Trail Runners in South Africa

Dear respondent,

The main goal of the study is to develop a sports tourism commitment framework for trail-running events in South Africa. Two objectives flow from this main goal:

• To determine the demographic profile, trail-runner behaviour and spending related to trail-running participation.
• To determine the sport commitment, lifestyle and event, destination, and trail attributes, sought by runners when choosing an event.

Please note the following:

• Your participation in this research is entirely voluntary, and you will receive no form of compensation.
• Participants should be 18 years and older to be eligible for participation in this survey.
• The reason(s) for gathering socio-demographic information in this survey is to create a profile of the market attracted to trail-running events in South Africa. Your socio-demographic information will not be used to single you out from the sample but will instead be used as part of a collective socio-demographic profile of the market. This information is necessary for identifying trends and changes in trail runners' needs to assist trail-running events and destination marketers in adapting their managing and marketing strategies accordingly.
• The questionnaire includes questions concerning your trail-running event behaviour, spending, sport commitment and loyalty, attributes you seek when choosing an event and lifestyle. Your response to each of these questions can assist trail-running event organisers with their marketing and management; consequently, ensuring successful and sustainable trail-running events in the country. Your opinions will also be used as part of a collective profile; thus no individual responses will be singled out.
• Your information will remain anonymous – no personal information will be asked that can link the data to you. No responses from any individual will be identified, but the results will be presented in aggregate (the group results will be presented as a whole), and no individual results will be reported.
• All data obtained are stored on a secure server at the North-West University’s research unit TREES (Tourism Research in Economics, Environs and Society) with only the primary researcher having access to the data.
• The research results will be published as industry reports, post-graduate dissertations/theses, and in the form of peer-reviewed academic publications and conference presentations.
• This survey should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.
• To avoid respondents accidentally skipping a question, the online survey will require you to answer most questions before the form can be submitted or before you progress to the next page. While respondents will be required to answer each question, you are free to halt participation in this study at any stage, without adverse consequences.
• The questionnaire forms part of the NRF Thuthuka Grant Project (TTK180410318989) Putting into practice the sport tourism commitment framework: Trial running events in South Africa (2019-2021).
• The ethics number for this project is: NWU-00795-19-A4

If you are comfortable with the content, and you have no objections, please complete the survey. By completing this survey, you give consent that this information may be used for research purposes. For any further information, feel free to contact me.

Dr Esmarie Myburgh

Principal researcher

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