Caiazza, R., Minis, I.

Accepted for publication in Chinese Business Review, ISSN 1537-1506, vol. 11, n. 10, 849-854, 2012.

Abstract

Sport tourism events refer to sport activities with potential to attract tourists, media, athletes, and other sporting officials, with the primary purpose for travel being articipating in or viewing sport. Sport mega-events, such as America’s Cup, have been recognized as a strong component of tourism, and are becoming an integral and major part of tourism development and marketing strategies. As a catalyst for change, sport mega-events can accelerate the host city economic, political, and social development. This paper focuses on the case of the 34th America’s Cup for Naples. In order to evaluate the benefits of this event on the city, the authors first propose a general framework of main benefits that sport mega-events may bring to host cities, and subsequently, the authors applied this framework to the Naples case.
Keywords: America’s Cup, tourism management, sport mega-events

Project Duration:

30 months (April 2012 - August 2014)

Project Partners:

TRAINOSE S.A. (Greece) , Regional Inter-University Consortium of Apulia Region  (Italy),  Democenter-Sipe S.c.r.l. (Italy), National Company - The Maritime Danube Ports Administration SA Galati (Romania), Institute of Traffic and Transport Ljubljana l.l.c. (Slovenia), Verona Innovation - Special Agency of the Chamber of Commerce of Verona (Italy), IFKA Public Foundation for the development of Industry (Hungary), EAMA - Executive Agency Maritime Administration (Bulgaria), Luka Koper, Port and Logistics System (Slovenia), CER Hungary Central European Railway Cargo (Hungary), Port of Baja (Hungary),Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry Krusevac (Serbia), KIP - Klaster intermodalnog prijevoza (Intermodal Transport Cluster) (Croatia), Institute of Transport (Albania).

Sponsor:

Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks (Greece)

1. Scope

• The methodological approach of the GIFT project can be summarized as followsIdentification of current status and inefficiencies in the GIFT network: a) Review of current status of the freight transport network, b) Review of current policies in traffic decongestion, and green transport, c) Benchmarking on current green KPIs, funding mechanisms, licensing and state support, as well as current intermodal transport processes and best practices, d) Identification of inefficiencies and users needs. 
• Synthesis of proposals regarding new policies and strategies in intermodal freight transport: a) Formation of policies and financing tools for full integration and interoperability of individual modes of transport as well as between intermodal networks, b) Involvement of the private sector in the development of new infrastructures, c) Exploitation of the full potential of SSS & river transport,d) Use of ICT services for creating intelligent logistics hubs & consolidation strategies. 
• Proposals for the formation of Green Intermodal Freigh Transport Cluster responsible for the requirements elicitation of the key main transport stakeholders, support a transnational and fully interoperative development of the 3 PECs andl promote green transport.  Other aspects that were investigated and proposed are incentives/ financial instruments for corridors upgrade and improvement.
• Design & implementation of a Green Observatory web system for monitoring and assessing the CO2 footprint of the transport activity in the proposed green corridors.
• Creation of a roadmap for intermodal transport sustainability and further development: a) Infrastructure (e.g. missing rail connections, investment in ports, missing road links), b) business infrastructure (warehouses, logistics centers), c) ICT investments, and d) business incentives.