Conceptual framework for strategic destination branding through leveraging home-grown sport events

Abstract

The destination branding discourse remains widely contested among academics and practitioners, as there is, as yet, no commonly accepted framework for the destination branding theory. Moreover, the theory underpinning sport event leveraging towards informed branding practices, especially in the developing destination context, is lacking. This paper conceptualises the leveraging of home-grown sport event leveraging for the South African destination brand. Empirical findings of an in-depth qualitative study conducted with key industry stakeholders is presented. The findings reveal the significant effect of home-grown sport on destination branding through competitive brand positioning. It further conceptualises the role of leveraging strategies and activities of stakeholders during the hosting of a sport event to achieve augmented destination branding benefits. Although the above applies to both the developed and the developing contexts, distinguishing socio-economic factors affecting developing nations has led to the adaptation of a sport event leveraging framework. The paper makes a contribution from a developing country’s perspective on topics investigated largely in the developed, global north contexts. Further research questions are identified to inform future destination branding studies that wish to derive more definitive concepts on strategic destination branding informed by sport event leveraging.