Impacts of Volvo Ocean Race - Itajaí Stopover: a post-event analysis of the perception of the residents of the city of Itajaí (SC)

Abstract Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) is a worldwide mega event, with potential to attract public and investors to the different countries that host it, being an important attraction for nautical tourism. After 2012/2013 and 2014/2015 editions, and just about to host one of the 2017/2018 season events, this study aimed to analyze the perception of the residents of the city of Itajaí (SC), after the Itajaí Stopover (event reception in the city), relating to the economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts generated by VOR. The applied method followed a descriptive alignment, with data predominantly quantitative and survey procedure applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 484 cases. For the analysis, besides basic descriptive statistics, the ANOVA test was applied to identify average differences between the different respondent profiles. The results showed that for most residents, VOR had positive impacts, independently of the proximity level of their households to the Villa hosting the Itajaí Stopover. Gender, age, instruction and income groups also tend to perceive distinctly the analyzed variables and dimensions.