*Article* **Overtourism and Medium Scale Sporting Events Organisations—The Perception of Negative Externalities by Host Residents**

**Joanna Poczta 1,\*, Agata D ˛abrowska 1, Marek Kazimierczak 1, François Gravelle <sup>2</sup> and Ewa Malchrowicz-Mo´sko <sup>1</sup>**


Received: 15 January 2020; Accepted: 23 March 2020; Published: 2 April 2020

**Abstract:** The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of non-mega sporting events on the perception of negative externalities of host residents. The detailed aim of the study was to examine whether the inhabitants of the city feel the negative effects of organizing sporting events (communication problems or inappropriate behavior of supporters) and do they believe that these events increase the level of crime in the city or, despite these inconveniences, they are satisfied with the organization of sporting events in their place of residence. The case study is the city of Poznan and two, well-known events in this agglomeration. The first one is the Poznan Half Marathon—medium scale mass event, the second one is Cavaliada—elite international equestrian event. The theoretical part of this article presents the meaning of sporting events organization for tourism industry and indicates the positive and negative effects this kind of tourism brings to host cities. The whole refers to the theoretical foundations of the term of "overtourism". The second part of the manuscript presents empirical research results, between 774 active and passive participants, which was conducted by the method of diagnostic survey. The results of this research show that both athletes as well as fans of the Half Marathon said that the Poznan Half Marathon event causes bothersome communication problems in the city and some other social problems. The inhabitants only experience minor inconveniences that felt as a result of organizing sporting events in the city. The negative impact of Cavaliada was very low. For checking the differences between the two examined groups of respondents: Half Marathon fans and Cavaliada fans, Chi-square test and U Mann Whitney's test was used. The participants feel bothersome communication problems that cause the Half Marathon and have an average level of dissatisfaction higher than the average level of dissatisfaction of Cavaliada participants. Moreover, the participants in the Half Marathon have an average level of satisfaction with the organization of sports events in Poznan significantly lower than the average level of satisfaction of Cavaliada participants. Therefore, an elite equestrian sporting event is less burdensome for its residents and gives them more satisfaction.

**Keywords:** non-mega sports events; overtourism; sports tourism; quality of life of hosts; social impact of sports events; sustainability

#### **1. Introduction**

#### *1.1. Negative Implications of Sporting Events and Overtourism*

Sports tourism is a deeply interdisciplinary phenomenon. As mentioned above, it affects both residents and tourists in the economic, ecological, social and cultural dimensions. It also impacts positive and negative in psychological, institutional, political and planning levels. However, the larger the event, the greater the impact. Weed and Bull [1] claims that three key components interact to create value in sports tourism: the places involved, the activities undertaken, the motivations to participate. Places where tourists stay and their activities have specific characteristics (beautiful scenery, attractive landscapes, monuments etc.) which are a subject of various interpretations [2–4]. On the other hand, the number of tourists and their activities can destroy sociocultural, physical or economic resources and reduce the quality of tourist's satisfaction. That is why, determining and respecting the carrying capacity of destinations becomes a necessity in tourism planning [5,6]. Popular tourist destinations around the world have reached a tourism tipping point. To describe these tourism disturbances (not only in sports tourism), the term overtourism, tourism phobia, overcrowded locations or visitor pressure has rapidly been popularized [7–11]. The perception of city tourism has changed dramatically. Destinations are being saturated with visitors. The critical point begins at the place where there is an imbalance between the perception of positive and negative effects of tourism for the inhabitants [11,12]. Infrastructure like roads, public transportation, cultural attractions and other services which were created primarily for local use, suffer under increasing number of tourists. The growing popularity of transport services, online accommodation and a desire to see the authentic, everyday city life has meant that tourism activities become further intertwined with local life, also outside of the main tourist areas in cities [13,14]. Such developments have led to calls from residents to deal with tourism growth and protests have been observed for example in popular destinations like Venice or Barcelona. Although this problem is most evident in European cities, similar sentiments have also been reported elsewhere, such as tropical islands, backpacker ghettos or even slums [13,15]. Despite of the growing popularity, "overtourism" is still not clearly defined [13]. The term describes destinations where hosts or guests, locals or visitors, feel that the quality of life and the quality of the experience in the area has deteriorated unacceptably. Moreover, "overtourism" describes the situation in which the impact of tourism exceeds ecological, physical, social, psychological, political and economic capacity thresholds and causes the loss of authenticity and imply a significant risk to the future attractiveness of a destination. There are many examples where the cultural and natural heritage of a place is at risk or where costs of living and real estate have substantially increased and caused a decline in quality of life. It is the opposite of responsible tourism which is about using tourism to make better places to live in and better places to visit [16]. The uncontrolled development of tourism can cause significant damage to air and water quality, landscapes, seascapes, as well as the living conditions of residents, causing economic inequalities and social exclusion, as well as many other issues [17]. Dissatisfaction with overtourism on the part of local residents might mobilize forces to prevent tourism from developing and increasing at its destination. The dissatisfaction of visitors can reduce the number of visits to the destination, thus harming its economic sustainability [11].

Sports tourism is not always manifest in the mass movement of large numbers of tourists. Many authors (Hautbois, Djaballah, Desbordes; Hall; Hallmann; Barclay; Taks; Lee; Taylor; Preuss; Kim, Jun, Walker, Drane) have studied the influence of mega sporting events on all the above-mentioned planes of human life, both residents of reception areas and passive participants of sporting events, fans and athletes. They describe sports event organization as a mechanism used to tackle social problems. Of course, sports tourism contributes significantly in the development of a society [18–26]. Unfortunately, to the authors knowledge, there are no in-depth studies that would indicate a significant, negative impact of organization non-mega sporting events on environmental, social life of residents or culture of the place. Residents are an important part of the success of a sporting event and their opinion is significant, even if we are talking about small sporting venture. However, according to Kim

and Petrik or Ohmann [27–29], there is a certain degree of inconsistency in the use of the perception of residents to measure the impact of the event due to the fact that it often lacks objectivity because of the subjective feature's views of residents. However, Jönsson [30] refers to the credibility of local opinions in the field of social impact assessment. He finds it difficult to investigate because their perception may change over time. Performing a longitudinal study would allow assessment over a period of time, thus recording any changes in perceptions by residents. It is also important, for the commercial success of any touristic region, to monitor the satisfaction of visitors or so-called tourist social ability [6].

#### *1.2. The Benefits of Sporting Events Organisation*

Sports tourism is not only a sum of sport and tourism. It is a complex phenomenon, similar and different from sport and tourism individually. It is multifaceted and exists under a variety of forms and names [1,31–34]. Sports tourists travel to observe sporting activities, to participate in sport and to visit sports attractions (stadiums, sports museums, recreation areas, etc.). Depending on active or passive participation and motivational factors, sports tourists encounter different experiences as the ultimate value they are seeking [35–38]. Mega and small scale sports tourism has the potential to contribute to the social, cultural, economic and infrastructural development of the host country or city. Visitors generate tremendous activity through different forms of expenditure on sporting and non-sporting activities. Cities provide them with a number of multifunctional, complex, multiuser environments. They are able to simultaneously receive domestic and international tourists but also business tourists and people visiting friends and relatives (VFR) [13].

The organization of sporting events is widely recognized as a method of promoting touristic cities and addressing seasonality in destinations [39,40]. They are the most obvious manifestation of sporting activities, gathering two groups of participants: competitors and spectators. Events usually offer a lot of entertainment opportunities for residents and visitors [41] and are seen as one of the most sustainable economic growth strategies for cities, as a driver for economic recovery of great value [42]. The fact that cities tend to have good infrastructure facilities and already host a diverse and dynamic population is obvious and suggests that they will better cope with increasing tourist numbers than other, well-known destinations [13]. Most of the literature follows the relevance of sporting events stems directly from their impact on local, regional and national economies [43–45] and distinguishes between the economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts of sporting events [46–50]. They stimulate the dynamic development of tourism in cities. The phenomenon is very wide and many researchers are trying to carry out scientific analyses to check whether the positive or negative effects of organizing a sports event in a given tourist destination prevail [51–53]. According to Hall [19], the impact of sports tourism affects changes in the value systems of individuals, local communities or entire societies caused by sports travel, changes in types of behavior of tourists and the local population, their social structures, lifestyle and level of quality of life. Due to the effects of a given sporting event are also called its "legacy"—what will remain after it, especially for the local community [19,54–56].

The organization of sporting events includes numerous benefits on an economic, social, cultural and environmental level as new investments, new employment and increased tourism figures and tax revenues [48,57–62]—Table 1. Positive example is new material benefits building: new roads and highways, ultramodern sports stadiums or the development of small sports and tourists' infrastructure in smaller towns. We can observe also some non-monetary effects like improvements to a country's or destination's image abroad and among the fans coming to events [20,63]. It can translate into its tourist attractiveness or promotion of the sport and healthy lifestyle among citizens. An important aspect is also the organizational competence acquired during the preparation of the event [64,65]. Sporting events can have the positive influence on local residents' quality of life, people who believe in the importance of physical activity and the ability to shape their own social environment, increase sports participation, enhance social cohesion or generate interest in a foreign culture [25,28,66,67]. Positive environmental impacts could only have a place when new sports infrastructure is built on devastated land [58,68].


#### **Table 1.** Potential effects of sport tourism events.

Source: Malchrowicz-Mo´sko [8].

The effects have been observed at a number of Olympic Games. "Barcelona effect" is worth mentioning in this place as an example of a positive legacy of sporting events. Due to excellent organization and promotion of the Olympics Games, the city became recognizable across the whole world as a business center and, mostly, a touristic destination. Although the Olympic Games left Barcelona deficit, the capital of Catalonia benefited by the event in a long-term perspective [64,68]. Over the years this impact is positive but also negative. Specifically, the city's residents experience inconvenience related to the influx of tourists [67,69–72]. Barcelona has clearly become a major urban tourist destination and a cultural tourism center [73,74]. The 1992 great event led the city to present many dimensions which make up its personality and at the same time served to modernize them and open them to the future [74]. Currently, the city is the main recipient of international tourism income in the country. Barcelona's shops and stores receive over 15% of the total expenditure of foreign visitors in Spain, which is the second-largest tourist destination in the world, after France [66–76].

#### *1.3. The Costs and Negative Impacts of Sporting Events Organisation*

In most cases, negative (Table 1) legacies are often neglected when planning and evaluating an event [77]. Sporting events could also produce excessive spending, increased taxes and higher costs of living for residents [25,78,79]. Even if social and cultural impacts are more difficult to measure and manage [53,80,81] cultural conflicts between residents and tourists are seen. Moreover, security risks, hooliganism or traffic problems seem to be among the most relevant negative impacts for residents [19,25,46,49,51,79]. Another issue is the well thought-out and planned construction of a new sports tourism infrastructure. If this is not possible, it can cause environmental damage to the host community [46,51] and many people gathered at an event generate air and water pollution, an increased amount of waste and noise levels [46,79,82].

The opposite of Barcelona's example is the Summer Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976, when the most often cited the legacy of, is debt. The Olympic Stadium was supposed to cost \$250 million but ultimately it cost \$1.4 billion. The city did not pay off until November 2006—30 years after the closing ceremony [73,75]. Haynes [83] gives examples (not positive for tourism) of the 1984 Los Angeles Games and the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In Los Angeles, although hotels were occupied at that time, the Disney resort, Universal Studios and the Six Flags Magic Mountain all reported reduced interest from tourists [83]. During the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the hotel occupancy in Sydney and Adelaide was high but in hotels elsewhere in Australia was significantly lower [84]. The British media presented this trend as a major problem for tourist attractions and hotels in central London in 2012 when a few weeks before the event, it turned out that a third of hotel rooms in London were unsold [83,84]. It is estimated that during the 2002 South Korea FIFA World Cup, the number of current foreign tourists was the same as the number of tourists who visited during the same period the previous year [85]. The Atlanta Olympic Games experienced crowding out effects, concluding that, in a part of the city a short distance from the Olympic Park, many hotels and restaurants a significant reduction in income [85]. The host of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix have noted the same problem. Retailers and restaurateurs near the track have complained about a fall in custom as residents avoid the area [86].

Authors Wilson and Liu [84] conducted factor analysis which revealed six negative impact factors: travel inconvenience (the most negative), price inflation, security and crime concern, risk of disease and pollution and the last factor—damage to the environment. Respondents did not have a clear opinion on the impact of the event on the deterioration of the quality of services. It was found that travel inconvenience and price inflation were significantly but negatively related to the intention to travel [84]. Of course, the organization of major sporting events carries the risk of price inflation, vandalism, terrorism, pollution and environmental problems. Therefore, the negative effects of great events cannot be ignored. But the above-mentioned impacts could be very intensive but depend on the size of event. Large-scale sporting events are globally attractive to tourists as well as the media [47,87] but negative impacts are more visible.

Most research in this problem has focused on mega sporting events (MSEs). There is little research on organizing smaller non-mega sports events (NMSEs) that reflects on how these smaller types of events can potentially contribute to benefits and losses residents of local people [22]. For example, Djaballah, Hautbois and Desbordes checked how local governments make sense of small scale sporting events' social impacts. Their case study were local sports officials from 25 medium French cities [88]. The analyzed small scale events are mainly perceived by researchers as a stimulator of tourism development and a chance for the general development of cities and regions [88,89]. Many studies are primarily concerned with identifying motivations and benefits for active or inactive participants of events (and less often for residents) [90–95] but in the context of impact on destinations, the authors write about protected areas [96]. Recently, there have also been publications in which attention is devoted not only to modern sporting events but also to historical sporting events in the field of impact on the local society [97,98]. Sports events are very often the most important goal in the tourism strategies of many cities. Major sports events not only attract participants and spectators but also have the capacity to change the image of cities and encourage future tourism which have an influence on economies, local communities, sociocultural context and ecology for many years after the event has been staged [99]. In the last two decades, there has been a lot of research addressing a variety results [100–103] of mega spectator sporting events [18].

The subject of the presented manuscript closely refer to this special issue, especially that in the tourism literature, overtourism in connection with sporting events organization has been discussed. The effect of excessive tourism is an increase in the aggressive commercialization, price of services, rental fees and real estate and depopulation in cities and districts exploited by sports tourism. In cities with a long history, it causes the gentrification of historical areas. Overtourism as a negative phenomenon observed during the organization of sports events results in the limits of socio-psychological capacity not only residents being exceeded but also tourists. That is why we see the link between our research and this special issue, especially that so many cities are seeking the right to organize big events such as the Summer or Winter Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup, the Formula One Grand Prix hoping for far-reaching changes benefit their host community [104]. Small scale sporting events, if respectively designed and implemented in practice, also have potential to benefit hosting communities [105–109]

but are not so burdensome for residents. However, the larger the event, the greater the impact, which is why in the event planning process, consideration should be given to developing contingency solutions for major risks [110].

The purpose of this manuscript is to pay attention to the negative effects of organization medium and small scale sporting events from the perspective of a participating resident, since such events have not yet been studied. Indeed, what impact do they have on the perception of participating inhabitants? Whether the inhabitants of the city feel the negative effects of organizing sporting events (communication problems or inappropriate behavior of supporters) and do they believe that these events increase the level of crime in the city or, despite these inconveniences, are they satisfied with the organization of sporting events in their place of residence? How are these impacts perceived by participants who are also residents of the city?

Structure of the paper is as follows. The first part shows the literature review of negative implications of sporting events and overtourism, the costs and benefits of sporting events organization. The second part presents the method description—diagnostic survey by the authorship questionnaire submitted to the host's participants (*n* = 774) of the two, well-known events in Poznan: Half Marathon: medium scale mass event and Cavaliada and elite international equestrian event. The second part of the article presents results of this empirical research. Finally, we present the results of this empirical research, our findings and discuss their theoretical and managerial implications.
