Publication details
Racing Away From Pandemic: Effects of Covid-19 Measures on the Habits and Behaviours of Attendees at Motoring Event
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | Since March 2020, life in the Czech Republic has been affected by the Covid 19 pandemic and measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Lockdowns and other measures affected people's daily lives and subsequently impacted tourism and events. By 2020, tourist numbers were down, events were cancelled, and motorsport events were no exception. The turnaround came in 2021 when events were held again, but they were not the same as before. Sanitary measures were taken, access was restricted, the number of participants was limited. Life seemed to be back to normal, but normal was not the same as before. This is exactly the case with the Barum Czech Rally Zlín, which is the subject of this article. It is one of two international events held annually in the Zlín region, and the only major sports tourism event of its kind. Given the geographical location of the region, the motor sport event also plays an important role in attracting tourism to the region, as it attracts numerous visitors from other Czech regions and from abroad. Researchers have shown that without the rally, most of these visitors would have no reason to come to the Zlín region. Since the 2020 edition of the Barum Czech Rally Zlín was cancelled and the event was held again in 2021, it provided a unique opportunity to study how pandemic measures affect visitors and their habits and behaviours. Thus, my aim is to investigate how the pandemic changed the behaviour of visitors in the Zlín region during the rally by comparing data from before and after the Covid edition, collected through questionnaires. First, I examine behaviour during the rally, as measures may have changed choice of accommodation, participation in accompanying events, or even the length of stay in the Zlín region. Second, I focus on other aspects of the visit such as other tourist activities besides the rally and expenditures during the visit. Finally, I show that visitors to the rally are very loyal, as they did not let hygiene measures prevent them from visiting the rally and maintained their habits wherever it was possible. |