Sport events tourism and the internet marketing: A case of Monsoon Cup Terengganu

Sports events tourism is a major component of sports related tourism in many countries worldwide.Thus, sports event tourism organizations should strive to develop Internet marketing communications in order to maximize the tourism potential for sports event especially conducted on the island. Previous research revealed that the Internet has developed faster than any form of electronic technology or communication.The Internet has been found to be an effective way to create an image for products and services that can impact consumer behaviour while reinforcing satisfaction and loyalty.This study focuses on the Monsoon Cup Terengganu 201I which was conducted at Pulau Duyong, Terengganu and the impact of online sports marketing by using the Sports Websites Acceptance Model (SWAM) as the theoretical based.A self-administered questionnaire was designed and distributed to 160 respondents among sports tourists invoked in the 2011 Monsoon Cup Terengganu.Systematic simple random sampling was chosen as the research method in collecting data.The results revealed that sports tourists perceived a combination of advantages of online sports marketing (e.g. cheap and costless, customer service and access of information).Initially, the overall of 31 item of advantages were listed and item of the highest score was obtained from the cheap and costless component when it is "reachable at public amenities", that means it could be reached at almost everywhere particularly at public areas and it is free.It was also identified that in terms of !he challenges experienced in online sports marketing is sports tourism websites did not consist of appropriate colors and audio visuals.This is significance to tourists' behaviors in order to develop awareness and capture attention of one particular sports tourism events In short, it leads event organizers to recognize the importance of online sports marketing.Specifically, age and monthly family income did not influence the challenges experienced by sports events tourist.Research findings provide the basis for further conceptual understanding on advantages and challenges of online sports marketing in the sports event tourism field. Besides, the information gathered gives sport tourism providers and policy makers the opportunity to expand their marketing strategy as well as attract new sports tourists