and the expenses of “extensioners” that are not associated with the extension of the stay, should not be considered in the referred calculation.

Also, sport plays a central role in creating and projecting the image of any territory (Könecke and Kwiatkowski, 2016), and sport events can be particularly useful for creating this image (Rein and Shields, 2007). As such, sport events have been used to improve the image of destinations (Mainolfi and Marino, 2020); for example, by transferring the image of the event to the image of the host city, as verified in the study by Caiazza and Minis (2012) on the America’s Cup event, in Naples, concluding that there was a positive impact on the city; or, another example, by transferring the image of the event to the image of the host country, as in the case of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil (Rocha and Fink, 2017). Some authors (O’Reilly et al., 2020) recommended that the intangible benefit related to the promotion of the destination generated by holding the event should also be integrated into a holistic analysis of the economic benefits of that same event.

Profile and consumption patterns of tourists at sport events

In-depth knowledge of the profile and behaviour of the diverse types of consumers of sport event tourism, as well as the factors that shape this behaviour, is fundamental for the design of strategies (and appropriate instruments to substantiate them) that aim to maximize direct entry of financial flows at the destination due to the increase in the total expenditure of the NRS (Mascarenhas et al., 2020). For example, several studies emphasize the length of stay (Almeida and Garrod, 2022; Kwiatkowski and Könecke, 2017; Perić et al., 2019) and international tourism (Almeida and Garrod, 2022; Jiménez-Naranjo et al., 2016; Perić et al., 2019) as the main influencers of the increased expenditure of event tourists. Nevertheless, as defended by Perić et al. (2019, p. 19), “the influence of socio-demographic variables on spending is event specific”, so it is also necessary to deepen the understanding of the effects of psychographic and contextual factors, travel and event related, which contribute to the total of the amount generated directly by the event, through the expense incurred by the NSR (Almeida and Garrod, 2022; Salgado-Barandela et al., 2018). To this end, several investigations (Almeida and Garrod, 2022; Mascarenhas et al., 2020; Perić et al., 2019; Quintal et al., 2016; Salgado-Barandela et al., 2018) have integrated the study of sociodemographic characteristics and psychographic and contextual factors.

Surf tourism and surf tourists

Surf tourism is a specialized market niche within the broader coastal and maritime tourism industry, in which “surfing is the main or secondary motivation, namely for the practice of surfing, to participate in surfing events, or simply to enjoy/or observe surfing activity” (Reis et al., 2022, p. 388). Thus, surf tourism includes surfers – i.e. active sport tourists – as well as non-surfing travel companions and spectators – i.e. passive sport tourists (Dolnicar and Fluker, 2003).

Surf tourism has attracted academic researchers’ attention, especially in the study of tourist profiling, although literature on surf events and the surf event experience is still scarce (Martin, 2022). Mostly, in the line of research on the profile and consumption patterns of surf tourists, studies have focused on active surf tourists (Martin, 2022). In this context, the predominance of males and young adults have been characteristics identified by several studies (Barbieri and Sotomayor, 2013; Hritz and Franzidis, 2018; Mach and Ponting, 2021). Other studies (Portugal et al., 2017; Sotomayor and Barbieri, 2016) have segmented active surf tourists based on surfing practice and/or opinion about destination attributes (e.g. surfing destination attributes and destination access and infrastructure).

Regarding spectators at surfing events, Martins et al. (2022) attest to a balanced number of men and women, while O’Neill et al., (1999) highlights the importance of knowing these consumers’ opinions regarding the specific attributes of the event and their level of satisfaction. Such knowledge is particularly relevant because, as emphasized by O’Brien (2007), the values and norms of the surf subculture must be considered in the design of strategies and tactics to maximize tangible (revenue optimization) and intangible economic benefits (promoting the image of the destination) to the host community.

Methodology

Event characterization

The EDP Vissla Pro Ericeira 2022 event was hosted from 1 October to 9 October, 2022 (i.e. low season), in Ericeira, in which 160 surfers competed. The event was organized by the World Surf League and the City Council. The host event zone (HEZ) included spaces for restaurants, entertainment (e.g. live shaping, skatepark), retail and a parking lot. A set of factors contributed to the election of EDP Vissla Pro Ericeira 2022 as an event with great potential for attracting NSR, namely, Ericeira was the first world surfing reserve in Europe; it is a surf tourism destination; and hosts international surfing events.

Instrument

The applied questionnaire was adapted from Mascarenhas et al. (2020) who, in turn, adapted the instrument previously validated by Quintal et al. (2016) to study the profile and consumption patterns of NRS at an international football event. The questionnaire characterizes the consumption behaviour of the NRS in relation to the event and their sport practice, also gathering their opinions and intentions associated with the consumption of the experience, with answers on a dichotomous scale (Yes/No) and on a five-point Likert scale; in the last section, the questionnaire includes sociodemographic data.

Sampling

Data were collected at HEZ, during all days of the event, by a team of collaborators trained for this purpose. The questionnaires were randomly applied in Portuguese and in English (version translated by a bilingual professional) to adult spectators (>18 years old), who were given the option of filling in on paper and pen, or using Microsoft Forms, having been provided a QR code that directed to the online form. A total of 376 questionnaires were collected, of which 278 corresponded to the NRS. The pre-assessment of the data removed 15 questionnaires (more than 15% of missing values and/or absence of responses regarding expenditures), leaving 263 questionnaires for further analysis.

Data analysis

Firstly, the Kruskal–Wallis test was used to assess the differences among the types of NRS concerning their intentions; secondly, the following correlations were calculated through the Spearman’s rho coefficient (rs):

• NRS intentions and their opinions about the event and destination; and

• characteristics of sports practice and consumption of the sport event.

Following Hair et al. (2022), the assumption of normality was checked to perform the multiple linear regression, i.e. all variables showed values of skewness (sk) and kurtosis (ku) < 2, and a mathematical transformation (Log10) on the response variable, namely, the total expenditure, was performed. The absence of multicollinearity (variance inflation ratio < 5 and Tolerance > 0.1) was observed, as well as the normal distribution, constant variance and null autocorrelation between residuals (by graphical visualization of the standardized measures of residuals), which also identified the presence of outliers. Data analysis used IBM SPSS Statistics v.28.0 software (significance criterion p < 0.05).

Results

Non-resident spectator profile

Non-resident spectators’ sociodemographic characteristics.

The sample (Table 1) is composed of the four types of NRS, in which “casuals” (47.1%) are the most represented. Globally, the NRS are distributed by both sexes in a roughly equal way, with a slight predominance of male presence in all types of NRS, with the exception of “casuals”, where there is a majority (60%) of women. A large majority of NRS are under 43 years of age (76.5%) and university educated (75.3%). As for monthly income, the (€1000–€1999] level is the most represented (39.9%), mainly increased by “time switchers” (51.9%); however, the two highest levels of income have a stronger presence of “casuals” (37.9%) and “extensioners” (40.4%) compared with “event visitors” (18%) and “time switchers” (18.5%). Globally, the sample has a higher presence of domestic tourists (59.7%) compared with international ones. Regarding the latter, the European market is the most represented continent (30.8%) and in terms of countries, Germany (11%), UK (3.8%) and USA (3%) are the most represented by international NRS. The domestic NRS are mainly “event visitors” and “time switchers” (84% and 81.5%, respectively), whereas around half of “casuals” and “extensioners” (49.2% and 51.6%, respectively) are part of the international tourist flows.

Non-resident spectators’ behaviour: travel/event-related features.

As exposed in Table 2, a large majority (91.7%) of NRS attended the event accompanied by friends (51.3%), intimate relatives (22.1%) and relatives (18.3%), but less than a fifth arrived early to the event, with approximately one-third visiting the destination for the first time, although this figure was less expressive for “event visitors” (24.0%). Most “casuals” (50.8%) and “extensioners” (54.8%) stayed overnight at the destination, contrasting with what was verified for “event visitors” (12.0%) and “time switchers” (25.9%). Furthermore, the car was the transport option chosen to travel to the event by an expressive majority of 82.9% of the NRS.

Non-resident spectators’ behaviour: sport-related features.

The majority (54%) of the NRS practices/practiced surfing, and more expressively (90.5%) other sports, and regularly/occasionally follows international surfing competitions (50.6%), but not national ones (55.1%). Observing the data shown in Table 3, the NRS that most follow international events are precisely the same ones that most:

• follow national surfing competitions (rs = [0.83–0.96]); and

• practice/practiced surfing (rs = [0.41–0.65]).

Non-resident spectators’ intentions and opinions.

Most NRS expressed a clear/probable intention to revisit (87.9%) and recommend (98.1%) the destination. According to the Kruskal–Wallis test, the type of NRS did not significantly affected the intention of future visit (X2_KW(3) = 4.744; p = 0.192; N = 263) nor the city recommendation (X2_KW(3) = 2.404; p = 0.493; N = 263). Nevertheless, as shown by Table 4, across all types of NRS there are destination attributes that are associated with the intention to revisit the destination, but only one attribute of the event is related to a future visit to the destination, namely, the strong opinion of the “extensioners” about access to the event. In addition, the “event visitors” and “time switchers” who revealed the most positive opinions about tourist attractions, restaurants and shops, support a stronger intention to return to the destination. On the contrary, the “casuals” and “event visitors” who expressed the most favourable opinions about three attributes of the destination, namely, tourist attractions, restaurants and commerce, were the NRS most willing to recommend the destination to other people. It should be noted that only for the “casuals” the relation between strong opinions regarding some attributes of the event (i.e. quality, bathrooms and animation) and a probable recommendation of the destination to other people, was verified.

It is also important to highlight that both “casuals” and “extensioners”, whose main motivation for traveling to the destination was not the event itself, evaluated so positively some of its attributes, which provide a significant and positive relationship with the intentions of recommending and revisit the destination, respectively.

Overall, NRS rated the quality of destination and event attributes as good/very good; the only exception referred to city transport, which was justified on the basis of the lack of knowledge by the various types of NRS (i.e. most given response ranging between 36.3% and 62.9%).

Non-resident spectators’ consumption patterns.

The results displayed in Table 5 show that the total expenditure of the NRS sample was €87,340, and that, on average, individually, the expenditure was €332 at the destination.

The accommodation was the category that contributed the most to total expenditure, followed by expenditures related to food and beverage. As for the various types of NRS, “casuals”, followed by “extensioners”, were those who had a higher level of spending, also with a greater incidence in the accommodation and food and beverage categories. Inversely, and falling to a much lower level of spending, there are “time switchers” and “event visitors” whose expenses assumed more weight in the food and beverage category. Of all the NRS, the “event visitors” were those who spent the least amount at the destination.

For the NRS, in general (Table 6), the overnight stay was the category that most influenced (moderately) the total expenditure. Although less powerfully, sociodemographic factors related to age, education level and country of origin also contributed significantly to total expenditure. In summary, the international NRS, older, with a higher education level and who stayed overnight, were the ones who left the most money at their destination.

Discussion and conclusions

This study contributed to deepen the knowledge of the profile and shaping factors of NRS consumption patterns contextualized in surf events, investigating less studied surf tourists, i.e. passive surf tourists.

The EDP Vissla Pro Ericeira 2022 attracted, in particular, NRS from the Y generation, with a high level of education, accompanied by friends/relatives, which corroborates the profile outlined by Hritz and Franzidis (2018) in their study based on active surf tourists. However, in the present investigation, dissimilarities were verified across the typology of NRS:

• the “casuals” (largest subgroup) have a majority presence of women, inversely to the other subgroups, in which there are slightly more men; and

• the “extensioners” are the ones who surf the most, compared with the other subgroups.

These results differ from the male prominence identified in active surf tourists (Barbieri and Sotomayor, 2013; Hritz and Franzidis, 2018; Mach and Ponting, 2021) but corroborate the results of the studies on surf event spectators (Martins et al., 2022; O’Neill et al., 1999). Also, around half of NRS do not practice surfing, which further reinforces the need to explore the particularities of the NRS of surf events substantiating the need to broaden the spectrum of the study of surf tourism consumers, which has been very focused on the active consumption aspect (Martin, 2022). In this regard, the results that focus on surf tourism attributes, such as the importance of the wave quality for active surf tourists and less importance on the destination services/animation attributes (Mach and Ponting, 2021) suggest differences in relation to the NRS studied in this investigation. In this sense, it is important to highlight the relationship found between the various attributes of the destination/event and the intention to revisit the destination and recommend it to others shown by the NRS. As for the origin of the NRS, the results revealed marked differences between the “event visitors”/”time switchers”, whose expressive majority integrated the flows of internal tourism, and the “casuals”/”extensioners”, in which about half included the international tourism flows. Given the finding related to the greater expenditure on the part of “casuals”/”extensioners”, this study underlines the relevance of attracting international tourists to enhance the direct economic benefits of the event, implying an alignment with the Portuguese Tourism Strategy 2027 (Turismo de Portugal, 2017).

In addition to attracting domestic and international tourist flows, EDP Vissla Pro Ericeira 2022 brought together the surfing community. In this study, the NRS who most follow international events are also those who most follow national competitions and practice the most surf. This finding recommends that this international event should promote the national event that is also hosted in the same destination, and vice versa. This promotion should be focused on offering products and services related to surfing (and respective subculture) in the region, developing a cross-selling strategy to benefit the local industry/commerce of these products/services (including tourist products, e.g. surf camps). This perspective will allow to increase profit without resorting to increased expenses in other promotion channels (Rodríguez-Algeciras and Talón-Ballestero, 2017). Synergistically planning and promoting the events hosted at the destination is another recommendation of this study to increase the flow of active and passive sport tourists, to, simultaneously, mitigate seasonality and generate a continued inflow of “new” money at the destination, compatible with the management of the respective available means (Salgado-Barandela et al., 2022).

In addition to surfing, the results attest to the frequent practice of sports by more than half of the NRS. Therefore, future research should identify which sports are most practiced by the NRS of surf events, and based on this knowledge, design strategies that maximize the economic benefits associated with the promotional increase of the local sports offer (O’Brien, 2007).

In this study, most NRS used the car to travel to the event, which is consistent with the result regarding the lack of knowledge of the generality of NRS about city transport. Transport to (and during) the event needs to be strategically planned to be in line with the strategy of leveraging the benefits of sport events underpinning the blue economy. The importance of providing knowledge about the integrated way in which tourism and cities can help mitigate climate change is assumed in the guidelines for the development of tourism research in cities (Page and Duignan, 2023). It is also necessary for event planners to adopt sustainable practices and engage local communities, in addition to ensuring management that minimizes negative environmental impacts (Ahmed et al., 2010; Martins et al., 2022). Consequently, during surf events, transport planning should combine the perspective of local environmental and economic benefits (Martins et al., 2022), using:

• strong promotion/dissemination strategies for the use of city transport, intensified by advertising campaigns with elite national and international surfers; and

• creation of transport alternatives during the days of the event with the aim of bringing the NRS closer to local commerce, thus simultaneously boosting local consumption.

In addition, the results highlighted that the NRS that best evaluated the attributes of the destination (e.g. restaurants, tourist attractions and local commerce) were also those who expressed a greater desire to visit the destination again. According to Almeida and Garrod (2022), satisfaction regarding the attributes of the destination and the event is the key to achieving the objectives arising from the organization of the event, such as the economic impact caused by tourist expenses or the improvement/reinforcement of the destination image. In this sense, it is important to emphasize that the NRS who did not travel to the destination mainly motivated by the event, i.e. “casuals” and “extensioners”, are precisely those who most intend to recommend and revisit the destination, respectively, based on the opinion they formed about the event attributes. This finding underlines the pertinence of studying all types of NRS, as regardless of whether the event is, or is not, the motivation behind the trip to the destination, this study verified the capacity of the event attributes to contribute to the destination recommendation, thus enhancing its promotion. This intangible economic benefit, with recognized potential to economically impact the future of the destination, must be incorporated in the study of the economic impact of sport events (O’Reilly et al., 2020). Thus, this study highlights the inclusion of the analysis of the “casuals” subgroup as an added value for the study of the economic benefits generated by sport events. Nevertheless, future studies should contribute to the confirmation of this finding, substantiating the discussion around the integration of this type of NRS in the investigation of the economic impact of sport events, given its opposition to the methodological recommendation of other authors (O’Reilly et al., 2020; Preuss, 2005).

The overnight stay was the shaping factor that had the greatest effect on increasing NRS expenditure at the destination, added, albeit to a lesser extent, by older age, higher education level and foreign origin, which corroborates the results of other studies (Duglio and Beltramo, 2017; Jiménez-Naranjo et al., 2016; Mascarenhas et al., 2020; Perić et al., 2019; Salgado-Barandela et al., 2018). In line with the low overnight stay of “event visitors” (mostly internal tourists), and the consequent weak injection of financial flows into the destination, this study suggests that the event itself promotes the overnight stay, especially in the source markets of international surf tourism (e.g. intensifying the promotion of the event for surf tourists from the USA, which is the third most represented country in the event, and also for the European market (integrating the promotion of the event with the surf subculture for countries with greater expression in international NRS flows, namely, Germany and UK). One way for promoting the overnight stay through the event is, for example, the image of the destination could be designed to integrate one of the destination-specific personality traits of Ericeira, according to the perception of local stakeholders (e.g. cool: Martins et al., 2023), in slogans associated with the event, such as Enjoy the coolest wave of Europe’s first world surf reserve.

Considering the stated intentions to recommend the destination to others and revisit the destination among all types of NRS in this study, and that surf tourists tend to revisit the destination and spend money year round across all seasons in the destination (Hritz & Franzidis, 2018), holding this event contributed to decrease seasonality of the destination in the short and long term, fulfilling one of the biggest challenges for maritime/coastal tourism (European Commission et al., 2022).

Theoretical implications

The results showed that there are differences between the various types of NRS, underlining the need to study the passive surf tourism segment, and supporting an integrative analysis of NRS in the study of economic benefits (tangible and intangible) generated by sport events. As a corollary, this study illuminated the need to debate methodological recommendations that exclude/limit some categories (i.e. “casuals”/”extensioners”) of the NRS in the study of the economic benefits of sport events. Shortening the argument, even disregarding all the money injected into the destination by “casuals” and “extensioners”, living them behind could imply an amblyopic view of the phenomenon, given that this study has highlighted that they are of relevant importance as a source of intangible economic benefits (i.e. recommending/revisiting the destination).

Practical implications

The data showed that accommodation was the category that most contributed to injecting new money into the destination, and that the overnight stay was the shaping factor with the greatest effect on increasing NRS spending at the destination. Therefore, the event must be strategically planned with a view to:

• encouraging overnight stays at the destination of sport event tourism consumers, particularly international tourists, older and with a higher education level; and

• promote international and national surf events in an integrated manner, as well as the offer of services/products in the destination’s surf market, in a cross-selling logic, given the marked surfing subculture evidenced by the NRS.

Limitations and future research

The context of free attendance in this nature-based event conditioned the measuring attendance (Davies et al., 2013; O’Reilly et al., 2020), which is a limitation of this study. In future research, the measuring attendance should be taken into account, for example, resorting to manual counting “using clickers/counters or even studying video footage, aerial and still photography” (Davies et al., 2013, p. 35), among other methods. Also, future research should replicate the study to compare the results with other sport events in the destination, or with other international surf events in other destinations, thus deepening the knowledge of the profile and shaping factors of NRS consumption patterns in the blue economy.

Table 1

Non-resident spectators’ sociodemographic characteristics (%)

Sociodemographic characteristics	Casuals (47.1%)	Extensioners (23.6%)	Event visitors (19.0%)	Time switchers (10.3%)	Total (100%)
Gender
Female	60.5	43.5	48.0	48.1	52.9
Male	39.5	56.5	52.0	51.9	47.1
Birth year
1948–1959	4.8	3.2	0	0	3.0
1960–1969	5.6	11.3	8.0	7.4	7.6
1970–1979	12.1	6.5	10.0	37.0	12.9
1980–1989	32.3	17.7	22.0	3.7	24.0
1990–1999	36.3	54.8	48.0	33.3	42.6
2000–2004	8.9	6.5	12.0	18.5	9.9
Education level
Basic	1.6	4.8	2.0	0	2.3
High school	24.2	16.1	24.0	25.9	22.4
Graduate	74.2	79.1	74.0	74.1	75.3
Monthly income
Under €500	11.3	11.3	30.0	18.5	15.6
€500–€999	15.3	6.5	10.0	11.1	11.8
€1,000–€1,999	35.5	41.8	42.0	51.9	39.9
€2,000–€2,999	20.2	21.0	8.0	11.1	17.1
Above €3,000	17.7	19.4	10.0	7.4	15.6
Country of residence
Portugal	50.8	48.4	84.0	81.5	59.7
Others	49.2	51.6	16.0	18.5	40.3

Source: Authors’ own creation

Table 2

Non-resident spectators’ behaviour: travel/event-related features (%)

Spectators’ behaviour	Casuals (47.1%)	Extensioners (23.6%)	Event visitors (19.0%)	Time switchers (10.3%)	Total (100%)
You came witha
Alone	4.8	12.9	14.0	0	8.0
Friends	50.0	51.6	52.0	55.6	51.3
Intimate relative	29.0	21.0	12.0	11.1	22.1
Family	24.2	9.7	10.0	25.9	18.3
Colleagues/Organized group	6.5	9.7	22.0	18.5	11.4
Early arrival at the event	19.4	22.6	12.0	22.2	19.0
First time in the city	33.9	32.3	24.0	33.3	31.6
Overnight stay in the city	50.8	54.8	12.0	25.9	41.8

Note:

^aPossible multiple responses

Source: Authors’ own creation

Table 3

Non-resident spectators’ behaviour: sport-related features significant correlations

Spectators’ behaviour	1. Surf	2. Sport	3. National
Casuals
1. Surf practice
2. Sport practice	0.37
3. Follow national surf competitions	0.36
4. Follow international surf competitions	0.55	0.23	0.84
Extensioners
1. Surf practice
2. Sport practice
3. Follow national surf competitions	0.36
4. Follow international surf competitions	0.45		0.83
Event visitors
1. Surf practice
2. Sport practice
3. Follow national surf competitions	0.52
4. Follow international surf competitions	0.65		0.85
Time switchers
1. Surf practice
2. Sport practice
3. Follow national surf competitions	0.38
4. Follow international surf competitions	0.41		0.96

Source: Authors’ own creation

Table 4

Non-resident spectators’ intentions and opinions (event and city attributes) significant correlations

Spectator’s opinions	Intention to revisit	City recommendation
Casuals
Event
Quality		0.19
Bathrooms		0.24
Animation		0.23
City
Restaurants		0.34
Tourist attractions	.	0.36
Accommodation		0.22
Commerce	0.18	0.37
Animation		0.27
Extensioners
Event
Access	0.40
City
Transport	0.26
Event visitors
City
Restaurants	0.36	0.40
Tourist attractions	0.52	0.29
Commerce	0.33	0.29
Time switchers
City
Restaurants	0.45

Source: Authors’ own creation

Table 5

Non-resident spectators’ expenditures (€: euros)

Non-resident spectators	Accommodation	Food and beverage	Travel costs	Others	Shopping	Total	Mean
Casuals	29,426	16,257	6,061	2,255	4,690	58,689	473.3
Extensioners	6,069	6,010	2,379	5,650	1,606	21,714	350.2
Event visitors	430	1,605	700	60	135	2,930	58.6
Time switchers	1,440	1,709	483	20	355	4,007	148.4
Total	37,365	25,581	9,623	7,985	6,786	87,340	332.1

Source: Authors’ own creation

Table 6

Multiple linear regression model

Factors	Beta	t	Sig.
Early arrival to event	0.06	1.25	0.21
First time in the city	−0.04	−0.61	0.55
Overnight stay	0.40	6.78	<0.00
Gender	0.05	1.01	0.31
Birth year	−0.12	−2.13	0.03
Education level	0.13	2.43	0.02
Monthly income	0.07	1.10	0.27
Country of residence	0.22	3.16	0.00

Notes:

Dependent variable: Log10Total Expenditure; R² = 34.6%; italic values significant results at the 0.05 level

Source: Authors’ own creation