| Sport and tourism industries have major impacts on local, state, national, and international communities. These impacts include: social impacts, environmental impacts, political impacts, and economic impacts. People travel great distances to watch, participate, and venerate in sports. Therefore, it is important to gain an understanding of the travel behavior of sport tourists. This study focused on the travel behavior of professional hockey fans.; The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the variables that influence the travel behavior of professional hockey fans. There were three research questions addressed in this study. The first research question was, whether or not the strength of the team identification of fans plays a role in the decision to travel to watch their favorite team compete? The second research question was, what is the relationship between perceived destination image and fans? travel to the destination in order to watch their favorite team compete? The third question was, is there a relationship between perceived travel distance and attendance at road games?; To answer these questions an instrument was developed and distributed to fans of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. Data collection occurred at the RBC Center located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The data was analyzed using SPSS. The results of the analysis indicated that team identification, destination image, and distance influenced the travel behavior of fans of professional hockey. The results of the analyses indicated that there was differences in respondents when they were categorized based on the type of ticket they purchased (season ticket holder, mini-plan purchaser, or day of game ticket purchaser) or when they attended a game (weekend game attendee or weekday game attendee).; The results of this study provide scholars and professionals in sport and tourism a better understanding of the variables that influence fans? travel. Partnerships between destination management organizations, professional sport teams, hoteliers and the travel industry should be developed utilizing this information to better serve and meet the needs of fans. |
