Acta Univ. Bohem. Merid. 2025, 28(2):1-20 | DOI: 10.32725/acta.2025.00697

Promoting Sustainable Sporting Events for Sustainable Destinations: A Demand-Side Perspective

Miha Lesjak1, Eva Podovšovnik1
University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies, Obala 11a, Portorož, Slovenia


The present study investigates tourists' willingness to engage in two different pro-environmental actions aimed at reducing waste footprint at one of the largest international ski sport events. One action provides the tourists with the opportunity to actively participate in cleaning up the event area, the other one provides opportunity to offset negative impact by donating to the organizer's environmental fund. Results show that almost 70% of spectators are willing to actively participate in cleaning up the event area, but less than a third (28%) is willing to donate to the environmental fund. Using CHAID analysis a number of socio-demographic and psychological variables were used to identify the segments of spectators who are willing to engage in either of the two behaviors. Results show that 1) drivers of the two behaviors are different and 2) four or seven distinctive groups of spectators were identified for the two behaviors, respectively. Discussion advances the theory of environmentally sustainable tourist behavior and provides avenues for sustainable destination governance. The study concludes with recommendations for tourism policy makers and industry on how to induce environmentally sustainable spectators’ behavior in local destinations.

Keywords: Environmentally Sustainable Behavior (ESB), Pro-environmental Interventions, Waste Reduction, Sport Events, Event Studies, Tourism, Events, Environmental Economy
JEL classification: D01, L83, M10, Q01

Received: July 17, 2025; Revised: October 12, 2025; Accepted: December 3, 2025; Prepublished online: December 3, 2025; Published: December 5, 2025  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Lesjak, M., & Podovšovnik, E. (2025). Promoting Sustainable Sporting Events for Sustainable Destinations: A Demand-Side Perspective. Acta Universitatis Bohemiae Meridionalis, 28(2), 1-20. doi: 10.32725/acta.2025.006
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Bazzanella, F., Schnitzer, M., Peters, M., & Bichler, B. F. (2023). The role of sports events in developing tourism destinations: a systematized review and future research agenda. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 27(2), 77-109. Go to original source...
    2. Bär, S., Korrmann, L., & Kurscheidt, M. (2022). How nudging inspires sustainable behavior among event attendees: A qualitative analysis of selected music festivals. Sustainability, 14(10), 6321. Go to original source...
    3. Becken, S., & Hay, J. (2012). Climate Change and Tourism: From Policy to Practice. Routledge.
    4. Buckley, R. (2012). Sustainable Tourism: Principles and Practice. CABI.
    5. Chalip. L., & Fairley, S. (2019). Thinking strategically about sport events. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 23(4), 155-158. Go to original source...
    6. Collins, A., Jones, C. & Munday, M. (2009). Assessing the environmental impacts of mega sporting events: Two options? Tourism Management, 30(6), 828-837. Go to original source...
    7. Dolnicar, S., & Grün, B. (2009). Environmentally Friendly Behavior: Can Heterogeneity Among Tourists Be Managed? Tourism Analysis, 14(4), 473-491.
    8. El-Said, O. A., Aziz, H., Salem, I. E., & Youssif, M. (2025). The role of mega events' sustainability practices in fostering environmentally sustainable behaviors: Evidence from Expo 2020 Dubai. International Journal of Event and Festival Management.16 (2): 265-292. Go to original source...
    9. Font, X., & McCabe, S. (2017). Sustainability and Marketing in Tourism: Its Context, Approaches, and Implications. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(7), 869-883. Go to original source...
    10. Getz, D. (2009). Event Studies: Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events. Butterworth-Heinemann.
    11. Gössling, S., & Hall, C. M. (2006). Tourism and Global Environmental Change: Ecological, Social, Economic and Political Interrelationships. Routledge.
    12. Hall, C. M., & Gössling, S. (2013). Sustainable Tourism: A Global Perspective. Routledge.
    13. Higham, J. (2005). Sport Tourism Destinations. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780080474434 Go to original source...
    14. Higgins-Desbiolles, F. (2006). More Than an "Industry": The Forgotten Power of Tourism as a Social Force. Tourism Management, 27(6), 1192-1208. Go to original source...
    15. Mair, J., & Jago, L. (2010). The Development of a Conceptual Model of Greening in the Business Events Sector. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 18(1), 77-94. Go to original source...
    16. Martins, R., Pereira, E., Rosado, A., Marôco, J., McCullough, B. P., & Mascarenhas, M. (2022). Understanding spectator sustainable transportation intentions in international sport tourism events. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 30, 1972-1991. Go to original source...
    17. Miller, G., & Twining-Ward, L. (2005). Monitoring for a Sustainable Tourism Transition: The Challenge of Developing and Using Indicators. CABI.
    18. Mchunu, A.J., Nyikana, S. & Tichaawa, T.M. (2021). Assessing the Pro-environmental Behaviour Associated with Small-scale Sport Tourism Events. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 10(6):1811-1827. Go to original source...
    19. Musgrave, J., (2011). "Moving towards responsible events management". Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 3(3), 258 - 274. Go to original source...
    20. Peattie, K., & Peattie, S. (2009). Social Marketing: A Pathway to Consumption Reduction? Journal of Business Research, 62(2), 260-268. Go to original source...
    21. Scott, D., Gössling, S., & Hall, C. M. (2012). International Tourism and Climate Change: Charting a New Research Agenda. Annals of Tourism Research, 39(1), 177-200. Go to original source...
    22. Stern, P. C. (2000). Toward a Coherent Theory of Environmentally Significant Behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407-424. Go to original source...
    23. Stern, P. C. (2005). Understanding Individuals' Environmentally Significant Behavior. Environmental Law Reporter, 35, 10785-10790.
    24. Weaver, D. (2011). Can sustainable tourism survive climate change? Journal of sustainable Tourism, 19(1), 5-15. Go to original source...
    25. Wise, N. (2020). "Eventful futures and triple bottom line impacts: BRICS, image regeneration and competitiveness", Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 13 No. 1, 89-100. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content