Sport events tourism as a catalyst for image makers for tourist destinations: A case study of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in relation to the Legends Marathon Event.

Events tourism is recognised as a significant and essential part of economic development strategies in developing countries as this industry affects the economy and the development of tourist destinations. Globally, many destinations are exploiting sport events as a strategic tool for energizing and themselves. In recent years, it has been widely accepted by tourism destination managers that sport events tourism make huge contributions to the tourism industry and the economy through foreign capital inflows. Various studies demonstrate that there is growing interest or even hunger to host sport events tourism as promoting development is evident in both developing and developed countries. For example, economic growth and prosperity is evident in tourist destinations such as Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg to mention but a few. Therefore, the aim of the study was to ascertain the perceived potential of sport events tourism as a catalyst for image makers for developing tourist destinations like Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in the Eatern Cape province. A purposive sampling technique incorporating both qualitative and quantitative research approaches was adopted. The purposive sampling technique was used with self-administered questionnaire being used to target Legends Marathon stakeholders. The results revealed that the respondents had solid knowledge about sport events tourism in particular the Legends Marathon. The findings further show that despite the benefits that sport events tourism present, the study identified a lack of marketing of the event and lack of stakeholder coordination as problems, and there is a need for more exposure of sport events hosted within the BCMM region and East London as a tourist destination