Investigation of Motivations of Spectator's Attendance and Its Role in Loyalty to Destination in Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour

The aim of the current study was to investigate motivations of spectators’ attendance and its role in loyalty to destination in the 27th Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour. Research method was correlation and was conducted as a field study. For this purpose, 368 spectators who had participated in 27th Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour were randomly selected as the sample of the research. Attendance motivation questionnaire (Researcher-made) and loyalty to destinationquestionnaire were used to collect data; their face and content validity were confirmed by sport management professionals and their reliability was obtained by Cronbach's alpha coefficient as respectively 0.83 and 0.81. Results of the Friedman’s test showed that attraction and excitement factor was the main factor of spectators’ attendance in the 27th Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour. Furthermore, results of regression analyses showed that among the components of attendance motivation, attraction and excitement factor (standard beta=0.305), sport features andcompetition level (standard beta=0.275) and socialization (standard beta=0.147) respectively had the most effects on loyalty to destination. In order to increase the spectators’ attendance and quality level of matches, it is recommended that appropriate services in the transportation sector should be provided, coordination between various organizations involved in international cycling tour should be made and standard and international methods should be employed to hold the events.