Sports and more: A students’ image analysis of the city of Innsbruck

0. Introduction The development of tourism and leisure activities undoubtedly contributes to the social and economic welfare of a city. It is recognized that leisure activities and tourism are an important addition to the existing fan of economic activities established in the urban region. In particular, the tourism and leisure industry can help to compensate losses incurred by industrial activities. Indeed, economic decline in many urban areas is stimulating interest in tourism and leisure business as a new producer of jobs and income (Sancho and Ruiz 1999, p.7). Although tourism and leisure planning efforts are most popularly directed toward improving the economy, this will not be achieved unless it is accompanied by other goals, such as, e.g. the integration with communities’ social and economic life (Ryan 2002). This paper focuses on today’s role of sport in the city’s product/service bundle and its role for managing and marketing cities. In the main part of the paper the authors carried out a survey on students’ preferences regarding image attributes of a city. The results demonstrate the complexity of a cities’ image and supply structure from a student’s point of view. Finally, the optimal composition of services, products and attraction bundles, today’s role of sports in Innsbruck’s city life for students will be analyzed and critically discussed.