Tourism

The focus of this study is to examine the reason and motive of people who traveled internationally to take part in an Australian running event which was a hallmark and was held at Gold Coast in 2005. The event provides us with a chance to study the drive for a combination game and dynamic game types. The study used consumer acculturation framework (C.A.F) and structural equation modeling (S.E.M) analysis in investigating the specific aspects of cultural experience.
 
Several scholars have studied travel motivation by using various different approaches. Several motives could influence the participants in the marathon in inducing their travel. Subsequent studies though, have differed on the proposal and have adopted a more different framework for studying such motives namely push and pull. Despite these diverse proposals, the former framework in examining psychological, social and also the cultural educational motivation remains relevant in examining the taking part in an international marathon event working at the peripheries of a certain range. Together, the motivation and participation in a running event, combined with learning knowledge and not forgetting the culture experience can convincingly induce someone to travel and take part in a global running event. The dedication required attending the event is a true measure of liking a certain sporting activity. The study uses the large-scale approach in examining social together with psychological motives and how they relate with other main factors. (Zaichkowsky, 1985).

Several factors could be used in measuring the social and more so psychological aspect for the participation. The study limits itself to the outlook the participant may have of the host country. It also delves into cultural factor and the drive to participate. The following research questions were developed to help in guiding the investigation

a. how does social, psychological with cultural-education factors motivate someone to participate in an international event and in what degree                                                  
b. To what extent do the above factors differ by cultural background
c. Can a generic listing of cultural aspects be developed from consumer acculturation in measuring cultural experience
         
Data was collected from 239 respondents (47 female and 53 male), selected from international entrants in the Australian marathon. A third of the respondents were between forty and fifty years having also graduated from high school and with an earning of between five hundred and a thousand dollars. Australians were a third of the respondents interviewed. Besides, half of those interviewed participated in marathon, a third in the half marathon with the rest in ten kilometer run and seven and a half kilometer walk. The majority of those interviewed (two thirds of the sample) had never participated in that Australian marathon before. The study used paper questionnaires and online resource to collect data from the entrants.
                                                       
Results
There were respondents reported to frequently run for hobby (SD1.27, M5.21), those had taken part in previous global events (SD1.78, M5.14) and with the rest having traveled locally for running events. For international travel most of them did it for pleasure (SD1.78, M4.98) but others did it for attending running events (SD2.04, M3.44). Most of them had purposely visited Gold Coast for participating in marathon event only (SD2.03, M5.83) with three-fifth having previously visited Gold Coast and three quarter having previously visited Australia. They also wanted to extend their visit with a third in Australia for two to seven days and two-fifth in Gold Coast for two to four days.      
                                 
Discussion and implications
 Indeed in studying the traveling pattern the tourism has to consider the psychological and social reasons. The study shows the benefits of adopting an approach that integrates travel motives to examine participation in a sporting event (Gibson, 1998a,). The analysis confirms Cromptons theory. In the first research question the S.E.M analysis confirmed that level of attachment when running, the incentive and the feelings towards the venue of the hosting the event, are extrapolative of psychological and social aspects.

The destination image does represent beliefs based on information someone has leading to feelings about that destination ( Baloglu  McCleary, 1999). In the second question, results showed that psychological and social reasons did not vary with cultural conditions and indeed tourism structure does present an idea of the cultural understanding ( Penaloza, 1994). The following discussion questions would be of practical essence in arousing more interest in this research findings.

How practical are the above findings on divergent cultural tactic as a promotional method in organizing future international events

To what extent do you think the involvement factor could contribute in influencing the turn out of an event and how can it be enhanced to encourage participation    

iii)        What areas should event organizers in sport tourism explore in image    improvement of a destination
Limitations and directions for further research

The whole population of entrants was not accessed as some entrants were registered through secondary agents thus potentially reducing the sample size. Secondly, 3 days before the event the Coastal region was declared a national catastrophe negatively impacting on sample size. Ideally the result of the research could be simulated in a future running affair taking place at a scene on a coast and a running event in a different venue. Moreover, it may further help in demonstrating the influence the venue in a sporting episode plays. The research encourages use of C.L.I in evaluating various cultural aspects in future global affairs and in future the studies should espouse such (C.A.F) structures. Finally the disparity and the degree the tourism businesses offer learning and experience aspects as compared to the degree to which the tourists like not only to experience these aspects but also to learn about them should be of essence in future researching.