Var, när och varför påverkas besökarens upplevelser under ett evenemang? En fallstudie om upplevelserna under Skidskytte VM 2008 i Östersund.

by Eriksson, Anna-Karin

Sporting events is a growing area that is becoming more popular to attend by both locals and tourists. There are discussions on how to measure positive experiences for guests at these events to even further enhance their visit and make it even more pleasurable. This discussion is the foundation of this essay. The study examines visitor’s experiences during the World Championship in Biathlon 2008, as well as how these experiences can be used to develop event planning. The study is based on partaking observations, made during the event, with the purpose to determine when and where negative and positive experiences occur. Its further intention is to conclude the reason to why the experience was identified that way. The partaking observations were made by students in the tourism science field of study at Mid Sweden University i Östersund. The observations were conducted at the event by the observer taking notes describing; what type of experience took place; when and where the experience took place; grading the intensity of the experience on a scale from 1-5, and noticing if the experience was positive or negative. By using this method, it has been possible to establish the specific aspects of the experience in both a time and space perspective. The observations gathered a solid material base and have been complemented with selected questions from a survey among visitors to the World Championship in Biathlon. The collected material is analyzed through earlier knowledge in event planning and customer satisfaction. Implemented theories are Pine and Gilmores experience field, L. Mossberg’s model of factors influencing experiences of the visitor, as well as G. Fernström’s concept of satisfying visitors. The result of the study shows that even though experiences at events are perceived in a personal way and can differ from person to person; there are several common factors for experiences that are possible for event planners to have an effect on. The experiences show that when the visitor is actively participating in creating the experience it is more often likely to be considered positive.