Residents’ perceptions towards the impacts of the Macao Grand Prix

Resumo

Objectives |
1) To investigate Macao residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards the impacts of the Macao GP.
2) To identify the factors that affect residents’ perceptions towards the Macao GP.
3) To examine the features of different resident groups according to their perceptions towards the Macao GP.

Methodology | A descriptive research design with random telephone questionnaire surveys was adopted in this study. A survey instrument consisting of three sections was developed. The first section of the questionnaire was designed to identify residents’ perceptions of the Grand Prix impacts in terms of their economic, social, cultural, political and environmental impacts. All 26 items generated are based on previous event impact scales. The second and the third sections of the questionnaire measured the independent variables that needed to be examined. With the advantages of making the sample more representative, random sampling telephone interviews with local Macao residents were administrated in November 2008, one week immediately after the 55th Macao GP. Totally 598 usable samples were collected with a respondent rate of 23% reported.

Main results and contributions | The general support rates show the majority were positive for the event; about 78% respondents expressed their support attitudes for hosting the Grand Prix in and a very similar rate of being likely to have another scale-similar event in town. A 20-item impact scale, which comprised 5 factors, was initialed with the factor analysis. Cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were conducted to explore residents’ perceptions and how the perceptions were affected. According to residents’ perception towards the Grand prix and its impacts, a two-cluster solution was confirmed that classified residents into “embrace” and “tolerance” groups. Three independent variables were identified as the most significant factors that influenced residents’ perceptions on the impacts of the Grand Prix. The variables includes: residents’ age group, attitudes about government performance in organization of the Grand Prix, and their preference of more tourists.

Limitations | The result of the 20-item event impact scale generated from the factor analysis was somewhat uncompleted as it has not gone through the processes of item generation, purification, and verification.

Conclusions | By using the Macao Grand Prix as the case, the study enhanced the understanding of the impacts of sporting event brought to their host destination and how local community perceived these impacts. It would be significant for event organizers as well as to local governments to fully comprehend the local community’s perceptions and attitudes of their event, and appropriate strategies and policies can, therefore, be introduced to achieve more supports from locals. This will contribute to the overall success of events and destination development. From an Asian cultural perspective, this study created a 20 item event impact scale and identified some variables which were influential in affecting respondents’ perceptions towards event impacts. These outcomes would be useful for future event impact studies.