Identity Of Cities And Event Sport Tourism: The Grand Depart Tour De France 2015

All types of cities in the current urban hierarchy try their best to gain a new identity. In this process of reinventing cities, event sport tourism has potential to generate various tangible and non-tangible impacts as this article argues with the case of the Grand Depart Tour de France 2015 (GDTF) held in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands. While the strategic use of the Tour de France by numerous cities in the last decade has been extensively analyzed from the supply perspective, this exploratory study, which is part of an international research project involving nine countries including Spain, examines this hallmark sport event from the demand perspective. Specifically, it analyzes the critical factors that might facilitate or constrain the intention, prior to the event, by Spanish citizens to travel to Utrecht to watch the event. Methodologically, this study is based on questionnaires, a focus group and literature review. This article concludes with the main results that emerge from the perceptions of Spanish citizens of Utrecht and its relation to the GDTF 2015 as well as the implications of this study.