The Perceived Social Impacts of the 2006 Football World Cup - Research Paper Example

This article focuses on describing the social impacts of the 2006 football world cup held in Munich Germany. According to the views of the authors, different events present various social impacts in addition to the evident economic impacts. The authors embarked on an analysis of social impact associated with the 2006 world cup, a subject that many other authors have not given attention. Of critical importance is the fact that the authors present a definition of social impacts in accordance with the context of the paper. There are different social impacts, both positive and negative that result from sport events. From a general point of view, the authors discussed all the positive and negative impacts that previous authors have associated with sporting events. The article then narrows down to the specific case of the 2006 football world cup. A close analysis at the world cup event reveals the presence of both positive and negative social impacts. These reviews will highlight the key findings from the research conducted by the authors. The article offers an extensive literature review on the perceived social impacts of sport events. This lays a good background for the research conducted by the authors. From the literature review, it emerges that sport events register some critical positive impacts such as a sense of pride, entertainment opportunities, shared experiences, promotional of regional identity, the introduction of new ideas, expansion of cultural perspectives, validation of community pride, as well as increased community participation. On the other hand, sport events present some undesirable negative social impacts such as theft, noise, bad fan behaviour, traffic congestion, social dislocation, community alienation, and prostitution. In order to investigate the social impacts registered by 2006 football world cup, the authors adopted the approach of measuring host community perceptions. This method has the potential of identifying different perceptions held by different individuals in the host community. As highlighted by the authors, the subjectivity of this approach is its main disadvantage. The authors relied on face-to-face structured interviews with selected Munich residents. They made use of questionnaires, which were filled in by the interviewers. Random sampling was used to identify the participants from different suburbs of Munich. The authors identified 180 responses, but only 130 interviews occurred. Notably, the researchers ensured that the participants were from different age groups. From the research carried out, data analysis revealed that the world cup held in Munich in 2006 presented numerous positive social impacts. However, there were a few negative social impacts. Many of the interviewees highlighted that there was effective planning by the local council, which ensured that transportation was orderly. Moreover, prior to the world cup, there was the expansion of the highway leading to Munich perceived as a positive social impact. In addition, interviewees highlighted that the shared experience that brought together people from different nationalities was a positive social impact brought about by the event. Many of the respondents viewed the crowd attending the event as a united family. Despite the assumption that the event would cause the rising of friends within Munich, it emerged that only hotel prices went higher. Although there were 313 reported offences, some respondents highlighted that the event presented negative social impacts. This was especially bad fan behaviour, pickpocketing, and prostitution at the start of the event. The authors concluded that the perception of many or the respondents were positive. However, they highlighted the need for further studies into the issue. Community Sports Projects and Effective Community Empowerment: A Case Study in Rochdale The article titled Community Sports Projects and Effective Community Empowerment: A Case Study in Rochdale, focus on analysing how community sport projects contribute to community empowerment. The research adopted a case study approach in Rochdale. According to the authors, community empowerment in the context of their research denotes the “development of communities through sport” as well as the emerging relationships between communities and providers. The Rochdale Federation of Tenants and Residents Association was the target population in this study (RoFTRA). RoFTRA community established a sport project in 2001. This was a diversification of its activities, which majored on housing issues. The purpose of the research carried out by the authors sought to examine the contribution of community sports development in promoting community involvement and eventually leading to community empowerment. Worth noting is the fact that the RoFTRA community exhibited both internal and external relationships that determined the level of empowerment, presented by the sports project to the tenants and residents. The authors present an extensive literature review on community empowerment and community sport. In the literature review, the authors address existing relationships that determine whether a community sport can lead to community empowerment. More specifically, the authors sought to carry out an analysis of the existing power relations in the RoFTRA community sport and its potential impacts in empowering the community. The authors settled for the qualitative paradigm, which proved to be more effective for the case study approach. Notably, the case study approach enabled the authors to have access to extensive and insightful data concerning their focus population. The researchers settled for an insider status, which allowed them to open opportunities to gain the insightful data required for this study. Although this approach presented a measure of subjectivity, it allowed the researchers to develop a closer relationship with the participants. This made it easier for them to access valid data. In addition, the authors relied on other methods such as group discussions, participant observation, as well as in depth interviews. The combination of multiple methods allowed the researchers to have different perspectives of the case study. Findings from this research highlighted that the RoFTRA community sport project was serving as a medium for community empowerment. This is specifically because the sports project allowed the involvement of residents and tenants in various activities and presented them with an opportunity to build capacity. The sports program succeeded in engaging communities through the maintenance of positive relationships with statutory agencies while ensuring an independent local organization. Moreover, the Rochdale community sport project contributed to the positive development of social capital. The sports project comprised of different activities which allowed the tenants and the residents to choose one of the activities to participate in. The findings revealed that funding vulnerabilities were one of the key challenges that the sports project faced. Without doubt, the RoFTRA community sport had succeeded in bringing about transformative change despite challenges identified by the researchers. Evidently, the approach used by the researchers enabled them to obtain a diverse range of data. In addition, the researchers applied critical consciousness and critical reflection in an effort to identify the main themes evident in the data collected. It emerged that the RoFTRA community sport has succeeded in promoting community empowerment. Assessing the Ability of the Egyptian Hospitality Industry to Serve Special needs Customers The article Assessing the Ability of the Egyptian Hospitality Industry to Serve Special needs Customers authored by Tamer Mohamed Atef focuses on the valuation of the Egyptian Hospitality Industry and whether it has the capacity to serve customers with special needs effectively. Without doubt, customers with special needs require the hotel industry to advance their facilities as well as train their staff so that they can be able to meet the needs of such customers. Recent research has highlighted that special needs customers define a target group that hotels can focus on to increase profitability. This is the case because many people with special needs are likely to exhibit a high level of loyalty to hotels that satisfy their needs. Therefore, such customers register increased return visits. The author focused on providing extensive background information of the Egyptian hotel industry. In addition, the needs and expectations of people with special needs received attention from the author as well. It becomes evident that the hotel industry must recognize the potential of the special needs customers as a target group that can help different hotels to register increased profitability. Such recognition can prompt Egyptian hotels to include facilities as well as services suited for people with special needs. In the literature review, the author discusses some of the challenges that people with special needs often face in the hotel industry. Many of these barriers identified by the author reduce the level of satisfaction registered by customers with special needs hence limiting their tourism opportunities. Hotels can make physical changes and introduce new services in an effort to satisfy such customers. The study focused on five star hotels in Egypt. Questionnaires proved to be effective tools in data collection. The researcher identified six five star hotel chains in Egypt out of the possible 130 five star hotels in the country. The participants in the research were personnel holding different positions in the five star hotels. The researcher conducted human resource managers, training managers, training coordinators, assistance training manager, sales and marketing directors, sales managers, sales executives, room division managers, front office managers, and assistant front office managers. The researchers relied on opportunistic sampling in an effort to identify participants who presented the highest chance of a corporation. The research revealed that the design of public transportation means did not favour people with special needs. Tourism attractions also proved unsuitable for people with special needs. House entertainment offered in the hotels did not consider the needs of people requiring special needs. Parking areas, outdoor restaurants, rooms, public toilets, swimming pools, hospitality building hallways and indoor restaurants did not present the required modifications in an effort to meet all the needs of the people with special needs. Although some hotels had made efforts in modifying some of these features and facilities, it remained evident that there was a need to do more. The researcher identified several issues that need improvement. These include the means of communication, the design and layout of hotels, healthcare facilities and personnel, training service personnel on disability awareness, proper marketing of tourism activities and products suited for people with special needs, and the provision of a remarkable percentage of rooms accessible to people with special needs. This research reveals that the Egyptian hotel industry needs to make numerous improvements if it is to meet the needs of people with different disabilities. Exploring the Essence of Memorable Tourism Experiences The article titled Exploring the Essence of Memorable Tourism Experiences sought to analyse how memorable experiences were of essence to tourists from a psychological point of view. The main purpose of the research was to describe the cognitive processes that burred people from giving attention to their experiences as well as understanding factors that contributed to memory formation and retention. The authors acknowledged that memorable experiences have received attention from other authors in the past. However, none of the previous researchers have delved deeper into understanding the specific elements that make certain experiences more memorable than others do. The researchers focused on exploring the available literature on tourism authenticity, satisfactory tourism experiences, and presenting a summary of the existing literature on tourism experiences. A psychological point of view was of critical importance in understanding the cognitive processes involved in the formation of memorable experiences. In addition, the authors sought to analyse factors that made some people mindless of their experiences. The issue of autobiographical memory also received attention in the research. The researchers defined tourism experiences as the subjective evaluation of the events associated with a tourist activity from planning to the real event and recollection after the trip. The researchers recognized that tourism planners have a principle purpose of ensuring that there is a positive “development of an environment” so that it has higher chances of presenting tourists with an opportunity to form memorable experiences. The authors adopted the qualitative paradigm in an effort to understand the views of different individuals concerning their memorable experiences from tourism. In-depth interviews were the preferred method of data collection in the study. The authors relied on open-ended questions because of their capacity to allow interviewees to give their opinion during the interview. The questions included in the interview were formulated through a rigorous process, and tested through a pilot project comprising of 30 participants. The final set of questions had been modified and improved to increase its efficiency in the research. The respondents in the research were from an identified lad Canadian University identified through snowball sampling technique. The use of this methodology allowed researchers to recruit respondents into the research. Each of the identified respondents provided contacts of five people who exhibited the willingness to describe their tourism memorable experiences. Most of the interviews were face-to-face while a few were contacted through telephone. Data analysis adopted the grounded theory approach in an effort to identify the different dimensions that define memorable experiences. This occurred through three different stages, namely coding, the use of a research software in sorting and arranging data, and finally identification interpretative themes from the coded data. Findings from this research revealed that four critical aspects defined memorable experiences. These included affect, expectations, consequentiality, and recollection. In the result section, the authors described each of these aspects in details and how they affect memorable experiences. The authors also presented a practical implication sector of these four aspects to tourism planners. Although the study had certain limitations because of a limited sample, it presents valuable data that tourism planners can rely on in an effort to enhance tourism experiences for many tourists. Bibliography Atef, TM 2011, 'Assessing the ability of the Egyptian hospitality industry to serve special needs customers', Managing Leisure, 16, 3, pp. 231-242. Ohmann, S, Jones, I, & Wilkes, K 2006, 'The Perceived Social Impacts of the 2006 Football World Cup on Munich Residents', Journal of Sport & Tourism, 11, 2, pp. 129-152. Partington, J, & Totten, M 2012, 'Community sports projects and effective community empowerment: a case study in Rochdale', Managing Leisure, 17, 1, pp. 29-46. Tung, V, & Ritchie, J 2011, 'Exploring the essence of memorable tourism experiences', Annals of Tourism Research, 38, 4, p. 1367-1386. Read More