Qatar World Cup 2022: Awareness of the event and its impact on destination and country character perceptions in the US tourism market

Abstract

This study examined how awareness levels of hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar changed perceptions of Qatar's destination image, country character, and neighboring destinations' images. Data were collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online consumer panel comprised of people residing in the US with an Amazon.com account and willing to participate in the surveys. The results revealed that higher awareness of the 2022 World Cup being hosted in Qatar improved host destination image perceptions, selective regional country perceptions, country character and relevant behaviors to either travel to Qatar for vacation, for interest to travel to attend the event, or to watch the event on TV. Implications involve strategies to create higher awareness for the destination using the mega-sport event platform for promotions.