Opinion of the Spectators of a Grand Tour in Spain: A Qualitative Analysis

The objective of this study is to carry out a qualitative analysis of the ratings of tourists and residents attending the road cycling sporting event "La Vuelta" held in Spain in 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions. Methods: The sample consisted of 1,203 comments/observations from tourists and residents in the in situ and post-event phase of each edition. For this qualitative analysis, an open question was used at the end of a quantitative questionnaire on social and tourism impact. Once each comment had been categorised, a summary was made of the responses and frequencies of each idea according to each category, positive and negative comments and the words most used in each type of comment. Nvivo v.10 software (QSR International, Burlington, MA 01803, USA) was used to analyse the comments and frequencies of each idea. Results: Most of the positive comments focus on the positive feelings and emotions generated by attending the event (emotion or enjoyment; 12.4%), great experience (14.8%), atmosphere of the event (10.4%), good organisation of the event (12.1%) and future intentions to return and recommend the event (7.4%). Negative comments mainly refer to the COVID-19 pandemic (11.8%), the advertising caravan (7.4%) and traffic and parking problems (5.9% of comments). Among the words associated with negative comments, the word "advertising caravan" stands out, while the most used words in positive reviews were "experience" and "emotion". Conclusion: Most of the positive comments focus on positive feelings and emotions generated by attending the event (emotion or enjoyment) and the great experience and atmosphere surrounding the sporting event. In the 2020 edition, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the event, although parking problems and traffic congestion are the worst-rated categories.