Following mega sports events on social media impacts Gen Z travelers’ sports tourism intentions: the case of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games

ABSTRACTSocial media engagement theory provides a theoretical perspective for understanding customers’ social media experiences. However, research on how the social media experience related to mega sports events influences the sports tourism behavior of Gen Z travelers is lacking. Sports tourism is defined as traveling away from home for non-commercial purposes in order to attend or take part in sports events. The current research aims to explore how the experience of following mega sports events on social media would affect Gen Z travelers’ sports tourism decision-making. We chose the 2022 Winter Olympic Games as the research context. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 Chinese Gen Z respondents in June and July 2022. The results revealed four overarching themes that explained the impact of the social media experience of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Gen Z consumers’ sports travel intentions: the attractiveness of winter sports, the image of the athletes, the appeal of the event venues, and the content generated by other social media users.KEYWORDS: Generation Zsocial mediasports tourismmega sports event2022 Winter Olympicsuser-generated content Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 72202111).Notes on contributorsYangyang JiangYangyang Jiang is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham Ningbo, China and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests include services marketing, digital transformation, customer experience, and sustainable development. Her research work has been published in Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Rural Studies, and others. Before joining academia, Dr. Jiang worked in marketing and management roles for several Fortune Global 500 companies. Additionally, she served as a Global Hospitality Programme staff member for the Coca-Cola Company at four Olympic Games.Cenhua LyuCenhua Lyu is a doctoral student at Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham Ningbo, China. Her research work appears in Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Recreation Research, Tourism Analysis. Her research interests focus on customer behavior, customer experience, and virtual tourism.Wangjie ChenWangjie Chen obtained her Master's Degree from Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham Ningbo, China. Her research interests include social media marketing and event tourism.Jun WenJun Wen's research interests lie in travel therapy, travel medicine, and tourism marketing.