Major Events and Their Effects on Tourism and Infrastructure

Major Events and their effects on tourism and infrastructure

Case Study: Bezirk Murtal

DIPLOMARBEIT

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Naturwissenschaften an der Karl-Franzens Universität Graz

Vorgelegt von Julia Knauseder

Institut für Geographie und Raumforschung Begutachterin: Annalisa Colombino, Ph.D.

Graz, 29.Oktober 2019

Statutory Declaration

I, Julia Maria Knauseder, hereby declare that this diploma thesis has been written independently and without assistance from third parties. Furthermore, I confirm that no sources have been used in the preparation of this thesis other than indicated in the thesis itself.

Graz, October 29th, 2019

…………………………………………………

Julia Maria Knauseder

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Colombino Annalisa, who supported me throughout the entire writing process and provided me with useful advice. Her expertise in the field of Human Geography proved to be of invaluable source for me. Moreover, she managed to help me make the best out of my research questions and prevented me from losing track of time. Thank you very much for your support. I could not have asked for a better supervisor.

Furthermore, I am very grateful for everyone who filled out my questionnaire and provided me with valuable information for my research. I especially have to thank those that were willing to do an interview with me. I was truly overwhelmed by all the support and willingness to help and appreciate every single one of you.

I would also like to thank my family, especially my parents Wolfgang and Justine and my sister Stefanie, but also my grandparents, who have supported me financially and emotionally throughout my studies. Thank you for always believing in me and helping me through my ups and downs. I don’t know what I would have done without you. I love you.

Last but not least, I want to thank my second family, my wonderful and supportive friends. Thank you for providing me with unforgettable, incredible moments at university and thank you for always being there for me, in good as well as bad times. I cannot wait for the rest of our lives together. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Manuela, the best study partner I could have wished for. Without you, I would still be writing this thesis. I also owe special thanks to Birgit and Nicole who provided me with valuable input and feedback.

Table of Contents

List of Figures ...... vi List of Tables ...... vii List of Abbreviations ...... viii 1. Introduction ...... 1 2. Major events as tourism boosters ...... 3 2.1. Introduction ...... 3 2.2. Definition and typology of events ...... 3 2.2.1. What are “events” ...... 3 2.2.2. Typology of Events ...... 6 2.2.3. Sporting events and tourism ...... 11 2.3. Conclusion ...... 13 3. Regional Economic Impact ...... 13 3.1. Introduction ...... 13 3.2. Economic impacts ...... 15 3.3. Touristic impacts ...... 17 3.4. Socio-cultural impact ...... 18 3.5. Environmental impact ...... 20 3.6. Structural/Physical impacts ...... 22 3.7. Political impacts ...... 23 3.8. Other impacts ...... 24 3.9. Conclusion ...... 25 4. Methods ...... 26 4.1. Introduction ...... 26 4.2. Research Questions ...... 27 4.3. Questionnaires ...... 29 4.3.1. Questionnaires for a group of residents ...... 29 4.4. Semi-Structured Interviews ...... 29 4.4.1. Interview with the CEO of regional development in the Bezirk Murtal and residents of the Bezirk Murtal ...... 30 4.4.2. Development of the Semi-Structured Interview Guide ...... 31 4.4.3. General Framework and Practical Application of the Interviews ...... 32 4.5. Quantitative Research Data ...... 32 4.6. Conclusion ...... 33 5. The Bezirk Murtal and Projekt Spielberg ...... 33

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5.1. Introduction ...... 33 5.2. About Murtal ...... 34 5.3. Tourism in Murtal ...... 35 5.4. Portrayal of the Red Bull Ring ...... 36 5.4.1. History ...... 36 5.4.2. Projekt Spielberg GmbH & Co KG ...... 41 5.4.3. Events at the Red Bull Ring ...... 42 5.5. Conclusion ...... 43 6. How events have shaped tourism in the Bezirk Murtal ...... 43 6.1. Introduction ...... 43 6.2. Development of Arrivals and Overnight stays from 2010-2018 ...... 44 6.3. Main markets of the Urlaubsregion Murtal ...... 50 6.3.1. Visitors from Abroad ...... 51 6.3.2. Visitors from Austria ...... 53 6.3.3. Comparison before and after the Re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the introduction of motorsport events ...... 54 6.4. Conclusion ...... 57 7. Structural/physical impacts of major sporting events ...... 58 7.1. Introduction ...... 58 7.2. New tourist magnets, new potential for investments ...... 59 7.3. Infrastructural changes ...... 65 7.4. Conclusion ...... 66 8. Local opinion and perceived changes ...... 67 8.1. Introduction ...... 67 8.2. Murtal’s perception by residents and the ROW ...... 67 8.2.1. Demographics of the respondents ...... 69 8.2.2. Perceived changes in Murtal ...... 70 8.2.3. Leisure activities ...... 79 8.2.4. Perceived changes in infrastructure ...... 83 8.2.5. Negative changes ...... 85 8.2.6. Positive changes ...... 89 8.2.7. Image change ...... 92 8.2.8. Future of the region ...... 93 8.3. Conclusion ...... 95 9. Conclusion ...... 96 10. Bibliography ...... 101

10.1. Literature ...... 101 10.2. Internet Sources ...... 103 11. Appendix ...... 109 11.1. Semi-Structured Interview ROW ...... 109 11.2. Semi-Structured Interview Guide Residents ...... 110 11.3. Online- Questionnaire ...... 111

List of Figures

Figure 1 Typology of planned events ...... 8 Figure 2 The impact of sport on the environment ...... 22 Figure 3 Bezirk Murtal and its municipalities ...... 35 Figure 4 Tourismusverbänd/ tourism associations (Stand Januar 2019) ...... 35 Figure 5 Österreichring 1980 ...... 37 Figure 6 Aerial view of the Red Bull premises in Spielberg...... 38 Figure 7 The Bull ...... 39 Figure 8 The race track over time ...... 41 Figure 9 Logo of Spielberg ...... 41 Figure 10 Projekt Spielberg- Winter and Summer tourism ...... 42 Figure 11 Verstappen at the race track in Spielberg...... 52 Figure 12 Red Bull Ring ...... 59 Figure 13 At the Rolling Stones concert in Spielberg ...... 60 Figure 14 G'Schlössl Murtal ...... 61 Figure 15 Adventdorf at Hotel G'Schlössl Murtal ...... 61 Figure 16 Das Steirerschlössl in Zeltweg ...... 62 Figure 17 Café Wasserturm before the renovations ...... 62 Figure 18 Café Wasserturm in Zeltweg ...... 63 Figure 19 Camping BLAU at the Landschreiberhof ...... 64 Figure 20 Playworld ...... 64 Figure 21 Sign indicating cycle path to the Red Bull Ring ...... 65 Figure 22 Cycle paths in Murtal ...... 66 Figure 23 Old main square in Knittelfeld ...... 74 Figure 24 Main Square in Knittelfeld ...... 74 Figure 25 Main Square in Knittelfeld ...... 75 Figure 26 Hotel BurgRooms – Spielberg ...... 76 Figure 27 Offroad Buggy Experience...... 80 Figure 28 Wipfelwanderweg ...... 82 Figure 29 Sign at Wipfelwanderweg ...... 82 Figure 30 Traffic jam in Spielberg ...... 86

List of Tables

Table 1 Socio-cultural impacts of events ...... 19 Table 2 Arrivals and Overnight Stays in Murtal- Summer Season 2010-2018 ...... 45 Table 3 Tourism Summer Season 2013 vs. 2014 ...... 46 Table 4 Tourism Summer Season 2015 vs. 2016 ...... 47 Table 5 Tourism Summer Season in 2018 ...... 48 Table 6 Development of units of Beds in Murtal: 2010-2018 ...... 49 Table 7 Number of Businesses in Murtal: 2010-2018 ...... 50 Table 8 Summer Season Overnight Stays: Domestic/Foreign Visitors 2018 ...... 51 Table 9 Summer Season Arrivals: Domestic/Foreign Visitors 2018 ...... 51 Table 10 Arrivals of domestic source markets in Murtal in 2018 ...... 54 Table 11 Arrivals of domestic guests in comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018 ...... 55 Table 12 Chart Arrivals of domestic guests in comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018 ...... 56 Table 13 Domestic/Foreign Arrivals in Comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018 ...... 57 Table 14 Q17 Gender Table 15 Q18 Age ...... 70 Table 16 Q1 Has Murtal changed ever since the return of major motorsport events? ...... 71 Table 17 Q3 Changes in the region ...... 72 Table 18 Q13 Murtal's image change ...... 92

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List of Abbreviations

DTM …………………………………………………..…….. Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters

F1……………………………………………………………………………………. Formula 1

GP………………………………………………………………………………….. Grand Prix

ÖAMTC………………………..… Österreichischer Automobil-, Motorrad- und Touring Club

ROW …………………………………………………. Regionalverband Obersteiermark West

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1. Introduction

In 2011, the former Österreichring was re-opened under the name of Red Bull Ring. The Red Bull Ring owns its renovation to Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull GmbH and the Land Steiermark. In 2014, due to Dietrich Mateschitz private investment, the Formula 1 returned to the Bezirk (district) Murtal. In 2016, the MotoGP returned. With the return of major motorsport events, the Bezirk Murtal started to change as well. The hosting of such major events plays an important role nowadays in the tourism industry and in regional development. Many people travel to a certain destination to watch a concert, attend a festival, or go see a sporting competition. It represents a unique opportunity for the host destination to rethink or reposition itself, to support the development of a modern infrastructure, create new jobs, or promote regional/local development in general (cf. Henderson, 2017, p.9ff).

In this thesis, the focus of my research is on the Bezirk Murtal and the effects that major sport events, mainly motorsport events, have on tourism and infrastructure. Contrary to most studies concerned with place marketing and branding, and urban regeneration, this thesis contributes to debates in human geography by discussing how events and place branding initiatives do bring positive changes and positive perceptions by local inhabitants. This is done through a case study. The Bezirk Murtal has become an important destination for motorsport enthusiasts due to the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring. With the return of the Formula 1, the MotoGP, Truck Trophy Race, the DTM, the ADAC and many other motorsports, the Red Bull Ring was brought to life. Therefore, I wanted to focus my research on how these changes affected the region. The study is based on the systematization of impacts that events can have on regions, developed by different authors such as Köhler (2014), Bowdin (2011), Preuß/Kurscheidt/Schütte (2009), Hall (1989) and Ritchie (1984). Events can cause both negative and positive economic, touristic, environmental, structural, socio-cultural impacts, just to name a few. With the focus on Murtal, I decided to discuss the number of arrivals, overnight stays, the development of unit of beds and businesses related to tourism since the re- opening of the Red Bull Ring in 2011. Moreover, by creating a questionnaire, I was able to gain insight in the local’s perception of the changes that have been going on and their involvement in the events. However, since questionnaires can only scratch on the surface, I decided to conduct semi-structured interviews with some of the respondents. I also got in touch with the office responsible for regional management and conducted an interview with the CEO

1 of regional development in Upper Styria-West to get an overview of the ongoing changes in regional development in Murtal due to the return of major motorsport events.

During my research, two main research questions evolved in regard to my topic “Major Events and their effects on tourism and infrastructure- Case Study: Bezirk Murtal”, namely:

• RQ1: How has the region realized its potential as tourism destination in the last few years? o What impacts did the major events have on the Bezirk Murtal regarding its potential as tourism destination? o How have the tourist arrivals changed in Bezirk Murtal since the arrival of major events in this area? o Which changes have taken places in terms of infrastructure (new hotels, restaurants, roads, …)? • RQ2: How do the residents perceive the impact that major events have on the Bezirk Murtal and the subsequent developments?

With those questions in mind, I conducted my fieldwork and analysis.

The thesis is structured into (Numbers of Chapters here). In Chapter 2, I defined different terms important to the understanding of my thesis and classified them. In this chapter, the main focus is on the definition of the term “event” and into what different categories events can be sorted into. The last focus of this chapter lays on the definition of sporting events and their connection to tourism. The subsequent chapter elaborates on the different impacts that events can have on the host region. Those impacts can be both negative and positive and can be divided into different categories such as economic, touristic, environmental, structural, socio-cultural and other impacts. The chapter elaborates on those impacts and discusses the effects they can have on the host destination more closely. Chapter 4 provides information of the methods that I employed in order to obtain the data needed to answer my research questions properly. It also describes the preparation, execution, and analysis of the semi-structured interviews conducted with the responsible manager for regional development in the Bezirk Murtal and the residents. Chapter 5 gives an overview of the Bezirk Murtal and provides an introduction to tourism in Murtal in general. It also describes Projekt Spielberg which has been an integral part in reviving the region. Last but not least, this chapter highlights a few milestones in the history of the Red Bull Ring. Chapters 6 to 8 focus mainly on the analysis that was conducted. Chapter 6 looks at the changes that have taken place in Murtal in terms of tourist arrivals and overnight stays.

Furthermore, this chapter compares various numbers such as tourist arrivals, overnight stays, unit of beds, and businesses in the tourism sector to the numbers before the opening of the Red Bull Ring to the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major sport events. The chapter ends with a closer look at where the visitors are from. Chapter 8 presents the analysis of an online questionnaire and of semi-structured interviews with a few Murtal’s residents about their perception of the impacts that major events have had on the Bezirk Murtal. Then, it moreover discusses how the region has changed in terms of structure and infrastructure. An interview with the CEO of the regional development department in Murtal sheds light on the past as well as current developments and gives an idea of what the future will look like. The last chapter concludes the thesis and provides a summary of its main arguments.

2. Major events as tourism boosters

2.1. Introduction

In this chapter I introduce the main theory and concepts that I used in this thesis about events and their impacts on tourism. As the term “major event” comes up very frequently, this chapter introduces some research regarding events and, consequently, point out their importance to regional development and tourism. It starts with a definition and typology of events, followed by a short overview of the history of events. Finally, the chapter ends with a short overview of the impacts that events have on the tourism and a short conclusion of this chapter.

2.2. Definition and typology of events

2.2.1. What are “events”

Events are a dynamic, fast-growing and competitive sector that has clear synergies with tourism. Events have a beginning and an end and are temporal phenomena that are generally planned in detail and follow a certain schedule. They are also well publicized and hyped in advance. Moreover, events are usually confined to a certain place. This might involve a space such as a specific facility, a very large open space, or many locations. The night slalom in Schladming is a great example for an event. It is confined to a specific facility, follows a certain

3 schedule, has a beginning and an end and is publicized in advance. Mass sporting events like the Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup or one-off celebratory events such as the Queen’s Golden Jubilee held in London in 2003 and, of course, annual sporting, artistic, cultural, other events such as the Coachella Festival in California are just a few more examples for events. If such events are managed and hosted effectively, they do not only benefit the destination positively by expanding the visitor economy, they also provide media exposure, promote regional development and stimulate the upgrading of infrastructure as well as creating new partnerships for tourism, culture, leisure facilities and financing sport.

According to Getz (2008), in recent years destinations have more and more realized the potential of events to raise their profile in an ever-increasing competitive global tourism industry. Thus, the volume and range of events and festivals taking place around the world at any time has reached overwhelming levels and has contributed to tourism immensely. Every year, several events with an international outreach are taking place, attracting large numbers of spectators and participants. Events like these are of great importance to the destinations they take place at as they promote them and bring new economic opportunities with them. Many view the effective hosting of events as a vehicle for economic growth, branding, urban regeneration, and of course job creation. In order to be able to host such big events, the governments have to enter competitive bidding processes in order to secure a global event for their country. This underlines the growing credence that is attached to the hosting of events on the international stage. But not only events of global significance are growing in demand. Also, smaller niche events, such as local and/or themed festivals, often initiated at the community level and occasionally with the support of the public sector in an attempt to boost such activity, are implemented as a potential economic development tool. Thus, events and their different effects on a place and on the economy is a very relevant field of study nowadays as the hosting of events represent a unique opportunity to rethink or reposition a destination as well as give the destination the chance to improve and promote the development of new, modern infrastructure.

As this work draws on the understanding of what events are, the term “event” is now further investigated by drawing on the works of Köhler (2013), Drengner (2008), Zanger (2001), Gebhardt (2000) and Getz (1997). Since the 1990s, the term “event” has been used variously in different aspects of society such as the media, everyday language, economy or science which has led to an inflationary use of it. In order to fully grasp the concept behind the term “event”,

4 it makes sense to effectively identify the core features behind events. The literature suggests following features (cf. Köhler, 2013; Drengner, 2008; Zanger, 2001; Gebhardt, 2000; Getz, 1997):

• Events are scheduled public or social occasions: they are not incidental phenomena but require adequate organizational preparation as well as a scheduled implementation by an organizer. The organizer can either be an individual, a group of persons, or an organization. • Events are goal-oriented: even if the organizer does not formulate an explicit goal, it can be assumed that events always follow a certain intention. If events are used within regional marketing, they follow goals such as efficient city-marketing, tourism marketing and many more. If events without regional focus take place, the organizer usually pursues economical goals. • Events are planned as unique experiences: events enable the participants’ experiences outside their daily lives that can create excitement and anticipation of the attendance. • Events speak to more senses of the participants: events should create a thorough experience that stays in mind for a long period of time. This can be achieved through the connection of different aesthetic expressive forms such as music, dance and lightning design as well as the blending of different cultural traditions. • Events transfer the feeling of an exclusive community and belonging: even though participants of events can be differentiated through, for example, hierarchical relations, the feeling of attending the same event together as part of a big family is dominating. • Events are, in most cases, focused on one theme: the establishing of a certain content framework such as specific music styles or certain types of sports enables the participants a common interaction in terms of the chosen topic and thus contributes to a formation of identity and community building.

The above-mentioned features already help to establish a thorough description of the term “event”. However, they only refer to core attributes of an event, meaning they are characteristics that only allow for a general classification of a phenomenon as an event. To get a more detailed idea of what events are, the next chapter therefore discusses different types of events.

2.2.2. Typology of Events

As already shortly mentioned in the chapter before, events are an increasingly important motivator for tourism and thus play a prominent role in the development and marketing of most destinations, leading to an increased global competitiveness. However, to consider the potential tangible as well as intangible impacts that are dealt with in a later chapter and to fully grasp the term “event”, a distinction between different types or categories of events needs to be established. Over the years, literature has provided many possible ways of how to make a distinction between the types of events regarding the dimensions of time, content and size that is looked at in the following paragraphs. Beforehand, it also needs to be noted that this thesis only focuses on planned events, which are defined as:

“’Planned events’ are created to achieve specific outcomes, including those related to the economy, culture, society and environment. Event planning involves the design and implementation of themes, settings, consumables, services and programmes that suggest, facilitate or constrain experiences for participants, guests, spectators and other stakeholders. Every event experience is personal and unique, arising from the interactions of setting, program and people” (Getz, 2008, p.21).

According to Getz (2008, p.21) all planned events get ‘labelled’ as festivals, conferences, fairs, sports, and many others. He describes them as social constructs, because when descriptive terms are used such as ‘festival’ or ‘convention’ most people have an idea of what is meant by that. The events have different intents, meanings and programs and look and feel different. Figure 1 illustrates the typology of planned events and is based on their form, meaning what they look like and how they are programmed. Of course, the lines between the different forms of events can blur as one event can fulfill multiple functions and have various meanings attached to it (cf. Getz, 2008, p.21).

One way to describe events is by considering the time dimension by means of duration and the frequency they take place. In general, events take place in a limited period of time which distinguishes them from permanent attractions such as museums or modern and/or historic monuments. An event can last from a few hours to a few months. The significance regarding the duration of an event increases if it is looked at in connection with event management as well as the socio-economic effects of an event. Therefore, short-term events tend to be

6 characterized by a certain exceptionalism through which the attentiveness is centered and ultimately heightened. The resulting (positive) effects are usually only short-termed. Longer events, on the other hand, are associated with a higher, more time-consuming organizational effort, which must be compensated for by lasting effects and the use of the economies of scale that arise during that time (cf. Kurscheidt, 2009, p. 158). This shows that longer events do not inevitably result in better effects in terms of business and regional economics than short events that draw a lot of attention.

Another way to define events in terms of their temporal characteristics is by looking at the intervals in which they take place. They can be differentiated by the fact if they are a one-time event or a recurring event that takes place periodically or non-periodically (cf. Weiß, 2008, p.29f).

One-time events cannot be repeated due to their unique character (cf. Weiß, 2008, p.29f). Examples for such events are special concerts such as the benefit concert One Love Manchester in Manchester in 2017, the showrun of Max Verstappen with his Formula 1 car up the Schloßberg in 2019, “The Wall” in July 1990 at the Potsdamer square in Berlin, historic jubilee celebrations or art events. Recurring events are carried out within certain time intervals. Here one can differentiate between events that change locations every other year such as the Olympic games, or events that are bound to a place such as the Glastonbury event.

Content-wise events apply to all areas of life, whereby, depending on the purpose and target group, they can take on a variety of forms. The following table provides a typology of the main categories of events that are primarily based on their form, meaning obvious differences in their program and purpose.

Figure 1 Typology of planned events (Getz, 2008, p.404)

As the table above shows, some are for public celebration, while other events are planned for purposes of competition, fun, entertainment, business, or socializing. In this thesis the focus is on planned public events, especially sports competitions such as the Formula 1 or the MotoGP.

The most commonly used criteria to classify events are according to their size and scope. In early event research, a series of attempts to classify events according to their size and scope based on a uniform measure were made. Here, mostly quantitative indicators in form of volume – for example the number of participators or visitors as well as space and construction requirements – and monetary terms such as investments, revenue, and expenses were used and combined with psychological measures such as media interest and advertising effect. The difficulty of that classification arises from the fact that on the basis of an absolute value there can be no conclusive and clear categories for the classification of events formed. For that reason, the comprehension of a qualitative and psychological-oriented term of size asserted itself, with its primary focus on the intentions, functionality, and the content of the event. It is possible to distinguish the following four types: Mega events, Special events, Hallmark events, and Local/Community events (cf. Köhler, 2013, p. 20).

Local/community events are events and festivals that are targeted primarily at local audiences. Those events are mainly staged for their fun, social and entertainment value and can benefit

8 the community in terms of creating a sense of place, engendering its pride and strengthening a feeling of belonging. Moreover, it exposes the community to new ideas and experiences as well as encourage them to take part in sports and arts activities. It can also help to encourage diversity and tolerance. Due to the benefits listed above, local government often support and encourage such events and incorporate them in their community and cultural development strategies (cf. Bowdin et al. 2006, p.16). Wine festivals, city festivals or the annual music nights in Knittelfeld are an example of such events. According to Janiskee (1996, p. 404), local or community events thus are:

“family-fun events that are considered ‘owned’ by a community because they use volunteer services from the host community, employ public venues such as streets, parks and schools and are produced at the direction of local government agencies or nongovernment organizations (NGOs) such as service clubs, public safety organisations or business associations.”

Looking at the term ‘hallmark’ in a literal sense, it refers to a distinguishing characteristic, trait, or feature (cf. Merriam-Webster, 2019). Hallmark events are, according to the most recognized definition by Ritchie (1984, p.2), a

“major one-time or recurring events of limited duration, developed primarily to enhance the awareness, appeal and profitability of a tourism destination in the short and/or long term. Such events rely for their success on their uniqueness, status, or timely significance to create interest and attract attention.”

Thus, hallmark events are recurring events that have created a strong association with their host community or destination and can become inextricably linked with each other. In contrast to local/community events, they are targeted toward a more international audience with the goal of gaining a competitive destination advantage, meaning the place becomes synonymous with the event. Place identity is an important outcome for those kinds of events. Examples for that are the Munich Oktoberfest, the Rio Carnival or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which are all permanent festivities in their cities.

Whereas the above described types of events highlight the regional focus, special events focus more strongly on the content. The primary intention of special events is to create an experience that is linked to a specific purpose that goes beyond everyday experience such as a unique

9 concert (e.g. Rolling Stones in Spielberg) and contributes to the formation of identity within a certain target group, for example the belonging to a certain music community. The Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix is another example of a special event and is analyzed in the next chapters. As already established, the strengthening of regional identity is not so much the main purpose of those events as it is the case with local/community events and hallmark events. Rather, the identity in regard to, for instance, cultural, political or athletic content is at the center of interest. Special events can also take on supra-regional and international significance (cf. Köhler 2014, p.21). Consequently, one can argue that events such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix or the Rugby World Cups classify as mega events as these require large investments in terms of infrastructure and event venues, primarily from governments, and are also justified mainly in terms of tourism (cf. Page et al. 2012, p.76f). This is one of the reasons, however, why mega-events are often criticized widely as most of the tax payers’ money is used and rarely has real returns for the local communities. It needs to be considered that many buildings remain empty and unutilized after the event has taken place, meaning in the long term they represent a loss of capital. Moreover, to draw awareness to the disadvantages of such an undertaking, Barclay (2009) claims that the economic benefits of hosting major sporting events are most of the times exaggerated and that ex-ante impact studies typically overestimate the gains and advantages and underestimate the costs that are involved. Kevin Ward (2011, p. 2523) further states that

“A focus on revalorising downtowns, investing in retail and entertainment complexes and gentrifying unattractive neighbourhoods often accompanies these events, creating conditions more conducive for capital accumulation, than for social redistribution.”

Further costs that need to be taken into account are displacement costs, crowding out, and multiplier effects. Also, spending on mega-events can displace spending that may have occurred within the local economy. Moreover, Matheson and Baade (2004) argue that visitors to the event may only replace an equal or slightly lower number of tourists that would have visited the host destination anyways. Non-economic costs such as traffic congestion, vandalism, environmental degradation, disruption of residents’ lifestyle are additional costs that need to be accounted for.

Mega events, as the term itself already suggests, denotes to the largest and most significant of events and as literature proposes, there are many destination cities that have benefited from those big events, particularly sporting ones. However, it needs to be considered that major

10 events such as mega events do not always generate advantages for their host destinations. Getz (2007, p.25) states that:

“Mega events, by way of their size of significance, are those that yield extraordinarily high levels of tourism, media coverage, prestige, or economic impact for the host community, venue or organization.”

Only a few events such as the World’s Fairs, the Olympics and other major sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup can qualify as mega events. Those events are large-scale cultural events that display a dramatic character and possess mass popular appeal as well as an international significance. In order to host such an event, it requires a competitive bid to win them as a one-time event for a certain place. Page et al. provide a good example for this: the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa (cf. 2012, p.76). According to them, 2.8 million seats were on sale, of which approximately half were sold to international tourists who would not have come to visit under other circumstances. Most of them visited from high-income Western countries, namely USA, Great Britain and Australia. The accommodation in the cities where the events took place were all sold out and of course, South African tourism attractions, especially wildlife tours of game reserves and national parks received a high number of visitors. However, hosting them can also pose a great risk as they are one-time occurrences and thus, if unsuccessful, cannot be repeated to make up for the loss. It also needs to be considered that staging these mega sporting events requires, in comparison to local/community events and hallmark events, huge infrastructure investments such as improved public transport systems, enough accommodation possibilities, and new stadia. Most of that money is funded by the respective national governments that justify those expenditures by pointing to the increased tourism revenue flowing to the private sector. Of course, one must again keep in mind the disadvantages of hosting such an event as well.

2.2.3. Sporting events and tourism

As this thesis mainly deals with special sporting events such as the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix and the MotoGP in Spielberg, a short definition of sport tourism and sporting events is given in this subchapter.

According to Getz (2007, p.42), “Sports events are the actual games or meetings during which sport activity is performed.”. He identifies sporting events as an actual event form and outlines that sporting events represent a huge category. He offers a broad classification (Getz, 2007, p.43):

• Professional or amateur. • Indoor or outdoor (and other differences in their need for special venues). • Regularly scheduled (league play, plus playoffs or championships) or one-time (exhibition or friendly matches). • Local, regional, national or international in scope. • For participants, for spectators, or both. • Sport festivals (a celebration of sport, often for youth, involving many sports) with single or multi-sporting events.

In general, professional or amateur sporting events, indoor or outdoor sporting events as well as the other forms of sporting events listed above are, in the leisure industry, gaining more and more popularity and have become an important aspect of it. The attendance and participation at sports events have become a more prominent part in the recreational and entertainment lifestyle of people around the world and hosting events are now considered a direct and significant driver of tourism. Due to that, they have become a significant part of tourism plans in several destinations (cf. Getz, 2008). De Villiers (2003, p.94) states that sport tourism is about understanding, “how to transform the sporting event participation into a tourism experience and to convert the tourism destination into a sport practice venue.” Sporting events are considered in both the developing and developed countries as part of a broader tourism plan that has its focus on enhancing the cities, regions and countries. Accordingly, local communities and organization strive to host sporting events even though they can pose challenges for organizers and hosts due to the dynamic and temporal character of such whilst also being simultaneously produced and consumed. Consequently, the success of sport tourism development strategies cannot only be reduced to the economic benefits they pose. Many times, cities draw an advantage from hosting sporting events in terms of city branding and city marketing as well as advancing the destination image and some even use it as a regeneration strategy. However, the effects of events in terms of regional marketing are looked at in the next chapter.

2.3. Conclusion

This chapter illustrated the main concepts and ideas of the term “event”. I have established a definition of the term that relates to the entire thesis and have shown that the term itself cannot be narrowed down to one simple description. To underline this point, different characteristics of events have been pointed out such as the time dimension by means of duration, temporal characteristic, the purpose and content of the events, as well as the most frequently used way to distinguish events, namely the size and scope. There are four ways to distinguish events according to those criteria: mega events, special events, hallmark events, and local/community events. I argued that due to the Formula 1’s specific purpose that offers a unique experience in addition to its contribution to the formation of identity within a certain target group it can be classified as a special event. However, one also might argue that F1 events may be seen as mega events because they require large investments in terms of infrastructure and event venues which are justified mainly in terms of tourism.

As most of the events taking place in the district of Murtal are sporting events, the second part of this chapter gives a short definition of the terms sporting event and sport tourism. In a globalized world like ours, sports have more and more become a popular and important aspect of our lives and hosting a big sporting event like the MotoGP can bring many economic advantages to the destination it takes place at and, of course, disadvantages as well if not managed right. However, sporting events have turned into an essential part in tourism development strategies and should not be underestimated.

3. Regional Economic Impact

3.1. Introduction

As a global industry, tourism and especially sports tourism have now been widely recognized as an influential means of expanding tourism in a region and reaping economic benefits of such events. Tourism can be a valuable tool for a destination’s progressive growth and development. However, there are numerous regional impacts, both negative and positive, that need to be considered when hosting a major event.

In order to purposefully employ and evaluate events in regional marketing, it is important to know the impacts they can have in a region. There are many literatures that suggest different systematizations to analytically differentiate between the positive and negative impacts of events. On a general note impacts can be, for example, subdivided into tangible and intangible or quantifiable and not quantifiable benefits and costs according to their measurability, respectively. On a subtler level the impacts of events can be divided according to their impact on either economy, tourism or the social environment. Although the significance and the categorization vary between various authors such as Bowdin (2011), Preuß/Kurscheidt/Schütte (2009), Hall (1989) and Ritchie (1984), there is nevertheless consensus among them when it comes to the impacts events generally generate:

• Economic impacts • Touristic impacts • Environmental impacts • Socio-cultural impacts • Political impacts

Those spheres of action serve as the basis for the systematization that differentiates between economic, touristic, environmental, structural, socio-cultural and other impacts that are mentioned later. Structural impacts have not yet been dealt with thoroughly, however, as a main part of this thesis deals with the question of structural as well as economic effects, I elaborate on it. The category of touristic impacts is dealt with separately in this thesis. Thus, impacts regarding communications policy and economic tourism impacts are subsumed under the economic impacts as the spheres of action are closely connected to each other and thus overlap with each other. The focus is, however, in many cases on the economic dimension. Thus, the dimension of communications policy-related impacts (image and reputation impacts) is most of the times neglected. Thus, the touristic impacts including the communications policy have, with reference to Köhler (2014, p.27), been assigned their own sphere of action. The impacts on the tourism economy are subsumed under the economic impacts. If, given a closer look, one realizes that the systematization is also following the concept of sustainability. Sustainability has gained a lot of significance in event literature in the last decades. According to this, events have not been looked at one-dimensionally anymore but have taken into consideration the three pillars of sustainability, namely ecological, economic and social issues. This approach aims at sustainable event planning and event realization. The sphere of action regarding communications policy and touristic impacts has been marginally looked at over the

14 past few years, plays however an important part in event design. The impacts that could not be assigned to one of the five suggested categories are discussed in the last subchapter of this section. The following chapters give more insight into the mentioned spheres of action which are relevant for the empirical part (cf. Köhler, 2014, p.27f).

3.2. Economic impacts

Events offer the event destination the unique opportunity to gain large sums of money and thus represent a suitable instrument to stimulate the regional economy. The economic impulse of an event is generated through the expenditure of the involved stakeholders such as the organizers, visitors, sponsors, delegates, supplier and the public authorities. The visitors generate income for distributors, for example, by spending money on food, beverages and merchandizing. However, this does not automatically mean that the money causes economic impacts for the host region. The regional economic impact of an event can only be determined by that proportion of expenditure that represents an injection of “new money” into an area (cf. Dwyer et al., 2000, p.177). The regional economic impact can in that case be defined as the economic net change which results through the event related expenditures in the host region. This net change can show in the form of regional sales increase, value-added, a higher regional employment and in numerous other ways. The value-added results from the revenue of directly or indirectly in the production of the event involved companies such as regional suppliers, distributors, and hospitality. The value-added shows the increase in value that the company was able to generate within a certain period, for instance before, during or after the event. The through investment and consumption expenditure generated value-added is partly re-spent on their employees. By doing so, income in that group of private households is generated which can be referred to as the income impact. The impact on employment includes all the due to the event-created employment. Events, however, are not likely to generate lasting employment impacts due to their “one off” or short-term nature (cf. Dwyer et al., 2000, p.183). Next to impacts in the private economic sector, events can also generate additional state revenues and outlays. These fiscal impacts refer to the government revenue created through event-related expenditure less associated government expenditure. Possible revenue sources for the government pose:

• visitor expenditure

• business expenditure (e.g., stamp duties, license fees, property taxes, occupational license fees, state payroll taxes); • ticket sales on state-owned public transport and admission fees to state-owned attractions. (Dwyer et al., 2000, p.184)

Dwyer et al. (2000, p.184) continue to list possible government expenditure items that include:

• public expenditure on construction of facilities, and supporting infrastructure (e.g., road works); • public expenditure on provision of additional police, ambulance officers, etc., less contributions from events/convention organizers; • government subsidies relating to events, conventions, and exhibitions.

In general, the fiscal impacts of an event are separately determined from its other impacts.

Events, though, do not always lead to the above discussed positive impacts, but can also bring about negative economic impacts for the host region. One of the negative impacts that can occur is the rising of prices. This occurs if an event takes place and the demand of goods and services reaches a peak, for instance, the demand for accommodations close to the event location and the suppliers concert react to that development with price changes. A further negative impact that events can cause is the residential displacement and gentrification. This is the case if potential tourists and/or locals are affected by the negative side impacts of the events and leave or avoid the region during the happening of the event. Such negative side impacts include inflated prices, environmental impacts, noise pollution and crowded places. However, those impacts can also happen in the public sector by, just to give an example, sponsoring an event with public funding that were originally intended for a different project. To avoid such negative impacts or keep them at a minimal level, regional stakeholders such as locals need to be included in the planning and execution of events. The economic impacts of events are, from the view of regional marketing, especially suitable for the promotion of destination marketing, tourism marketing and city marketing. The priority hereby lies in the increase in value-added and an increase in salary at regional companies, but also the acquirement of investors. In addition to these opportunities, corresponding negative economic impacts also entail risks that affect tourism and the local population (cf. Köhler, 2014, p.28ff).

3.3. Touristic impacts

Closely related to the economic impacts are the touristic impacts that come with hosting an event at a certain destination. The image and awareness of a certain host destination plays a crucial role when it comes to such touristic impacts. Consequently, they are of great importance to event and tourism research as they occupy a central position in the decision-making process of consumer and thus influence the economy to a large extent.

The subjective opinion of the local community and the media coverage are decisive factors regarding the image and destination awareness impacts. If the image of the host destination is influenced by the media or the perception of the event at that certain location, then one can refer to the image impact. An example for this would be if visitors of that event transfer their perception and experiences at the event onto the event location (Köhler, 2014, p.30).

The impact of enhancing awareness shows if the event raises the level of awareness of the host destination. The more attractive an event gets for the public the bigger is the impact of enhancing awareness. According to Köhler (2014, p.31), Preuß (1999, p.105) states that the level of awareness of a destination merely allows a quantitative statement about how many people know a region while the image is shown as an evaluation benchmark of how positive or negative a region is conceived.

Image and the enhancement awareness are results of a multi-stage process that extend from event visitors to present multiplicators such as media representatives to the outside public. If this process, respectively stages, has positive consequences for the cities and communities that stage them, then this perceived attractivity by potential visitors can eventually lead to a raise of tourism numbers and long-term tourism (cf.Preuß, 1999, p.106) (cf.Gursoy/Kendall, 2006, p.608). Thus, events can make an important contribution to tourism marketing. However, tourism marketing can also have an impact on events if unforeseen environmental impacts occur or the event fails to be a success. In those cases, the host destination can suffer a huge image loss that, in the worst case, results in a declining number of tourists.

Finally, the positive impact of enhancing awareness and the image of the host region as a domestic or international destination, is not the only benefit as it also creates new opportunities for potential investors and bring about an increasing commercial activity (cf. Ritchie, 1984, p.5).

3.4. Socio-cultural impact

Even if an event is not attended by a large number of visitors, there are nevertheless numerous socio-cultural impacts affecting the local population. The study of events in general as well as of their social and cultural impacts in particular has posed a major challenge for many researchers due to the sheer volume and diversity of organized activities or occasions that may be regarded as events. According to Page et al. (2012, p.349), every event is unique in its objectives and, hence, in its outcomes and impacts. This fact contributes to the many attempts that have been made to develop a general framework to assess those impacts.

Nevertheless, Page et al. (2012, p.349) points out that all events share one common characteristic, namely people. The staging of an event attracts many participants, spectators, investors, local community, local leaders, sponsors, representatives of different interest groups and many others that may or may not be directly be involved with the event. People are also, naturally, involved in events as organizers. The interactions and relationships within all of these different stakeholder groups can be an indicator for the nature and extent of the socio-cultural impacts of the event (cf.Page et al., 2012, p.349).

In order to understand socio-cultural impacts fully, a short definition of Burdge and Vanclay (1996, p.59) is given in this paragraph. According to them, social impacts can be defined as “all social and cultural consequences to human population of any public or private actions that alter the ways in which people live, work, play, relate to one another, organize to meet their needs, and generally cope as members of society” (Burdge and Vanclay, 1996, p.59). On the contrary, cultural impacts are those that “involve changes to the norms, values, and beliefs of individuals that guide and rationalize their cognition of themselves and their society” (Burdge and Vanclay, 1996, p.59). After providing these definitions, the focus is put on the social impacts of events in particular. Most literature suggests that in regard to events, the quality of life of local communities, participants and other stakeholders that arise from the holding of an event of any kind are of great importance in that context. On the other side, cultural impacts of events are assumed to be connected to the process of transformation regarding values, traditions, and norms through which individuals and societies define themselves and their behavior. The cultural impacts of events also often involve impacts on “expressions or manifestations of culture, such as both material and non-material forms of culture” (Page et al., 2012, p.349). Thus, the line between social and cultural impacts is hard to draw. Thus, they are, for the sake of simplicity, considered collectively as socio-cultural impacts. They only

18 consider the impacts of an event on the daily life of people that are directly or indirectly associated with the event as well as the values, attitudes, beliefs, and traditions that offer a direction for the daily life. The following table gives an overview of positive and negative socio-cultural impacts of events:

Social benefits Social costs Community benefits Quality of life concerns Celebration of community Increased crime/vandalism Enhanced community identity Unacceptable increase in Enhanced community image vehicular/pedestrian traffic Increased community cohesion Overcrowding Increased community well-being Litter/ecological damage Improved quality of community life Reduced privacy Individual pride through participation Disruption to normal routines Shared ideas amongst community Unacceptable noise levels Overuse of community facilities Cultural/educational benefits Community resource concerns Experience of new activities Increased disagreement within community Participants learn new things Event is ‘all work no play’ Event showcases new ideas Excessive demand on community human Development of cultural skills/talents resources Exposure to new cultural experiences Highlights cultural stereotypes Strengthening of community friendships Unequal sharing of benefits of the event Lasting positive cultural impact Weakened community identity Achievement of common community goals Excessive demand on community financial resources Potential sense of failure within community

Table 1 Socio-cultural impacts of events (Page et al.,2012, p.352)

As the table above shows, events can prove useful in different ways to the local community. It can expand the cultural program and activities of the region and provide the locals with new experiences. Also, it can expose the local population to new cultural experiences and encourage them to socialize with outsiders. Moreover, events are appropriate instruments to encourage

19 interest in regional topics and to enhance community cohesion and well-being. If the event supports existing values and traditions of a region, it can contribute to an enhanced community identity that strengthens the community’s pride. Some locals can show a heightened interest in the event and consequently get involved by volunteering for it. The Grand Prix in Austria, for example, displays a high number of volunteers every year. Major events also create new jobs in the host region for the locals.

Of course, events also have negative socio-cultural impacts. Hence, events are likely to result in such problems as traffic congestion, difficulties in law enforcement, an increased crime rate, overcrowding, and reduced privacy. Noise pollution, more waste generation and the subsequent ecological damage are just a few more restrictions that come along with hosting events. Another reason for dissatisfaction among the local community can occur if the event is in conflict with the regional values or if it causes social problems. Violence and vandalism pose an especially serious problem. In general, the social costs that are listed in the figure above can cause a lack of acceptance among the organizers and the local community and, in the worst case, can be the cause for protests (cf.Köhler, 2014, p.31f).

As have been established in the paragraphs above, the socio-cultural impacts of events on regions can both be negative and positive. They can help strengthen community identity, image cohesion and in general bring about a positive change in their quality of life but can also cause damage if the region and the event are not in accordance with each other.

3.5. Environmental impact

Environmental impacts can be understood as any impact that events have on the ecological system. Events inevitably come with several ecological impacts, regardless of whether the event is held indoors or outdoors, in populated areas or undeveloped areas. Due to the high spatial and temporal concentrated crowd of people, the event region must deal with pollutant emissions or the intrusion upon natural habitats (cf.Köhler, 2014, p.32). Among the causes of some of these negative environmental impacts are, for instance, the return trips of visitors and participants, all waste generated by the event, the erection of facilities causing aesthetic disruption, the trampling which can damage both biodiversity and drainage as well as the increased energy usage due to the event. The latter is a huge indicator for the environmental pollution as it is in connection with energy consumption, air pollutants and greenhouse gases.

The following quote draws awareness to the already shortly mentioned negative environmental impacts and introduces the positive role that major events play in fostering understanding of environmental issues.

“Major events and the environment are inextricably linked, and without due care events can impact adversely on the environment, directly or indirectly. Major events also have a very positive role to play in fostering understanding of environmental issues, raising awareness and generating resources . . . Particular attention will be paid to the environmental issues raised by very large numbers of people coming together for a short period of time, with subsequent problems of safety, congestion, consumption, and waste. Areas of particular attention will include: access; infrastructure; energy consumption; energy renewal; sustainability; minimizing resource requirements; the use of natural products; and innovative design and technology that reduces both operating and maintenance costs and greatly extends the lifetime of sports facilities and new event venues.” (UK Sport, 1999, p. 10).

As the quote above indicates, major events are inextricably connected to the environment. The environmental impacts have effects on the economy, politics and society, as already established earlier. Environmental damage can be very cost-intensive to clear up and it can upset the local community as well as embarrass politicians (cf.Page et al., 2012, p.363). Other issues such as vandalism by attendees at events can be the cause for direct damage to the build or natural environment which then needs to be repaired at the cost of the tax payers. Visitors to the Pink Floyd concert in Venice in 1989 defaced the irreplaceable buildings of Venice and left historically valuable buildings damaged by climbing on them and using them as a toilet. Furthermore, the fans of the concert left behind 300 tons of litter (cf.blogvenice, 2014). The graphic below identifies eight issues that concern the relationship between sport and sport events and the environment. Some of the environmental impacts of sport events listed in this graphic are waste, pollution, resources and energy and many more which can also be used to identify issues regarding all sorts of different types of events such as music events.

Figure 2 The impact of sport on the environment (Page et al.,2012, p.366)

Similarly, there are positive impacts that can result in environmental damage as well. For instance, clearing up litter can lead to an increase of enjoyment of open spaces, not least by turning them into safer spaces, with consequent social benefits. This shows that one needs to be aware of the prevailing synergies with other impacts in a wider context.

Consequently, not all environmental impacts are negative. This shows, for example, in the shift of lifestyles toward a less wasteful and more ecofriendly way of living. Therefore, an event can not only sensitize both, the event visitors and participants, but also the local population to environment-related issues and thereby contribute to the development of an environmental consciousness among those groups. This is also important as related to society as a whole as the event and the thereby connected environmental idea can spread to other communities. Other environmental advantages can arise if, in connection to the events, investments for new facilities and infrastructure are made. An example for this would be the resource-friendly supply of energy through the erection of a solar system (cf. Köhler, 2014, p.33).

3.6. Structural/Physical impacts

Structural changes are common when it comes to hosting a big event and thus plays a big role. However, it has to be taken into consideration that this sphere of action’s line cannot be as

22 clearly drawn as some others as it overlaps with environmental, touristic and economic spheres in many ways.

Major events such as the Olympic games can generate additional investment in tourism/recreation infrastructure in the host region, thereby increasing the attractions that are available in that area. Those attractions are both for use by the local population as well as visitors. Dwyer et al. (2000, p.186) gives the example of the Sydney Olympics which has generated around US $ 5 billion worth of facilities such as the stadia and sporting infrastructure. Furthermore, investments in road, rail and transport interchange systems were made, all of which are of benefit not only to the visitors, but also to the residents of Sydney in the future. Festivals, concerts, major sport events, conferences, conventions, and other forms of events trigger private and public investment, especially in tourism development. This includes the building of new hotels, restaurants and shopping centers. However, also urban renewal to include new roads, enhanced appearance through streetscape beautification, rehabilitation and/or creation of green space are being invested in.

Apart from the tangible impacts on structure, the provision of intangible structural performance in form of offers in public traffic or in art and cultural facilities create positive impacts. However, the region does not in every case profit from such structural changes. The host region has to deal with subsequent costs that need to be paid even if the facilities are underutilized after the event or the architectural landscape is defaced.

3.7. Political impacts

Politics and politicians play an important part in contemporary event management as governments or private groups from a nation or major cities can use the opportunity to enhance the reputation of their region for economic and tourism purposes and consequently enhance the quality of life for the residents. Events also offer the perfect platform to promote the status of a certain ideology and idea in relation to the event. However, the implementation of political interests can, on the other hand, also bring about disadvantages for the local community. An example for that would be if an event exclusively focuses on its commercial goals which stand in opposition to regional values and traditions (cf.Ritchie, 1984, p.4).

A less obvious driving force for the holding of events may be the desire of individuals such as politicians that desire to take advantage of the visibility offered by involvement with an event to boost their careers in both political and non-political arenas. This, however, should not be dismissed as selfish as some individuals follow the goal of promoting regional athletes and strive to provide more opportunities for them in order to ensure high quality competition and international exposure (cf.Ritchie, 1984, p.10).

3.8. Other impacts

This chapter further discusses impacts related to network and competency as it is not possible to assign them to a specific sphere of action. The latter is discussed thoroughly as it is of great importance for the research conducted in the practical part of this thesis.

In general, events are the bundled performance of a number of stakeholders that interact within a certain network and exchange resources. This interaction process does not only benefit the companies involved in terms of an added monetary value, but also results in an intangible advantage in regard to network and competency. Impacts on networks describe the cooperation and its effects that develop through the event-related teamwork between various stakeholders that extend beyond the duration of the event. The organizer as well as the regional marketing should take advantage of such network effects to best exploit the full potential of an event. As a result, synergies can develop that can be favorable for the other spheres of action and thus are able to maximize the use for all stakeholder groups in the host region.

This also applies to effects on the level of competency that can grow within the involved parties. Those effects arise if a company profits from growth in knowledge through the cooperation in the event network. The knowledge gained in that process can in the future be incorporated into the entrepreneurial activities as well as the cooperation within the network. This can in the long term optimize regional and event management processes.

Another important impact that should be briefly mentioned is the impact media and the benefit that the event destination can derive from such. Positive media coverage of the event before, during or after its occurrence is conveyed by various forms of media on a national and international level and has the ability to enhance the tourism image of the destination area. Thus, the economy also benefits from positive media coverage as it can attract future visitors and create long-term positive effects on tourism and tourism investment. However, such

24 benefits are hard to comprehend and are consequently intangible benefits. The other way around, negative media coverage can weaken tourism and tourism investment and can harm the local economy and destination image.

3.9. Conclusion

In this chapter I have demonstrated that events can have several impacts which can be, on one side, of advantage for the host region or host city and, on the other side, be of great disadvantage in terms of costs for it. I distinguished six types of impacts, positive and negative, and elaborated on them: economic impacts, touristic impacts, socio-cultural impacts, environmental impacts, structural/physical impacts, and political impacts. Of course, more types of impacts can be found and analyzed such as enhanced networking skills, increased competency, positive media coverage as well as negative media coverage, however, as those were not relevant for this thesis, they were only mentioned briefly.

Economic impacts cause increased economic activity, creation of employment, an increase in labor supply, an increase in standard of living, and successful destination marketing. However, they can also generate negative impacts such as a price inflation during the event, real estate speculation, a failure to attract tourists, better alternative investments, inadequate capital, inadequate estimation of cost of event, expensive security, over indebtedness, and increased taxes (cf. Preuss & Arne Solberg, 2006).

A positive touristic impact that events can have on the region are an increased awareness of the region as a travel/tourism destination, a raise in tourism numbers, an increased knowledge concerning the potential for investment and commercial activity in the region, and the creation of new accommodation and tourist attractions. Of course, tourism can also create negative side effects, of which some are the acquisition of a poor reputation because of inadequate facilities, crime, improper practices or inflated prices, negative reactions from existing enterprises due to the possibility of new competition for local manpower and government assistance and much more (cf. Preuss & Arne Solberg, 2006).

An increase in the permanent level of local interest and participation in types of activities associated with event, the strengthening of regional values and traditions, an increased local pride and community spirit, and an increased awareness of non-local perceptions can be attributed to positive socio-cultural impacts. The commercialization of activities which may be

25 of a personal or private nature, the modification of nature of event or activity to accommodate tourists, a potential increase in crime, changes in community structure, social dislocation, a tendency toward defensive attitudes concerning host region, culture shock and misunderstandings leading to varying degrees of host/visitor hostility are just some of the negative impacts that can arise (cf. Preuss & Arne Solberg, 2006).

Major events can of course also have negative and positive consequences for the environment. Positive impacts that can arise are the construction of new facilities, improvement of local infrastructure, preservation of heritage, environmental promotion, impacts on sport, and the ability to sensitize to environment-related issues. However, ecological damage, changes in natural processes, architectural pollution and aesthetic disruption, destruction of heritage, noise disturbance, overcrowding and unutilized facilities are just a few issues that can arise when holding a major event in a region (cf. Preuss & Arne Solberg, 2006).

Closely related to environmental impacts are impacts on the structure. Events can lead to an additional investment in tourism/recreation infrastructure as well as urban renewal. Moreover, offers in public traffic or in art and cultural facilities are a positive structural/physical impact. The downside to that are unutilized facilities, high costs and architectural pollution and aesthetic disruption (cf. Preuss & Arne Solberg, 2006).

To conclude, political impacts caused by events can be an enhanced international recognition of region and values, an enhanced quality of life for the residents. Furthermore, events offer a platform to promote the status of a certain ideology and idea, boost the careers of politicians in both political and non-political arenas, promote regional athletes and assure a high-quality competition. Disadvantages for the local community, i.e. when the commercial goals stand in opposition to regional values and traditions and the selfishness of politicians pose just some of the negative consequences.

4. Methods

4.1. Introduction

This chapter gives further insight into the methods applied to answer the research questions discussed in this thesis. The methods that I employed were chosen according to their relevancy to help answering the research questions. In the following sections the research questions are

26 discussed and elaborated on as they are the guiding main questions in this research. This is followed by the preparation and execution of the questionnaires filled out by local residents online and an insight into how it was analyzed. Then, I discuss the preparation and execution of the semi-structured interviews conducted with the responsible manager for regional development in the Bezirk Murtal and with the residents. Finally, I summarize the methods used for the collection of data in the last section of this chapter.

4.2. Research Questions

I grew up in Knittelfeld which is located in the district of Murtal. Thus, the Red Bull Ring, formerly referred to as Österreich Ring or A1 Ring, has always been relevant to me and my fellow citizens. Consequently, questions of how the re-opening of the racetrack and the return of major sport events has influenced the economy, tourism and the infrastructure in the district have arisen. By researching and obtaining data by consulting the internet, conducting interviews and questionnaires, the following research questions proved to be the most interesting to me:

The first research questions arose out of the literature which suggested that sporting events have turned into an essential part in tourism development strategies. I was intrigued to find out if the events provoked changes in tourism, for example, a raise in tourism numbers, an increased knowledge concerning the potential for investment and commercial activity in the region, and the creation of new accommodation and tourist attractions, as the literature suggested it could. Moreover, as impacts on the structure are barely dealt with in literature and

27 research, I dedicated one question to that topic in order to find out if the events held in Murtal have led to an additional investment in tourism/recreation infrastructure.

Research question two came up because the literature I found barely dealt with the locals’ perception of the events and the impacts those have on the region. Hence, I wanted to find out if the locals perceived any changes over the past few years and if yes, could link them to the major events. Moreover, I wanted to know how they perceived those changes in terms of quality of life concerns, distinguishing between positive and negative impacts.

First of all, in chapter 6 I discuss the economic and touristic changes due to the return of the major sport events such as the MotoGP, DTM, Formula 1 and others taking place at the Red Bull ring by using data collected from documents taken from the Land Steiermark and Statistics Austria. I investigated the time frame starting in the year of 2011 until 2018 further to find out if the number of tourist arrivals have increased in the summer season due to motorsport events or if they stayed the same. Moreover, the structural impacts regarding additional investment in tourism/recreation infrastructure that not only serves the tourists but also the locals such as new roads and new restaurants are of great importance for this thesis. Thus, I discuss those changes by using data obtained online and by conducting interviews with the residents. In order to receive more thorough information, I contacted the office of regional development in Murtal and conducted an interview with the CEO.

The second research question investigates the perception of the residents regarding the various impacts that the major events have had on the Bezirk Murtal and the subsequent developments. This research question is answered by conducting semi-structured interviews as well as distributing questionnaires to residents of the Bezirk Murtal.

I oriented my research towards Köhler (2014) from whom I took the classification of the impacts that events can have on the region. Further, the idea of conducting semi-structured interviews and distributing questionnaires were taken from Peters (2017) and previous research that I conducted at university for certain classes in which those methods proved the most useful tool to get the answers needed. Thus, for this thesis I conducted interviews with the responsible person in regional development in the Bezirk Murtal as well as residents to gain further insight into their perspective and actions that contribute to tourism, economy and infrastructure in this destination. Thus, the outcome of my analysis focuses on the perception of locals regarding the changes due to the Red Bull ring’s re-opening and the Projekt Spielberg as well as the data collected from various databases and the answers given by the people interviewed.

4.3. Questionnaires

As a way to collect data, I decided to create a questionnaire that was accessible through the internet and distribute it via E-Mail and social media. As this thesis has a main focus on the changes that occurred ever since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring, it seemed logical to ask local residents what they have observed as the changes influenced them and the local businesses the most. Thus, the questionnaire aimed to find out what the local residents thought are the impacts that the major events have on the Bezirk Murtal regarding its potential as tourism destination as well as if they observed changes in terms of new roads, new restaurants and new facilities in general that can be related to the Red Bull Ring, Projekt Spielberg and the events.

At the beginning of the questionnaire, the aim of it was shortly summarized and information on the duration and a promise of anonymity were provided.

The second part dealt with questions relevant to the research questions.

The last part of the questionnaire was made up of general personal questions. The participants were asked to state their place of residence, gender and age.

4.3.1. Questionnaires for a group of residents

I created the questionnaire consisting of twenty questions regarding my topic with the program SurveyMonkey, which was very helpful in summarizing and evaluating the questions. The questions were mainly multiple-choice; however, two questions were open-ended and allowed the participants for room to express themselves. Moreover, some of the multiple-choice questions had the option “Other, please specify” which also allowed for a comment. I was able to transfer the answers to excel. Thus, excel was my main tool of analyzing and evaluating the answers.

4.4. Semi-Structured Interviews

Both research questions cannot be fully and satisfactorily be answered by only consulting different databases as it does not provide enough information. Statistics provide valid answers

29 regarding the number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays in the summer season, however, when it comes to the implementation of plans regarding structure and economics, infrastructural changes and the perception of local residents, the necessary information has to be collected from experts and locals living and working in the Bezirk Murtal. In particular, the responsible regional development office in the Bezirk Murtal provides insight into a variety of topics and past and future plans as well as data that are relevant for my thesis. The main advantage of conducting interviews in research are that they, as Peters put it, have “the capacity to go off on tangents or to ask additional questions” (2017, p.112) as well as “tend to be most common because they allow the conversation to remain focused around relevant research themes, but incorporate flexibility in allowing the conversation to flow naturally and change direction” (2017, p.112). Thus, semi-structured interviews allow for much more freedom when asking questions and can lead to detailed and interesting answers. Moreover, it gives the interviewer the chance to personally interact with the interviewee and to build a good rapport with them as well as get to know their personal perception and opinion relevant to the topic.

I chose to conduct semi-structured interviews with both some residents and the ROW because it involves a fixed set of question which one can prepare prior to the interview and, as mentioned above, allows for a natural conversation that allows flexibility. It also enables the interviewer to clarify misunderstandings and redirect the interview in case it is not relevant to the topic anymore.

4.4.1. Interview with the CEO of regional development in the Bezirk Murtal and residents of the Bezirk Murtal

For my research, I chose the interviewed person systematically in accordance with my main areas of interest and the questions that have emerged during the preliminary work. Due to the fact that my main research questions are based on tourism and changes in the region, it seemed logical to ask the tourism offices and the inhabitants of the area. The tourism offices redirected me to ROW, the regional management offices in upper Styria West, as they could only provide me with numbers that I was able to obtain online. I then contacted the ROW e-mail and they kindly agreed to support my research. On the 4th of September 2019 I was kindly invited into Dr.in Bibiane Puhl’s office to talk about the regional developments in the Bezirk Murtal and the change in perception. The ROW is a legal entity and functions as shareholder of the regional

30 development company, ROW Regionalmanagement Obersteiermark West GmbH. It is responsible for the strategic tasks within the area of Upper Styria West and hence was the perfect interview partner to answer my questions.

In my online questionnaire I asked as a last question if anyone was interested in a more thorough discussion of the ongoing changes and their perception of those. Many people volunteered and I then randomly chose five people that I contacted via e-mail. The interviewees were extremely cooperative and had lot to say about the developments in the Bezirk Murtal and were also very interested in my research. I managed to obtain valuable information.

I conducted my interview with the following people:

• Dr.in Bibiane Puhl, the CEO of ROW • Residents of the Bezirk Murtal o Student, female o Teacher, male o Doctor, male o CEO, male o Forester, male

4.4.2. Development of the Semi-Structured Interview Guide

The semi-structured interview guide consists of a general as well as a specific part. At the beginning of each interview the interviewee if he or she permitted me to record the interview. Then, I asked them personal questions such as their name, place of residence and occupation. Before the second part of the interview started, the aim of the interview was described, and the general framework of the interview was explained.

The semi-structured interview guide consisted of seven questions with sub-questions each. All the questions were open, narrative questions that allowed the interviewees to answer accordingly. The starting question was made up mostly of a general question that was followed by a question asking for their person opinion concerning the perception of the Bezirk Murtal and the impacts that the return of the motorsport events had on the region. I wanted to find out, if there have been any changes in the physical and economic environment and if the locals regarded those developments as positive or negative. Moreover, I wanted to know how they

31 think the image of the region has changed as well as the if they see more potential in it in terms of tourism development and structural development.

During the course of the interview, I did not always follow my interview guide and instead reacted to the answers that my interview partner gave me and came up with valid follow-up questions. Sometimes interview partners already covered the questions in previous statements before I was able to ask the and thus, they were irrelevant.

4.4.3. General Framework and Practical Application of the Interviews

The interview data were collected in 2019 in five interviews. All the interviews with the locals were anonymized on request, which guarantees the interview partners’ privacy and additionally creates a foundation of trust that allows them to speak more freely and to open up to me more as a researcher. My interview partner at ROW, however, did not wish to remain anonymous.

All of the participants were German native speakers; thus, German was chosen as the main language of the interview for reasons of clarity and comprehensibility. In the analysis, however, the interview material is translated into English.

The location of the semi-structured interview depended on the personal preference of the interviewee. However, in order to provide a comfortable atmosphere, I suggested quiet locations with as few distracting factors as possible. The interviews were conducted in the interviewees’ offices, their homes or at my place. The conversations were recorded with an application on my tablet and transcribed.

The interviews usually lasted between 10 and 40 minutes, depending on how much the interview partners wanted to share and how lengthily they wanted to answer.

4.5. Quantitative Research Data

As for the quantitative data, I mainly used data taken from Statistik Graz and Statistik Steiermark. In 2019 the official website of Land Steiermark released tourism fact sheets for each municipality in Styria. The data was taken from different databases such as, just to name a few, Landesstatistik Steiermark, Statistik Austria, Bergfex, Steirische Tourismus GmbH,

LASTAT and WKO. This fact sheet provided the necessary data and information to answer one of the research questions stated above since the report showed the number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays in the years 2011 until 2018. Furthermore, it provided information on the tourist arrivals in the summer season and gave insight into other suitable information such as the visitor number of certain events.

4.6. Conclusion

The interviews that were conducted about tourism and infrastructure in the Bezirk Murtal provided me with valuable information for this thesis. The informants shared their opinions, experiences and knowledge regarding the current situation and the past as well as future endeavors in this district that were made possible by the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of motorsport events. With their help, I was able to look at the research area from many different perspectives and together with the findings taken from the quantitative research and the questionnaires, I managed to get a profound impression of the economic and structural developments within the Bezirk Murtal.

In the following chapters I concern myself with the empirical results of my study based on the interviews, questionnaires and the quantitative research. In Chapter 6,7, and 8 I elaborate on the research questions by showing and discussing my findings and, consequently, try to give an answer to them.

5. The Bezirk Murtal and Projekt Spielberg

5.1. Introduction

This chapter gives an overview of the Bezirk (the English term district corresponds to the German term Bezirk) Murtal and the areas that are of importance for this research. Moreover, I give an introduction to tourism in Murtal in general. Last but not least, this chapter explores the Projekt Spielberg which has become an important flagship of Murtal, especially the city of Spielberg, and plays, of course, an essential role in organizing major sports events such as the

DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters/ German Touring Car Championship), ADAC, MotoGP and the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

5.2. About Murtal

The Bezirk Murtal is a district located in the so-called green heart of Austria, that is in the federal province of Styria. It was formed on January 1, 2012 through a merger of the former Knittelfeld district and Judenburg district and consists of twenty municipalities, namely Fohnsdorf, Gaal, Hohentauern, Judenburg, Knittelfeld, Kobenz, Lobmingtal, Obdach, Pöls- Oberkurzheim, Pölstal, Pusterwald, Sankt Georgen ob Judenburg, Sankt Marein-Feistritz, Sankt Margarethen bei Knittelfeld, Sankt Peter ob Judenburg, Seckau, Spielberg, Unzmarkt- Frauenburg, Weißkirchen in Steiermark, Zeltweg. It encompasses an area of about 1,676 km² and covers around 10.2% of Styria, thus it is the third-largest district in terms of its area. The estimated population, according to the census of January 1, 2018, is at 72,471 people, which is 5.8% of the entire Styrian population (cf. Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2019). Compared to the other districts, Murtal ranks 9th in regard to population. With a population density of 43 residents per km2 Murtal is below the average in Styria which lies around 76 residents per km2 and is one of the less densely populated areas in Styria.

The district Murtal is located within the Alps. Large parts of the area are occupied by massifs. In the north, the Niederen Tauern ranges whereas in the south, the Seetaler Alpen, the Stubalpe and the Gleinalpe range. In between, the river Mur flows through the district from west to east. The initially narrower Murtal widens here to the broad basin of the Aichfeld, where the main settlement of the district is located (cf. Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2019). The graphic below (fig. 2) gives an overview of the Bezirk Murtal with all its municipalities:

Figure 3 Bezirk Murtal and its municipalities (Wikipedia,2019)

Over the years, Murtal has undergone quite a few changes in economics, industry and cultural matters. The region has been gaining importance in economics and its modern infrastructure has improved as well as its high quality of living, offering both an urban and rural feeling. It has changed its image as a purely industrial district. This is discussed in the sections coming.

5.3. Tourism in Murtal

The Bezirk Murtal is divided into nine tourism associations, from which six consist of single municipalities and three of which consist of more municipalities. The largest tourism associations in terms of area are “Tourismus am Spielberg” and “Region Pölstal”. All twenty municipalities of the district represent tourism municipalities.

Tourism used to play a subordinate role in the traditional industrial oriented district. The tourism development is strongly connected to the motorsport events on the Figure 4 Tourismusverbänd/ tourism “Österreichring” (later A1-Ring and presently Red Bull associations (Stand Januar 2019) (Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2019).

Ring) which opened in 1969. From the years 1970 until 1987 and 1997 until 2003, respectively, Formula 1 races were carried out. The suspension of business in 2004 lead to a significant loss in the number of overnight tourism in the region. The re-opening of the Red Bull Ring in the year of 2011 brought a new upswing. In June 2014, the Formula 1 took place for the first time since 2003. Chapter 6 gives further insight into how the motorsport events have changed tourism over the past few years and provides evidence.

However, motorsports events are not the only tourist attraction that this region has to offer. Murtal offers a wide range of activities that tourists can take part in, such as cycling, hiking, skiing, snowshoe hiking, horse riding, sleigh riding and culinary adventures. The Murradweg is one of the most used cycle paths and follows along the river Mur. In the winter, Kleinlobming, Gaal and many other places turn into skiing places. For relaxation, this district offers spas such as the Therme Aqualux in Fohnsdorf, the Asia Spa in Leoben and some more. In the past few years, there have also been some major music legends like the Rolling Stones and AC/DC performing in Murtal at the Red Bull Ring premises and bringing the district to life with live music.

5.4. Portrayal of the Red Bull Ring

5.4.1. History

The racing track in the Upper Styrian Aichfeld, today called Murtal, has a far-reaching history. The now called Red Bull Ring has decades of motorsport history to show for. The history already begins in 1957 until 1964 with the airfield races in Zeltweg. The race track, called Österreichring back then, was opened in the year 1969 with the first Formula 1 race taking place just one year later on the 16th of August 1970.

Figure 5 Österreichring 1980 (Motorsportarchiv, 2019)

The picture above shows the Österreichring in 1980. Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher all raced around this track. After 1987 the race track was not part of the Formula 1 agenda anymore, however returned after a ten-year break in 1997 to the newly renovated and re-named race-track, namely the A1-Ring. During that time the race track was used for open-air concerts and the ÖAMTC built an automotive technical center in 1995 and functions as operator. Again and again, the involvement of the public sector is controversial and subject of political debate (cf. Kolbábek, 2013).

After 25 races in the year of 2003, the Formula 1 no longer took place in Spielberg. Following that, Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of the Red Bull GmbH, had plans to take over the premises and realize his 700-million-euro project of a “Motorsport & Aviation Academy” with the support of the Land Steiermark (province of Styria). To even his way, the contracts with the ÖAMTC had to be cancelled. However, due to objections from the local community and a negative decision of the Austrian Environmental Senate, Mateschitz initially had to abandon his plans. In the meantime, the demolition work had already begun. Thus, the race track was unusable (cf. Kolbábek, 2013).

After intense efforts by Styrian politicians, however, it was possible to initiate a follow-up project with the aim of reactivating the race track and making it interesting and desirable as a test track for the industry. In 2005, Red Bull, KTM, VW and Magna were recruited as partners

37 of this project. After the backing-out of VW, the realization of the project was at stake (cf. ORF Steiermark, 2008).

In 2008, the Environmental Senate confirmed a positive environmental impact assessment that was issued by the first instance. Beforehand, a surprising agreement was reached with initiative citizens and environmental lawyers. Although “Spielberg neu” was approved, the implementation of the project was cancelled after a meeting between potential investors and the government (cf. ibidem).

In the summer of 2008, the owner of Red Bull Dietrich Mateschitz, this time as private investor, and the federal province of Styria decided to build a test and race track. In September that year the contract was signed and the construction work of a scaled-down version of the track started (cf. ibidem).

Figure 6 Aerial view of the Red Bull premises in Spielberg (Projekt Spielberg, 2019a)

At the end of September, the DTM announced their start at the now called Red Bull Ring on the 5th of June 2011. Also, the Formula Renault as well as multiple concerts stop in Spielberg. On the 15th of May 2011, the race track was officially opened with an open house day.

Since 2012 the official landmark was added to the premises: a 14.6 m high bull made of steel with golden horns.

Figure 7 The Bull (Projekt Spielberg, 2019c)

The project was implemented because the Styrian state government approached Dietrich Mateschitz, asking if he would be willing to take over the responsibility for the former Österreichring:

“The Styrian state government and the former councilor Hirschmann approached us and asked if we could imagine taking over the responsibilities for the Österreichring. We did not impose ourselves on them, we were simply asked. After careful consideration we said yes.“1 (Der Standard, 2004)

As to why he agreed to do so and why he made the Formula 1 GP comeback to Austria possible, he stated that

1 German: „Die steiermärkische Landesregierung und der damalige Landesrat Hirschmann sind auf uns zugegangen, ob wir uns vorstellen können, die Verantwortung für den Österreichring zu übernehmen. Nicht wir haben uns aufgedrängt, wir wurden um etwas gebeten, zu dem wir nach reiflichen Überlegungen Ja gesagt haben.“

“It has to do with a lot of good will, less with sentimentality. It is for sure no good business, on the contrary. But for some things you like to spend your money on and for some you don’t. I like to make this investment.”2 (Patterer,2013)

Dietrich Mateschitz has always been passionate for motorsport events and thus decided to use his private money in order to ensure the comeback of the Formula 1 to his home, supporting the local economy in Murtal in doing so.

On June 22nd, 2014, the first Formula 1 race took place after a ten-year-break. Niki Lauda said: „I think it’s fantastic that Austria has, once again, a race track on the highest standard worldwide. With all the peculiarities of this region - racing has a longstanding tradition here.”3 (Thies, 2014). The MotoGP returned as well on the 14th of August 2016 after a nineteen-year- break.

Since its launch in April 2011, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg has been host to a new era of motorsport and has brought many opportunities to the region and the locals in terms of economy, tourism, infrastructure, culture and society. The picture below once more shows how the race track developed over the years and how the Österreichring, A1 Ring, and the Red Bull Ring differ from each other in terms of the race track.

2 German: „Es hat viel mit gutem Willen zu tun, weniger mit Sentimentalität. Es ist mit Sicherheit kein Geschäft, ganz im Gegenteil. Aber für manche Dinge gibt man das Geld eben gern aus und für manche weniger gern. Diese Investition trage ich gerne.” 3 German: „Ich finde es fantastisch, dass es in Österreich wieder eine Rennstrecke auf höchstem Weltstandard gibt. Bei allen Besonderheiten dieser speziellen Region – der Rennsport ist hier eine gewachsene Tradition.“

Figure 8 The race track over time (Kolbábek, 2014)

5.4.2. Projekt Spielberg GmbH & Co KG

Projekt Spielberg created the prerequisites to fully exploit all the possibilities of the region. Not only did one of the most modern racetracks came into being, also the brand “Spielberg” emerged from this. The brand “Spielberg- Nomen est Omen” however, does not only refer to the playground- Spielberg can be translated into “playmoutain”- as in the race track, but also includes other outdoor activities and events such as hiking, running, offroad buggy experiences as well as concerts such as the Figure 9 Logo of Spielberg (Projekt Spielberg, 2019b) Rolling Stones or AC/DC. Many events and activities have been built around this brand and its meaning and the investment and promotion does not seem to have an end in sight just yet. Projekt Spielberg was created through the common interests of its investors, namely Magna International Europa AG, KTM Sportmotorcycle AG and, on top of it all, Red Bull, which is - with its owner Dietrich Mateschitz - one of the internationally most successful, Austrian companies, to create a test and race track for motorsport events in the Upper Styrian municipalities Spielberg bei Knittelfeld and Flatschach. Additionally, as the image below of Projekt Spielberg makes aware, it does not only offer activities related to

41 motorsport. Non-motorized activities for every season of the year such as hiking, fishing, ski tours, biathlon, golfing, and many other adventures play an important role.

Figure 10 Projekt Spielberg- Winter and Summer tourism (ORF Steiermark, 2018a)

Project Spielberg differs decisively to the preceding Red Bull project, which set an extra focus on major events, open air facilities and, in the education sector, wanted to create a “Motorsport & Aviation Academy”.

Some of the goals that Projekt Spielberg tries to achieve are the creation of new jobs, positive development in the tourism sector- the tourism sector profits through the „Import of demand” from other countries as well as Austria-, the improvement of added value, primary for the region, and the involvement in the research landscape of Styria (cf. Umwelt Steiermark, 2006)

5.4.3. Events at the Red Bull Ring

The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg is a host to many events and thus has a full calendar filled with mainly motorsport events, with the Formula 1 GP and the MotoGP being the two most popular and most-visited ever since their return to Spielberg. The MotoGP attracted more than 200.000 visitors.

A month after the official opening of the Red Bull ring in May 2011, the DTM, short for Deutsche Tourenwagen- Masters, took place which is one of the most well-known and biggest racing series in Europe.

In July 2013, the next motorsport event came to Spielberg, the Truck Race Trophy. This racing series attracts, next to the Formula 1 and MotoGP, the most visitors. That year the Spielberger Musikfestival celebrated its premiere as well, however, was discontinued after 2017.

Other races taking place at the Red Bull Ring are the Histo Cup and Renault Clio Cup Central Europe, the ADAC GT Masters and the Red Bull Air Race. Further, yearly attractions are the E-Mobility Play Days and the fair Josefimarkt.

5.5. Conclusion

Murtal has undergone quite a few changes over the past years. The district was formed on January 1, 2012 by merging the former districts Knittelfeld and Judenburg. Currently, 72.471 people live there.

The race track in Spielberg/Flatschach was opened in 1969 with the first Formula 1 race taking place on the 16th of August 1970. Following the years after 1987, the Formula 1 was discontinued, however, returned in 1997 to the newly renovated and re-named race-track, namely the A1-Ring. In 2003, the Formula 1 again no longer raced in Spielberg. In 2008, the owner of Red Bull Dietrich Mateschitz decided to privately invest into the facility and with the province of Styria build a test and race track. The Projekt “Spielberg neu” was then initiated. After that, the Formula 1 returned in 2014 and the MotoGP returned in 2016, attracting people from Austria and all over the world.

6. How events have shaped tourism in the Bezirk Murtal

6.1. Introduction

The general aim of this chapter is to discuss the changes in the region Murtal in terms of tourist arrivals and overnight stays. Moreover, in this chapter I try to demonstrate the difference the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major sport events had on the data. I have

43 taken the statistics from the Tourism fact sheet taken from Verwaltung- Land Steiermark and Statistik Steiermark and interpreted those here. Data that is looked at are the number of arrivals and the overnight stays in the summer season, which is the timeframe from May until October, and a detailed look at the most intense tourism months are taken. The available unit of beds and number of businesses in the tourism sector, namely hotels, campsites, hostels, holiday apartments and others are further investigated. Last but not least, I take a closer look at where the visitors are from.

6.2. Development of Arrivals and Overnight stays from 2010-2018

The occupancy data offers important information on tourism and tourism development in Austria. This includes the number of arrivals and overnight stays, which can be analyzed according to type of accommodation and country of origin. Around 2/3rd of Austrian municipalities report regularly the monthly arrivals and overnight stays that stay in the approximately 66.400 commercial and private tourist accommodation. Moreover, the inventory data for different types of tourist accommodations and bed capacity is collected (cf. Statistik Austria, 2019, p.11). Moreover, every person that stays at least one night in a tourist accommodation is taken into account into the number of arrivals, regardless of the actual duration of stay. The term overnight stay is defined as following: per person the number of actual stays in a tourist accommodation is counted (cf. Magistrat der Stadt Wien, 2019).

In general, the years 2010 until now have shown a significant change ever since the re-opening of the race track in 2011 and the return of major sport events in the district. Thus, the time frame investigated is chosen accordingly to demonstrate the time before the re-opening and the return of those events and afterwards. In order to support this statement, data from Statistik Steiermark and Statistik Austria is used and analyzed.

From 2014 until 2018, the seasonal focus averaged around 72% of yearly arrivals and 70% of yearly overnight stays in the summer semester, which lasts from May until October.

Spread out over the year, two peaks can be determined throughout the seasons with one peak in February averaging with 7% of the yearly overnight stays, as well as one peak in August that accounts for approximately 21% of the yearly overnight stays. Since the return of the Formula 1 in the year 2014, there has been a development of a second summer peak in June that

44 differentiates the course of the season of the Bezirk Murtal from other Styrian counterparts. The graphic below shows the development of overnight stays and arrivals in the summer season in the Bezirk Murtal from 2010 until 2018. It shows a significant raise of overnight stays and arrivals since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the introduction of major motorsport events, especially the Formula 1 and the MotoGP.

In terms of arrivals and overnight stays, the data for the time starting in 2010 until 2018 is shown in the graph below. The data accounts for domestic and foreign guests.

Arrivals and Overnight Stays in Murtal- Summer Season 2010-2018

114,386 2018 362,100 111,360 2017 331,660 101,367 2016 290,794 85417 2015 246863 79434

2014 228594 Year 65345 2013 207890 58575 2012 174351 57588 2011 180445 44549 2010 132141 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 Number of Visitors

Arrivals Overnight Stays

Table 2 Arrivals and Overnight Stays in Murtal- Summer Season 2010-2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019a)

The orange bar shows the development of the arrivals of visitor to the Bezirk Murtal, whereas the blue bar shows the development of overnight stays. Those numbers only apply to the summer season. As can be seen, the number of overnight visitors in the year 2014 was 228,6 (in thousands) people. The year 2018 lists 362,1 overnight visitors which totals a plus of 9,2% (2014=100%). Thus, it can be said that due to the comeback of the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the numbers have gradually increased. An improvement in overnight stays and arrivals can also be deducted from 2015 until 2016 and shows prove that the return of the MotoGP made a big difference. Comparatively, the year 2015 showed for a total number of 246,9

45 overnight stays and 85,4 arrivals whereas the year 2016 already shows a number of 290,8 overnight stays and 101,4 arrivals. This means that the number of arrivals in the tourism year of 2015 until 2016 increased by 11,3% and the overnight stays improved by 10,4% in the district.

The chart presented below (table 3) gives a more detailed look into how the return of the major motorsport event, the Formula 1, has impacted the arrival numbers and overnight stays.

Tourism Summer Season 2013 vs. 2014

70,000 63,222

60,000

49,956 47,209

50,000 46,047 38,339

40,000 36,145

30,965

26,638

25,542

25,149 24,897

30,000 22,375

21,314

15,336

13,791

13,504 13,031

20,000 12,580

10,411

10,000

9,819

9,523 8,788

10,000 6,682

0 0 Numbervisitors of 0

Summer Season May-October

Tourism Summer Season Arrivals Tourism Summer Season Overnight Stays

Table 3 Tourism Summer Season 2013 vs. 2014 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019a)

The chart clearly shows that, those months compared, the Formula 1 affected the numbers immensely. In the year 2013, only 12.580 arrivals and 36.145 overnight stays were listed whereas in June 2014 21.314 arrivals and 63.222 overnight stays were recorded. The Formula 1 took place on the weekend of June 22nd; thus, the impressive numbers can be explained. The high numbers in August 2014 can be traced back to the Spielberger Musikfestival that took place during that month.

The next chart (table 4) displays the impact the return of the MotoGP had by demonstrating its effects through arrivals and overnight stays again.

Tourism Summer Season 2015 vs. 2016

120,000 113,031 100,000

80,000

59,091

53,650 52,904

60,000 48,520

37,653

37,473

35,408

33,071 30,537

40,000 28,681

21,981

21,065

18,532

18,422

16,575

16,556

15,159

14,469

11,895

11,853

11,515 8,968

20,000 7,432 NumberVisitors of 0

Summer Season 2015-2016

Tourism Summer Season Arrivals Tourism Summer Season Overnight Stays

Table 4 Tourism Summer Season 2015 vs. 2016 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019a)

As it can be seen, the number of overnight stays in August are clearly higher than the number of overnight stays in the other months as well as compared to August in 2015. The overnight stays in that month reach 113.031, indicating that the MotoGP played an important part in attracting visitors from all over the world. The Formula 1 took place on the weekend of June 21st, 2015 and the race in 2016 took place on the weekend of July 3rd. Looking at the chart above, both dates state a very high number with 53.650 visitors in June 2015 and 59.091 visitors in 2016.

In 2018, the Formula 1 returned on the weekend of June 30th and the MotoGP paid its annual visit on the weekend of August 12th. Once again, Murtal profited from the many visitors that came to see the races on those weekends. In September, the DTM had its temporarily last race in Spielberg, explaining the above-average number of visitors. Other highlights that year were the since 2016 annually held events in the summer season such as the ADAC GT Masters in June, the European Le Mans Series in July and the Histo Cup in October, rounding off the race calendar at the Red Bull Ring.

Tourism Summer Season in 2018

120,000 111,970

100,000 86,549 80,000

60,000 55,703

42,178

33,312 32,703

40,000 32,388

28,178

17,693

NumberVisitors of

14,144 11,281

20,000 10,387

0 May June July August September October Summer Season May-October

Summer Season 2018 Arrivals Summer Season 2018 Overnight Stays

Table 5 Tourism Summer Season in 2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019c)

Over a period of five years, tourism in Murtal could register an increase of +36% in terms of arrivals and +50.8% in terms of overnight stays. With that, Murtal could mark up the highest rise in arrivals and overnight stays between 2014 and 2018 compared to the other Styrian districts. The force of this strong increase is the summer season with a plus of 44.0% in arrivals and a plus in 58.4% in overnight stay (cf. Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2019).

The average length of stay in the tourism year of 2018 in Murtal was 3.4 days and was above the Styrian average of 3.1 days (cf. Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2019).

Other main indicators for the impact of major sporting events in Murtal are, on the one hand, the number of beds available and, on the other, the development of business. The statistics, collected by Statistics Austria, shows the number of available beds and businesses such as accommodations.

Development of units of Beds in Murtal: 2010- 2018 60000 49931 50000 42772 38140 39943 40000 30258 30000 22066 22796 22310 19602

20000 NumberBeds of 10000

0 11/2009 - 11/2010 - 11/2011 - 11/2012 - 11/2013 - 11/2014 - 11/2015 - 11/2016 - 11/2017 - 10/2010 10/2011 10/2012 10/2013 10/2014 10/2015 10/2016 10/2017 10/2018 Year

Table 6 Development of Units of Beds in Murtal: 2010-2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung- Land Steiermark, 2019b)

The chart above reveals that after the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring the number of beds rose from 22.066, already showing an impressive increase from 19.602 beds available in 2010, and since the return of major motorsport events in 2014 an even bigger increase. This data also takes into account the extra-beds available that year. In the year of 2013 until 2018, the number of available beds rapidly expanded to 27.621, adding up to 49.931 beds in total in the tourism sector. It needs to be taken into consideration that the category “camping sites” experienced a peak ever since the return of the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix. In 2010 there were only 13 camping sites with 690 sites for trailers and tents. According to statistics that is 2.760 beds (one site equals four beds). In 2014, the year of the return of the Formula 1, there were already 26 camping sites with 3.043 sites and the absolute increase of camping sites happened due to the return of the MotoGP in 2016. In that year, 35 camping sites with 5.294 sites were made available to the visitors (cf. Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2017).

As can be deducted from the next chart showing the development of business in the tourism sector, a raise also occurred, especially in the years from 2014 until 2018. In 2010, 1.115 business in tourism in Murtal were active, while 2018 already has 1.296 businesses to show for.

Number of Businesses in Murtal: 2010-2018 1,350 1,296 1,300 1,250 1,250 1,210 1,200 1,186 1,131 1,140 1,150 1,115 1,127 1,117 1,100

NumberBusinesses of 1,050

1,000 11/2009 - 11/2010 - 11/2011 - 11/2012 - 11/2013 - 11/2014 - 11/2015 - 11/2016 - 11/2017 - 10/2010 10/2011 10/2012 10/2013 10/2014 10/2015 10/2016 10/2017 10/2018 Year

Table 7 Number of Businesses in Murtal: 2010-2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019b).

6.3. Main markets of the Urlaubsregion Murtal

The main markets describe the country of origin of the visitors and with country of the origin the main place of residence is meant, respectively. This subchapter explores where the people visiting Murtal come from and thus represent the main market for this district.

The top 5 countries of origin in terms of overnight stays in 2018 were:

1. Germany 2. Netherlands 3. Hungary 4. Italy 5. Switzerland (cf. Tourismusstatistik: Bezirksprofil Murtal, 2019)

The Austrian states ranked in terms of most overnight stays in Murtal in 2018 were:

1. Styria 2. Lower Austria 3. Vienna 4. Upper Austria 5. Carinthia 6. Salzburg

7. Tyrol 8. Burgenland 9. Vorarlberg (cf. Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2019)

In 2018, most of the overnight visitors in the summer season came from Austria itself, accounting for 53%. The arrivals in that year produce the same results of 53% being domestic visitors and 47% being visitors from abroad.

Summer Season Overnight Summer Season Arrivals: Stays: Domestic/Foreign Visitors Domestic/Foreign Visitors 2018 2018

F: 47% F: 47% D: 53% D: 53%

Domestic Foreign Domestic Foreign

Table 8 Summer Season Overnight Stays: Domestic/Foreign Table 9 Summer Season Arrivals: Domestic/Foreign Visitors 2018 Visitors 2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019c) (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019c)

Those numbers indicate that more domestic visitors come to the district for short trips. They come in higher numbers because the journey is shorter compared to the foreign guests. On the other hand, foreign visitors tend to stay a little longer than domestic guests. However, the difference is small: 3.1 days (foreign) vs. 3.2 days (domestic) in the summer season of 2018.

6.3.1. Visitors from Abroad

As already mentioned above, most visitors from abroad arrive from Germany, followed by the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland. Further notable numbers of overnight visitors from abroad arrive from the United Kingdom, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. Looking at the visiting countries, I can deduce that the proximity to the holiday destination as well as the

51 infrastructure may play a very important factor in choosing Austria as their final holiday destination.

In 2018, the holiday destination Murtal welcomed 89.748 overnight guests from Germany, resulting in a rise of +0.8% when compared to the year 2017, which could only show for 87.255 overnight stays. The average amount of days spent in Austria in 2018 was 3.3 days. (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019d).

Visitors from the Netherlands also proved to be very keen on visiting Austria. In 2017, 29.984 overnight stays were recorded, whereas in 2018, 44.330 stayed in Murtal. This accounted for a plus of 48.7%. The average amount of days Dutch people stayed in Murtal was 3.5 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019d). The Formula 1 racetrack in Austria is the home Grand Prix for Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver. Thus, it can be assumed that every year many Dutch people come to the race in Spielberg to support him, as can be seen on the picture below.

Figure 11 Verstappen at the race track in Spielberg (WU Zeitung, 2019)

Austria is the main holiday destination for Hungarians and market leader in terms of winter holidays. In 2018, the number of overnight stays, two million, was topped. However, Austria is also gaining more attention as a year-round holiday destination (cf. Austria Tourism, 2019).

In 2018, Murtal recorded 15.024 overnight stays, which is +44.2% more than last year. 4.5 days was the average of days spent in Murtal (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019d).

Followed by Hungary is Italy. With 10.712 overnight stays at the holiday destination Murtal, Italians have contributed to a plus of 14.8% in comparison to 2018, in which only 9.237 Italians visited the region. The average number of days spent in Murtal was 2.6 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019d).

Swiss and Liechtensteiner people resided around 2.7 days in Murtal. In 2018, a number of 7.031 was recorded, however, in 2018 there was an increase of 6.3%, leading to 7.471 overnight stays (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019d).

6.3.2. Visitors from Austria

Styria itself dominated the domestic source market with 19.5% share in terms of overnight stays within Austria in 2018 (cf. Austria Tourism, 2019).

Of course, in Styria the highest number of arrivals in Murtal come from Styrian people themselves as they have the shortest travel time and thus the chances are higher that they visit the events in Murtal more often.

Arrivals of domestic source markets in Murtal in 2018

Styria Vienna 2% 3%4% Lower Austria 7% 28% 6% Upper Austria Carinthia 16% Salzburg 18% Burgenland 16% Tyrol Vorarlberg

Table 10 Arrivals of domestic source markets in Murtal in 2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019d)

Table 10 shows clearly that the federal states Styria and Tyrol accounted for 46% of all arrivals and that the rest of Austria shared the other 54%.

6.3.3. Comparison before and after the Re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the introduction of motorsport events

The comparison before and after the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the comparison before and after major motorsport events were introduced to give a good overview of the development of arrivals and overnight stays in the tourism district of Murtal.

Arrivals of domestic guests in comparison

2010/2014/2016/2018

56,579 55,782

60,000 51,950

50,000 47,624

38,164

37,584

37,413

37,404

36,980 34,185

40,000 33,895

29,870

23,849 23,216

30,000 20,012

15,119

13,109

12,714

12,634 11,627

20,000 10,142

9,652

9,040

7,260

6,645 6,658

6,270

6,089

5,900

5,858

5,222

3,287

2,864

2,731 2,173 10,000 1,302 0

NumberArrivals of Styria Vienna Lower Upper Carinthia Salzburg Burgenland Tyrol Vorarlberg Austria Austria Federal Provinces of Austria

2010 2014 2016 2018

Table 11 Arrivals of domestic guests in comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019a)

This table shows the development of arrivals of domestic guests in the course of eight years in the tourism district of Murtal. As can be seen, there has been an increase of arrivals from 2010 until 2016 which can be accredited to the return of major sporting events such as the Formula 1 in 2014 and the MotoGP in 2016. All nine of the federal states of Austria experienced a rapid rise of arrivals. For example, the number of arrivals from Tyrol have almost doubled and Lower Austria almost has the same number of arrivals as Vienna. However, it is also interesting that the number of arrivals of domestic guests to the tourism region has declined from 2016 to 2018, except for Burgenland. This decline can be assumed to be due to the loss of the perception of the motorsport events as being unique and new as they are annually held events.

The next table shows the arrival of foreign guests to the tourism region Murtal in comparison throughout the years.

Arrivals of domestic guests in comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018

80000

62,123

60626

58,667

50447 47,989

60000 47506

43,887 38920

40000

22,591 12034

20000 8,694

6,167

5613

5576

4,266

3,475

3,261

2977

2,645 1,405 0

NumberArrivals of Germany Netherlands Hungary Italy Switzerland and Liechtenstein Countries of Origin

2010 2014 2016 2018

Table 12 Chart Arrivals of domestic guests in comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019a)

The table indicates a rise in number of arrivals throughout the years 2010 until 2018. Since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of the Formula 1 and MotoGP, the region has experienced an exponential increase of arrivals from all over the world. The countries used in this comparison were chosen according to their rank of arrival numbers in 2018, however, as this table clearly indicates, the ranks have changed throughout the years.

The last table of this chapter shows the development of domestic and foreign arrivals from 2010 until 2018. What is significant is that the number of arrivals increases annually and significantly. In the year 2010 the number of total arrivals was 273.283. In the year 2014, the year of the return of the Formula 1 in Spielberg, the arrivals already counted 319.534. In 2016, the return of the MotoGP, 375.343 visitors were counted and in 2018, 396.719 people paid a visit to Murtal.

Domestic/Foreign Arrivals in Comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018

400000 375343 319534

300000 273283

205,725

195594

190,994

179749 179502

200000 154713

140032 118570

100000 39,719

NumberArrivals of 0 2010 2014 2016 2018 Year

Total Domestic Arrivals Foreign Arrivals

Table 13 Domestic/Foreign Arrivals in Comparison 2010/2014/2016/2018 (cf. Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark, 2019a)

The influence that the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events had on the tourism region Murtal is undeniable, looking at the charts presented above and below. The continuous increase of foreign and domestic arrivals, as shown below, is the best evidence for that as well as the charts above.

6.4. Conclusion

In this chapter I dealt with the increase of visitors’ numbers, increase in businesses and bed units in connection with the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring as well as the return of major sporting events. I collected data from official sources and used it to compare the development of numbers of overnight stays, arrivals, domestic and foreign arrivals, beds and businesses throughout the years 2010 until 2018 with each other.

It is clearly deductible that ever since the return of the Formula 1 in 2014 and the MotoGP in 2016, the numbers of overnight stays, arrivals, domestic and foreign arrivals, beds and businesses have increased steadily and are undoubtedly linked to those major motorsport events in the region. For example, the number of overnight visitors in 2010 was 132.1 (in thousands) people. In 2014, 228.6 (in thousands) people stayed in Murtal, whereas in the year of 2018, the number of overnight visitors reached 362.1. The MotoGP also brought a huge improvement in numbers. In the year 2015, the year before the return of the major motorsport event, 246.9

57 overnight stays and 85.4 arrivals were counted. One year later overnight stays increased to 290.8 and arrivals increased to 101.4. As can also be deduced from the charts in this chapter, tourism was booming in the months in which the events took place.

I determined another significant indicator for the major impact that those events have on the region by looking at the numbers of available beds and businesses throughout the years of 2010 until 2018. The number of beds rose from 19.602 beds available in 2009/2010 to 22.066 beds in 2010/2011, already showing an impressive increase. Since the return of major motorsport events. In 2013 until 2018, the number of available beds went from 27.621 to 49.931 beds in total in the tourism sector. Moreover, businesses increased. In 2010 1.115 business in tourism in Murtal were counted, while 2018 already has 1.296 active businesses to show for. However, as tourism is a seasonal phenomenon, it is not sure if all those businesses have the return they aim for and thus, those numbers need to be looked at critically.

Lastly, I analyzed the arrivals of domestic and foreign visitors. Here the numbers were able to prove an increase over the years as well, with the top five countries of origin in terms of overnight stays in 2018 being Germany, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, and Switzerland. The Austrian states ranked as following: Styria, Lower Austria, Vienna, Upper Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Burgenland, and Vorarlberg.

7. Structural/physical impacts of major sporting events

7.1. Introduction

The region has in many ways realized its potential as tourism destination over the past few years. One way to demonstrate those changes are by looking at the physical and structural developments the region has undergone. Hence, I dedicated this chapter to the effects on structure such as the investment in tourism and recreational infrastructure as well as public traffic or in art and cultural facilities.

7.2. New tourist magnets, new potential for investments

One of the top tourist attractions in Murtal is the Red Bull Ring which was finished rebuilding in 2011 and has ever since attracted many visitors. It offers a combination of 2-wheel and 4- wheel racing tracks. Moreover, spectator stands for around 25.000 fans were erected, the pit facilities including a restaurant, a medical center, a VIP-lounge and 260 meters operations building for the motorsport events were built and an endure/trail-track was added. A 500- hectare big forest area in the close-by Gaal serves for test drives in order to further the technical development of cars (cf. Poleschinski, 2012).

The total project volume amounts to a total of approximately 200 million Euros for the planning and construction phase lasting from 2003 until 2013. Around 70 million Euros went to the Red Bull Ring and 130 million Euros went to touristic infrastructure projects in the region. The federal state of Styria supports Dietrich Mateschitz` investment at the Red Bull Ring with a 15% state promotion for the first 50 million Euros and 7.5% for the remaining 20 million euros. Furthermore, Dietrich Mateschitz pays a certain amount of money to the Formula 1 in order for it to be held in Spielberg. The money generated by the event covers only the organizational costs, however. Nevertheless, Dietrich Mateschitz seems eager to promote this event. Additionally, a yearly sum of around 1.453 million Euro needs to be invested by the country for the maintenance and repair costs of the Red Bull Ring (cf. Poleschinski, 2012).

Figure 12 Red Bull Ring (Knauseder, 2018)

The Red Bull Race track is, when considering the negative impacts of such investments in facilities, by far not an unutilized facility and is used to its full capacity. It is used not just for racing competitions but also for recreational activities offered by the Projekt Spielberg throughout the year. Such activities include 4-wheel experiences such as the KTM X-Bow driving experience, the Porsche Cayman S Driving Experience, the Formel Renault 3.5 Experience on the track itself as well as Off-Road experiences with an Off-Road Buggy, the Snowmobile Experience, the Enduro KTM Freeride E-XC experience and many more. 2-wheel experiences are also offered and range from the KTM Driving Experience to an Enduro track for the kids. Next to the motorized experiences, the Red Bull Ring is also used for events such as the Sparkassen business run event, cabarets, concerts and other events such as “Tennis in the Box”. Below, a picture of the Rolling Stones concert can be seen.

Figure 13 At the Rolling Stones concert in Spielberg (Knauseder, 2019)

The re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events gave the impetus for starting investment projects, mainly managed by Projekt Spielberg, all over the district. One of those projects was the the “G'Schlössl Murtal” in Großlobming. It opened in 2012 and contains a park with 18.000 m2, stylish suites and maisonettes, gastronomy and a spa- area. The spa-area and the restaurant are open to everyone, including locals. In the winter time, the “G'Schlössl Murtal” opens up its gates for the annual Christmas market, attracting many locals.

Figure 14 G'Schlössl Murtal (Falstaff, 2019)

Figure 15 Adventdorf at Hotel G'Schlössl Murtal (Projekt Spielberg, 2019d)

Another project was the five-star-hotel “Steirerschlössl” in Zeltweg, which opened the new guest house in 2013, containing 15 suites up to 78m2 big. Next to the “Steirerschlössl”, the former hotel „Bernhard” turned into a new 4-star-guesthouse that can show for 25 beds.

Figure 16 Das Steirerschlössl in Zeltweg (Hotel Steirerschlössl, 2019)

In 2013, the Hofwirt in Seckau was opened and keeps the Styrian tradition alive with home- style cooking with regional specialities for seventy guests. It moreover includes a ballroom and a terrace which includes a charming “Salettl” and the ability to host up to two hundred people. Another restaurant that reopened after a thorough renewal and major extensions its doors was the Café Wasserturm in Zeltweg. This skybar brought new jobs and turned into an attraction in its own rights with its park, pond, orangery and a playground for children. In addition to that it hosts events such as the Reggae fest, jazz evenings, and many more. The pictures below show the Café Wasserturm before and after the renovations.

Figure 17 Café Wasserturm before the renovations (Austria-Forum, 2009)

Figure 18 Café Wasserturm in Zeltweg (Projekt Spielberg, 2019f)

In May 2014 another beautiful house joins, namely Schloss Gabelhofen. It became part of Projekt Spielberg. The moated castle has been renovated and has become a 4-star-hotel. While renovating, they tried to keep the unique character of the historic building alive.

Further projects from Projekt Spielberg were the Landhotel Schönberghof at the race track, the Enzingerhof in Spielberg, and the acquirement of the castle Admontbichl in Obdach including its lands. Moreover, investments in Schloss Thalheim lead to the construction of a new well (mineral and medicinal water sources) and a “carpe diem filling plant”. A new office building was built for the Spielberg KG in Spielberg (cf. Projekt Spielberg, 2019e). The projects do not end there, though. The Gasthof Seetalblick in St. Wolfgang in the municipality of Obdach was revitalized. In Thalheim a new brewery was opened, introducing beer and sodas by Red Bull.

Projekt Spielberg is not the only reason for the development of the number of restaurants, leisure facilities and activities, and hotels. Others have taken advantage of the return of tourism due to the major motorsport events and have invested in their own projects and contributed to the advancement of the physical and structural development in Murtal. Some of the camping facilities are, for example, Camping at Moitzi Spielberg, Camping Spielberg Orange- Schindelbacherhof, Spielberg CAMPING GELB and CAMPING BLAU at the Red Bull Ring, and many more.

Figure 19 Camping BLAU at the Landschreiberhof (Braunegger & Braunegger, 2019)

Other existing facilities like restaurants have added hotels like the Burg Spielberg that now offers rooms as well. Another addition to the region that is not one of Red Bull’s projects is the new service area with a so-called “Playworld” attached that is currently built and will be finished this year. The “Playworld” will have trambolines, a play and party area and an outdoor- soccer-area, as can be seen below.

Figure 20 Playworld (Blinzer, 2019)

7.3. Infrastructural changes

Since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring, many investments into tourism infrastructure have been made. Not only the district of Murtal, also the district of Murau have greatly benefited from this growing economy and have taken advantage of it.

In 2016, the high-speed rail link S8 from Bruck to Unzmarkt commenced operations in December. Another important project that was finished was the repair and renovation of the Thalbrücke and the ramp Landtorberg in Judenburg (B77). A new bridge across the Mur was also built at the Gaberl street. Another investment was made in the expansion of the street B96 between Scheifling and Murau, as it represents one of the main traffic axis in the district of Murau.

Another main leadproject in this area that started in 2016 was the expansion and improvement of the cycle path in Murtal in connection to the Red Bull Ring. Projekt Spielberg, the federal district of Styria, and four other municipalities from the district of Murtal invested around 3,6 million Euros in the 10-kilometer cycle path with grid connection. The goal was to establish a new connection between Sachendorf and Spielberg as well as a new cycle path from Fohnsdorf to Rattenberg and Flatschach to Zeltweg.

In 2017, two plans were put into action. The cycle path between Kobenz and Knittelfeld as well as Maßweg/Spielberg and Sachendorf were implemented. In 2018, two more cycle paths/walkway for pedestrians were built. In specific, a 2.2-kilometer-long walkway and cycle path in Flatschach and Rattenberg was erected as well as a 575-meter-long section along the accompanying Murtal road in Zeltweg (cf. "Radwegenetz in Spielberg wird ausgebaut", 2018). As the picture to the right shows, the municipalities as well as Projekt Spielberg additionally installed signs indicating the cycle paths leading to the Red Bull Ring Figure 21 Sign indicating cycle path to the Red Bull Ring and other places. (Knauseder, 2019)

The Regional Councilor for Transportation Anton Lang (SPÖ) said about this project:

„Das ist ein Vorzeigeprojekt und überhaupt setzen wir im Land Steiermark auf den Radverkehr und hier in dieser Region Spielberg/Zeltweg ist es gelungen, mit tatkräftiger Unterstützung von Herrn Mateschitz, den Gemeinden und dem Land Steiermark,

Vorzeigeradwege zu errichten. Es wird hier in dieser Region mit dem Radwegenetz möglich sein, übergreifend über Gemeinden, mit dem Rad unterwegs zu sein.“ ("Radwegenetz in Spielberg wird ausgebaut", 2018)

He calls this project a showcase for cycle paths and highlights the fact that in the federal state of Styria the bicycle traffic is important. He also mentions that this project was very successful in the region Spielberg/Zeltweg due to a lot of support from Dietrich Mateschitz, the municipalities and the federal state of Styria. These cycle paths enable locals as well as tourists to cycle from one place to another.

The following map shows the cycle paths in Murtal:

Figure 22 Cycle paths in Murtal (ORF Steiermark, 2018b)

7.4. Conclusion

After rebuilding the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events, Red Bull had not yet finished and was keen on investing into more worthwhile projects in the Bezirk Murtal.

Some of those projects were, just to name a few, the renovation of the G'Schlössl Murtal, the Steirerschlössl in Zeltweg, the Hofwirt in Seckau, the Landhotel Schönberghof, the Enzingerhof in Spielberg, the Wasserturm in Zeltweg, and many more.

In terms of infrastructure, not a lot was has changed due to the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major events. One important aspect, however, was the investment into the expansion and renovation of cycle paths leading to and from the Red Bull Ring. In the next chapter, I further investigate and elaborate on the perception of the locals of the changes in the infrastructure.

8. Local opinion and perceived changes

8.1. Introduction

The main focus of this chapter is on the changes and how these changes are perceived by the residents of Murtal. In this chapter, I look at the interview I did with Dr.in Bibiane Puhl from the ROW- Regionalmanagement Obersteiermark West/ regional management offices of upper Styria West and compare it with the results of the online questionnaires that I conducted over a timespan of one month. I then evaluate and analyze the received answers. Furthermore, to get more insight into the ongoing changes and the opinion of the locals, I asked a few residents to give an interview in which they were able to share their thoughts on the ongoing developments in the Bezirk Murtal. Thus, this chapter provides useful and valuable information on the local opinion and their perception regarding the impacts due to the return of motorsport events to the region.

8.2. Murtal’s perception by residents and the ROW

“When I came in 1998 or so, it was a dying region, heavy industry, and no one actually knew how it will continue in the region. Everyone was dreaming of a tourism region and everyone said, but how, who wants to go there. Who wants to spend their holiday in a heavy industry region? And when the Red Bull Ring opened, it really happened within two or three years,

that has completely changed and there was really such a spirit of optimism and all of a sudden it has turned into a holiday region.”4 (Interview C)

This statement by one of my interview partners shows how the Bezirk Murtal and its image has changed ever since 2011, the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring. In this chapter, the perception of the respondents is discussed and compared with each other to see what picture they currently have of the region. It is very interesting to see because the Bezirk Murtal has undergone many changes since the re-opening of the now called Red Bull Ring. In the last century, the lower part of the region was dominated by the mining industry as well as the heavy and metal industry. The upper part located around Murau already relied on tourism then. With the decline of the industry, at the end of the 20th century, the region has turned into a “Krisenregion”, in English “crisis region”. Unemployment, a high migration rate – especially of the youth – influenced the city and the landscape, and many abandoned industrial facilities marked the region for many years. With the discontinuation of the A1-Ring, the term “crisis region” was established through media as well. Nevertheless, people were not discouraged by this and created a new infrastructure. Presently, the region has turned into a high-tech industry area and has established itself in the tourism sector. The re-opening of the former A1-Ring, now referred to as Red Bull Ring, and the return of major motorsport events contributed to a strong sense of optimism in this region and has created new possibilities in terms of economy and tourism. This sense of optimism and the perception of the Bezirk Murtal and the changes happening are discussed by looking at the questionnaires and the interviews that I conducted with 5 residents as well as the perception of the ROW regarding those changes.

The institutional view of how the region changed points to how a sense of optimism can be felt throughout the entire region. Compared to a few years ago, the region’s image heavily relied on the industry that resides there. Now, the Red Bull Ring has given the region the possibility to establish itself in the tourism sector and the chance to position itself differently than before in terms of how the residents and other people see the region. Since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events, a positive incentive in terms of regional

4 German: „Wie ich gekommen bin, 1998 oder so, war es wirklich eine sterbende Region, Schwerindustrie, und keiner hat eigentlich gewusst, wie es in da Region weitergeht. Da haben alle geträumt von einer Tourismusregion und jeder hat gesagt, ja wie, wer soll dort herfahren. Wer fährt in der Schwerindustrieregion auf Urlaub. Und wie der Red Bull Ring aufgemacht hat, ist das wirklich binnen zwei, drei Jahren passiert, dass sich das völlig gewandelt hat und dort war wirklich so eine Aufbruchsstimmung und auf einmal ist es eine Urlaubsregion geworden.“

68 development was given that has helped to change how people perceive the region. The changes that happened due to that can be divided into two to three different areas. One of those is that the Bezirk Murtal has been, regarding tourism, oriented towards an industrial tourism. Many people have to go on business trips to the district and due to the over the years established cooperation of the industry with the tourist accommodations new services were made available. The MT Hotel, for example, has thanks to companies such as Sandvik or Voest a good occupancy rate all year round. This would not be possible with only the motorsport events as one needs a good occupancy rate all year long and not only during the motorsport season. Since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport, industrial tourism is not the only kind of tourism anymore as now many people come to attend major events as well as additionally make use of the touristic infrastructure and offers. In terms of overnight stays, the number has visibly increased. Another way in which the change is felt is that the number of tourist accommodations has risen. On the one side, there are the businesses of Mateschitz that were accordingly renovated. Dietrich Mateschitz bought old objects and rebuilt and renovated them. Now, the hotels, restaurants and spas that he turned them into are “real jewels in the region” (Puhl, interview, 2019). On that level she agreed with my interview partners who are all very thankful to Dietrich Mateschitz for saving those buildings as otherwise their substance would have been lost and now, they are presentable and useable for the next few decades. Puhl (interview, 2019) always likes to say that when something is happening somewhere, more is going to happen there. This refers to the fact that now others have invested as well. In Spielberg and the other cities, many hotel owners and more private accommodation providers have expanded or built and opened new places. Moreover, they are very motivated to create attractive offers to lure in guests.

8.2.1. Demographics of the respondents

The institutional view is also reflected in the questionnaires I circulated. Over the timespan of one month, 218 people filled out the online questionnaire, most of them female between the age of 18 and 24 years, as the table below shows. Consequently, due to the fact that 51% of my respondents were very young when the changes due to the Red Bull Ring started to occur, this thesis offers a very specific view of the place as it can be assumed that some of the respondents were only 10 years old when the Red Bull Ring re-opened and 13 years old when motorsport events returned. Nevertheless, as the changes are still ongoing, their perception is very relevant

69 as it gives a great insight into how they think about possibilities in the region in terms of jobs, leisure activities and other things. The other 49% are old enough to be able to know the difference from when Murtal was still mainly focused on industry and are able to compare to the time before.

You are… How old are you? 2.75% 0.00% 0.00% 4.59% 0.00% 11.01%

5.96% 34.40% 51.38% 24.31% 65.60%

Under 18 18-24 years old 25-34 years old Female Male 35-44 years old 45-54 years old 55-64 years old Other Prefers not to say Above 64

Table 14 Q17 Gender Table 15 Q18 Age

Many of the participants were from the Bezirk Murtal, with the participants coming from Knittelfeld (27%), Spielberg (10%) and Weißkirchen (9%) being represented the most. Many participants also came from Graz and St.Michael as well as from the district Murau. Even though they might not be living in Murtal, many have roots in Murtal or live very close by and have the chance to observe the changes, nevertheless. Some are linked to Murtal in terms of their jobs, family and friends and hence come to visit very frequently and thereby have a direct connection to the district. Thus, their opinions are also very relevant to the evaluation of the answers. Moreover, the questions are only possible to answer by people who are very familiar with the district.

8.2.2. Perceived changes in Murtal

In the first question of the questionnaire I asked if the participants thought that the Murtal has changed at all since the return of such major motorsport events. 74% of all the participants

70 replied that since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of motorsport events Murtal has changed. Only 24% said that they have only observed a few changes and 2% have not observed any changes at all. This indicates that indeed the introduction of major motorsport events have had a visible effect on the region and that the majority of the respondents are aware of it. With that realization, the questions of what has changed and how those changes are perceived have arisen.

Has Murtal changed ever since the return of major motorsport events?

1.40%

24.17%

74.41%

Yes, a lot has changed Only a few changed have occured Nothing has changed

Table 16 Q1 Has Murtal changed ever since the return of major motorsport events?

Just like the institutional point of view, most of the respondents agreed that many of those changes occurred in tourism, especially tourism infrastructure and an increase in businesses.

What has changed the most?

Other 4.59%

Nothing 1.83%

More businesses 0.92%

More leisure time activities 1.83%

More tourism 41.28%

More and better cycle paths 9.63%

Better public transport 1.38%

More public roads 5.96%

More hotels and restaurants 32.57%

0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00%

Table 17 Q3 Changes in the region

The answers to that were very clear. 41% think that Murtal has more tourism now. 33% have observed that more hotels and restaurants have opened in the past years. Followed by that, 10% are the opinion that there are more and better cycle paths available in the region, 6% agree that there are more public roads available, and only 2% think that there are more leisure time activities and better public transport available. Some commented that there are now more jobs for students available. Others are concerned about the increased traffic and reckless drivers as well as noise pollution. They also mentioned the increase of private accommodations, more hotels, restaurants and leisure activities. As an interesting aspect the acquisition of several hotel complexes, restaurants and recreation centers by Red Bull and the resulting increase in prices of those was pointed out. Another aspect that they mentioned was the overall make-over of the region and private houses as well as public facilities:

“All the above-mentioned areas. Furthermore, the embellishment of settlements and public facilities to improve the general image of the region.”5 (Questionnaire)

5 German: „Alle oben erwähnten Bereiche. Außerdem Verschönerungen von Siedlungen und öffentlichen Anlagen, um das allgemeine Bild der Region zu verbessern.“

The beautification of the region and the embellishments of the outside of properties of locals that was paid for by Red Bull was too mentioned many times in the questionnaire as well as in the interviews that I conducted:

"Embellishment of certain places as well as the one-off campaign to support the rebuilding, respectively beautifications in the own house.”6 (Questionnaire)

This was a one-off campaign started in 2014 by “Projekt Werkberg”. This project was founded by Red Bull and is a platform for regional development in the private and small-business segment. It deals with the implementation of five main topics, ranging from bicycles (sustainability) to the promotion of self-employment to the promotion of regional food, cuisine and music (cf. ORF Steiermark, 2014a). In 2014, as part of this project, the locals in Murtal were offered to submit a before/after picture of their home renovations and Red Bull then paid for all the necessary building materials. More than 5.000 families received money for building materials such as paint to renovate their homes or build new fences to enhance the appearance of Murtal (cf. ORF Steiermark, 2014b). This aspect appeared to be an important one when conducting my fieldwork. Most of the changes that are noticed have to do with the mentioned increase of tourist numbers and an increase of tourism businesses and the embellishment of the region, may it be the renovation of one’s own house or the renovation of old buildings by Red Bull. Those renovations are valuable to the present and the future. Moreover, this motivated others to put some work into tourism infrastructure, infrastructure in general, and new investors were attracted to the region. The municipalities also took it upon themselves to help improve the image of the region by, for example, renovating the main square such as Knittelfeld did in an attempt to make it look more presentable and to revive the inner city. The picture below shows the new and old main square in comparison.

6 German: „Verschönerung bestimmter Orte sowie die einmalige Förderung für Umbauten bzw. Verschönerungen im eigenen Haus.“

Figure 23 Old main square in Knittelfeld (Knauseder, 2015)

Figure 24 Main Square in Knittelfeld (Knauseder, 2019)

Figure 25 Main Square in Knittelfeld (Knauseder, 2019)

But not only the beautification of the region was noticed. In the questionnaire, most of the respondents said that they observed an increase in tourism businesses. When speaking to my interview partners, most of them were also convinced that an increase of hotels, restaurants and leisure activities has occurred and that the profit of businesses related to tourism such as hotels, cafés, bars, and restaurants has increased. In general, the common opinion is that economy has been boosted by the return of major events:

“I would say that at the beginning you really noticed that more restaurants and hotels were built, but especially also in the last few years because more events have taken place. More infrastructural things were built, for example the “Burg” in Spielberg has added a new hotel or also restaurants that have somehow expanded and now offer catering and such things. So especially such things have become more and more, I think.”7 (Interview A)

7 German: „Also ich würde sagen, am Anfang hat man vor allem gemerkt, dass viel mehr Restaurants, Hotels entstanden sind, aber auch vor allem in den letzten Jahren dadurch, dass immer mehr Events gekommen sind und geworden sind. Das noch mehr infrastrukturelle Sachen aufgebaut worden sind, also zum Beispiel in Spielberg die Burg hat jetzt auch ein neues Hotel hinten gebaut oder auch Restaurants, die irgendwie erweitert haben und Catering anbieten und solche Sachen. Also vor allem solche Sachen sind immer mehr geworden, kommt mir vor.“

Interview partner A mentioned in the statement above that the Burg Spielberg, a well-known restaurant and disco, has added a new hotel which has not gone unnoticed by many residents. The picture below shows the new hotel.

Figure 26 Hotel BurgRooms – Spielberg (Burg Spielberg, 2019)

Due to a higher number of tourist arrivals, as shown in chapter 6, and an increase in events, the demand for tourism infrastructure has increased immensely over the past few years and many entrepreneurs benefited economically. During the interviews I realized that every single one of my interview partners perceived the changes in the Bezirk Murtal as positive in terms of economy and such:

“So I think that generally a spirit of optimism has emerged. In the economy and especially in the catering business and related industries, but also in other industries, there is more confidence. I find it extremely positive what has been done in the last years.”8 (Interview

They mentioned how the region that used to be associated with heavy industry all of a sudden turned into a tourist magnet due to the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events. My interview partners also mentioned a few times that there is more confidence among businesses such as hotels, restaurants and many more. Years ago, no one would have thought that the Burg Spielberg would add a hotel. Still, some respondents are skeptical that the big companies take away business from smaller companies. Most of the

8 German: „Also ich glaube schon, dass generell eine Aufbruchstimmung insgesamt entstanden ist. In der Wirtschaft, vor allem natürlich in der Gastronomie und den dazugehörigen Branchen, aber auch in anderen Branchen herrscht wieder mehr Zuversicht. Ich finde es extrem positiv, was in den letzten Jahren bewegt worden ist.“

76 respondents, as deduced from the questionnaire, were content with the economic developments. Two of my interview partners stated that they knew people or even themselves that profit from the events:

“As I had many stalls and we offered camping ourselves, I would say, we have always, it has always been a good situation for us because I cannot list any negative aspects [...] we also own a lot of land around the ring actually. One can say, ok, the added value is already given, because you certainly get 10 to 15 times more out of the area as if you only mowed or leased it now. So for me, first and foremost, the value aspect is now in the foreground.”9 (Interview E)

“I know a colleague that rents out houses and rooms as a sideline and he says as well that in the Formula 1 season, so when the Formula 1 races or MotoGP take place, he earns as much over the weekend as if he were to rent out the house for half a year.”10 (Interview B)

Before, the region was mainly focused on industry and industrial tourism and an expansion in tourist infrastructure was not necessary, however, the arrival of major events brought a demand for more accommodations and more places to go out and eat or spend their leisure time with. The statements above and my fieldwork showed that economically the private households as well as entrepreneurs and hospitals were able to benefit from those changes. The respondents of the questionnaire have also noticed those changes or were directly affected by them:

“Increased tourism, resulting in more hotel facilities, restaurants, better traffic routes, and more leisure activities!”11 (Questionnaire)

9 German: „Dadurch ich […] also viele Stände oben gehabt habe und wir selbst Camping angeboten haben, würde ich sagen, haben wir eigentlich immer, war es eigentlich immer eine guate Situation für uns, weil ich kann einfach keine negativen Aspekte aufzählen […] wir haben auch relativ viel Grundstücke rund um den Ring eigentlich. Man kann eigentlich davon sagen, ok, ist der Mehrwert schon gegeben, weil du bekommst wirklich sicherlich das 10 bis 15-fache dadurch sicher mehr raus von der Fläche die du hast als wie wenn du das jetzt nur mähst oder verpachten tätest. Also für mich ist da in erste Linie jetzt der Wertaspekt im Vordergrund.“ 10 German: „Ich kenne einen Kollegen, der Häuser und Zimmer vermietet nebenbei und der sagt auch, in der Formel 1 Saison, also wenn die Formel 1- Rennen oder MotoGP ist, verdient er über des Wochenende gleich viel wie wenn er des Haus ein halbes Jahr vermietet.“ 11 German: „Verstärkter Tourismus und daraus resultierend mehr Hotelanlagen, Restaurants, bessere Verkehrswege und mehr Freizeitangebot!“

One of the respondents pointed out that since the return of motorsport events, the number of patients in the department for trauma surgery has increased:

“An increase in ambulatory patients and inpatients at the department for trauma at the state hospital in Murtal, location in Judenburg.”12 (Questionnaire)

My interview partner (Interview C) emphasized that the major events provide the emergency services with an excellent training opportunity as they are confronted with injuries that usually do not happen very often. Moreover, they highlighted the financial aspect of such events:

“One also notices that, if one compares it with other districts in Styria, the cooperation of the emergency services is very good in the Bezirk Murtal because the [emergency services] constantly train. They form a crisis committee at every major event and if it were necessary to form this crisis committee now outside of this time period then that would be probably quite easy in Murtal because they are used to it.”13 (Interview C)

"And now the Dutch, Swiss, and Hungarians are coming, and they do not have the Austrian health insurance. However, the foreign health insurance pays for it and for that there is no capping. Thus, everything is charged separately and it is paid. So that is a value added for the hospital.”14 (Interview C)

This means that the events do not also add an additional workload and extra training for the doctors, however, they also contribute to the finances of hospitals.

12 German: „Eine Steigerung der ambulanten und stationären PatientInnen an der Abteilung für Unfallchirurgie des Landeskrankenhaus Murtal, Standort Judenburg.” 13 German: „Man merkt es auch, wenn man das vergleicht mit anderen Bezirken in der Steiermark, es ist im Bezirk Murtal diese Zusammenarbeit der Einsatzorganisationen, diese ist so gut, weil die das [Notfälle] dauernd trainieren. Sie bauen bei jeder Großveranstaltung quasi einen Krisenstab auf und würde jetzt außerhalb dieser Zeit irgendwann das einmal notwendig sein, diesen Krisenstab zu bilden, dann geht das wahrscheinlich dort im Murtal recht einfach, weil die das gewohnt sind.“ 14 German: „Und jetzt kommen hier Holländer, Schweizer, und Ungarn und die fallen hier nicht in die österreichische Krankenkassa, sondern das zahlt die ausländische Krankenkassa und für die gibt es keine Deckelung. Also wird alles einzeln verrechnet und es wird bezahlt. Also das ist durchaus eine Wertschöpfung fürs Krankenhaus.”

8.2.3. Leisure activities

The gastronomy businesses have also, as pointed out by almost all the respondents, profited economically and expanded. One of my interview partners pointed out that in comparison to a few years ago, it is now harder to decide which restaurant to go to as there are so many now:

“One notices that, it doesn’t matter if it is the entire catering trade, by now it is not difficult if you want to dine out in Murtal. It is difficult to decide where you want to dine out. That has not always been the case.”15 (Interview C)

In general, the fieldwork shows that the events have affected the region on many levels and not only boosted the economy and made the region attractive to tourists, it has also more attractions and things to offer to the locals and the tourists. Murtal has always been a good place for outdoor activities and the events have added another aspect to this. With the initiation of Projekt Spielberg, many events and some new activities for every season were added to the leisure program in Murtal. Experiences related with motor, such as Offroad Buggy experiences, GoKart driving, Enduro experiences, KTM -Box experiences and events aside from motorsport events, such as the yearly Christmas market at the G'schlössl Murtal, the Sparkassen Businessrun, Jazzbrunch at Hofwirt, music evenings at Schloss Gabelhofen and much more were added.

15 German: „Also man merkt, die, es is egal, ob es die ganze Gastronomie ist, also, mittlerweile tut man sich, wenn man gut essen gehen will im Murtal nicht mehr schwer. Man tut sich schwer, dass man aussucht, wo geht man wirklich hin. Also das war nicht immer.”

Figure 27 Offroad Buggy Experience (Projekt Spielberg, 2019g)

The questionnaire proved that more than half of the respondents agree that the leisure program has improved. However, not everyone shares that opinion. Some respondents thought that Murtal already had to offer various leisure activities that were then updated, and that Red Bull Ring of course added a few more activities as well such as the possibility of attending such motorsport events.

“Not really, however, this is not necessary in the region. We had a lot of leisure activities and whoever wanted to use them used them even before the return of the Red Bull Ring.”16 (Questionnaire)

In the interviews I conducted, they mostly agreed with the statement above, adding that most of the new leisure activities are due to Projekt Spielberg. Barely anyone could think of other new leisure activities. Moreover, while conducting the research and the interviews, I found out that most of the respondents have attended a motorsport event at the Red Bull Ring, and other events hosted by Projekt Spielberg. Thus, not only tourists profit from the development in Murtal, also locals take advantage of certain things. In my questionnaire, one other point came up that is worth mentioning:

16 German: „Nicht besonders, jedoch ist das in der Gegend nicht notwendig. Hatten davor schon viele Aktivitäten und wer es wollte nutzte es auch vor der Rückkehr des Red Bull Rings.“

“The first fascination of the population has declined and the offers that were created by the Ring are barely taken advantage of by the locals anymore.”17 (Questionnaire)

This might be true for some of the residents, however, in my interviews with the locals I was also able to see that they still take advantage of the offers very much as most of my interview partners are big fans of the events, for example. Nevertheless, this is also an interesting point to consider as after some time, certain events and activities become normal and become less attractive to the people that always have access to them. One the other side, the events such as the Christmas market at the G`schlössl is very well received and attracts many residents every year.

To conclude changes regarding leisure activities, the Bezirk Murtal developed very favorably in terms of things to do. The region offers a wide range of things to do that tends very strongly towards event tourism which not only includes the motorsport events but also other events such as concerts and cabarets which have been visited by most of the respondents. Interesting to note is that the Murtal has the possibility to address many different target groups with those events which explains why more than half of the residents throughout the different age groups have taken part in such. On the other hand, the region has always offered activities like hiking in the summer, for example at the Wipfelwanderweg (see pictures below), and snowshoe hiking in the winter that are now, due to the new recognition of the region as tourism destination, getting more popular.

17 German: „Die erste Faszination der Bevölkerung hat wieder abgenommen und die Angebote die durch den Ring entstanden sind werden kaum mehr von Einheimischen angenommen.“

Figure 29 Sign at Wipfelwanderweg (Fröhlich, 2019)

Figure 28 Wipfelwanderweg (Fröhlich, 2019)

Summer and winter season are doing very well in terms of tourism, however, there is still some room for improvement and there still needs to be more done in the off-season to attract visitors, as one of my interview partners also pointed out. It is positive to note that since the return of major motorsport events and an increase in tourism the tourism associations in the region work more closely together and try to come up with packages for the tourists for all the seasons. For example, the region tried to establish itself as a snowshoe hiking region with a few events last year and it has been widely accepted and hopefully will continue to be. Culture tourism is another way in which the region can show off. The tourism associations are creating packages for cultural activities and they are trying to find ways in how to enjoy the region even when the weather is not good (cf. Puhl, interview, 2019). There are many activities that one can do in Murtal such as visiting the thermal bath in Fohnsdorf that is expanding over time or the planetarium in Judenburg with its new technical equipment. It is a matter of marketing to distribute those offers to the people which is the main challenge. The visitor and the locals must be aware of the various offers. During my interviews I had the feeling that some of them were unfamiliar with smaller events such as the so-called “Jazzbrunch” offered at Hofwirt every first Sunday in the month.

8.2.4. Perceived changes in infrastructure

Something else that seemed interesting was how the people perceive the changes in infrastructure. Thus, one question dealt with what the residents have noticed and experienced in terms of such. What has come up most often was the improvement and expansion of cycle paths in the region to and from the Red Bull Ring as well as the added signage of those cycle paths. The possibility to rent bikes was also mentioned. All in all, however, most of the respondents did not observe a lot of changes in the infrastructure.

“In fact, hardly anything has changed in this area. Only traffic is diverted, streets are blocked, and traffic control measures are taken during a larger event. The events did not lead to a desirable and, in my opinion, much-needed expansion of public transport in the region. Only the so-called Nightline (bus shuttle service at night from and to festivals in the area) runs more regularly and more frequently during these events.”18 (Questionnaire)

In interview A she acknowledged that in her opinion the public transport did not change a lot except for the nightline and the cycle paths. She noted that when there is an event happening, extra buses and trains are in service. She also mentioned the renovation of the train station in Zeltweg as a positive effect of the return of major events in the region. Another common opinion is that some streets were renovated and improved, however, they also think that there is still room for improvement such as the expansion of the bus network. On the other side, some of the respondents said that even though there is not much that has changed in regard to infrastructure, they think that before the events and the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring, the infrastructure system has always been structured. Some agree that there are now more transport links, that some tracks have been turned into access roads, and that the street in Unzmarkt was improved. Other improvements linked to the return of motorsport events are stated by one respondent:

18 German: „De facto hat sich in diesem Bereich leider kaum etwas gravierend verändert. Es werden lediglich während größerer Event der Verkehr umgeleitet, Straßen gesperrt und verkehrssteuernde Maßnahmen ergriffen. Zu einem wünschenswerten und meines Erachtens dringend notwendigen Ausbau des öffentlichen Verkehrs in der Region haben die Veranstaltung nicht geführt. Lediglich die sogenannte Nightline (Bus-Shuttle- Service in der Nacht von und zu Festen in der Umgebung) verkehrt während dieser Events regelmäßiger und häufiger.“

“Many new hotels were built. Restaurants as well as private residents and public facilities were renovated and embellished. Streets and roads were expanded and renewed. (For example, every year before the Formula 1 takes place, many parts of the highway leading to the ring are repaired and completed before the day of arrival of guests). Cycle paths and sidewalks around the ring have been repaired and rebuilt. The new Playworld, which is being built in the immediate vicinity of the ring, has certainly gotten its location because of this proximity.”19 (Questionnaire)

Once again, the embellishment of the region was mentioned and the increase of business in the tourism sector. They also mentioned the renovation of sidewalks and cycle paths. Here, the new “Playworld” is also mentioned as a new leisure facility.

The ROW agreed with most of my respondents and interview partners regarding the impact the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of motorsport events had on the infrastructure, especially cycle paths.

“On the one hand there is in the Aichfeld, where it also connects Spielberg, the Aichfeld cyclic schedule with the Aichfeldbus which is really accessible. Actually, this is a great offer for rural areas. And secondly, a cycle path, which we did not have before, was built- via Fohnsdorf further behind, it did not exist before. To drive there before was dangerous because the road is not so broad there.”20 (Interview Dr.in Bibiane Puhl)

Now it is possible to instead of the car take the bike to get to certain places. She welcomes this possibility as now the bicycle as a way of sustainable transport is promoted.

19 German: „Es sind viele neue Hotels entstanden. Restaurants sowie Privathäuse und öffentliche Anlagen sind renoviert und verschönert worden. Straßen und Wege sind ausgebaut und erneuert worden (jedes Jahr vor der Formel 1 werden z.B. viele Teile der Autobahn, die zum Ring führt, ausgebessert und bis zum Anreisebeginn abgeschlossen). Radwege und Gehsteige in der Umgebung des Rings sind ausgebessert und neu gebaut worden. Auch die neue Playworld, die in unmittelbarer Nähe des Rings entsteht, hat ihren Standort sicher aufgrund dieser Nähe bekommen.“ 20 German: „Einerseits ist ja im Aichfeld, wo es dann auch Spielberg mitanbindet, die Aichefeldtaktung mit den Aichfeldbus wirklich super erschlossen. Das ist eigentlich für den ländlichen Raum ein tolles Angebot. Und zweitens ist extra gebaut worden, was wir vorher nicht hatten, ein toller Radlweg-in Fohnsdorf hinten hinauf, den hat es vorher nicht gegeben. Und es war vorher aber auch durchaus gefährlich, weil die Straße dort ja nicht so breit ist.“

8.2.5. Negative changes

On event weekends many respondents agreed that there are many traffic jams that make it harder to get from A to B. There were some who voiced some critique:

“The infrastructure is not optimized for major events which is why there are often traffic jams and more traffic and more noise that complicate everyday life.”21 (Questionnaire)

On the other side, some stated that the organization of traffic has become better with the years and they do not see it as such a big problem anymore. They are also aware that during events certain streets leading to the Red Bull Ring should be avoided. My interview partner A stated that she does not feel bothered by the event and that the events are always announced a year earlier, thus she knows when and where to not drive in order to avoid traffic jams. Another resident complained that coming to the region by train on an event weekend is terrible. Many people come by train to avoid traffic jams, thus, the trains are usually overcrowded and very uncomfortable to travel with.

“Everything is laid out for tourism and economy; the environment and a beautiful landscape is hardly ever appreciated. In addition, it is horrible for residents if you have to come to Murtal by train on the event weekends!”22 (Questionnaire)

As one can see, there are still some residents who think that the motorsport events cause some disadvantages in terms of traffic jams and crowded trains and feel bothered by the noise pollution on race weekends. Nevertheless, most of the residents welcome the events and even though there has been some work done on infrastructure, they still feel there can be more done in terms of public transport, for example.

21 German: „Die Infrastruktur ist eigentlich nicht für Großveranstaltungen optimiert, daher gibt es oft Staus mehr Verkehr und mehr Lärm, der einem den Alltag erschwert.“ 22 German: „Es wird alles auf Tourismus und Wirtschaft ausgelegt, auf die Umwelt und ein schönes Landschaftsbild wird kaum Wert gelegt. Außerdem ist es für AnrainerInnen der Horror, wenn man an Veranstaltungswochenenden mit dem Zug zum Beispiel ins Murtal kommen muss!“

Figure 30 Traffic jam in Spielberg (OÖ Nachrichten, 2019)

Noise pollution, traffic jams and crowded trains were not the only negative aspects that came to mind when thinking about the changes. During my fieldwork I wanted to find out if the people perceived changes caused by the re-opening of the race track and the return of events as positive or negative. A lot was already revealed in the statements above, giving insight into the locals’ sentiments towards the Red Bull Ring and its events. The majority of the respondents perceive the changes as positive, however, most were torn and listed pros and contras.

Many listed as dominantly perceived disadvantages environmental pollution in terms of CO2 emissions and mountains of waste as well as increased traffic during the events, and noise pollution.

“Ambiguous, on the one hand it is positive for the region. On the other hand, I experience noise pollution in my neighborhood by the adjoining campsite in the settlement area.”23 (Questionnaire)

The predominant opinion is that the events are positive for the region in different areas such as tourism, economy, and infrastructure. On the other side, some locals experience noise pollution due to the adjoining campsites, are faced with drunk visitors, waste pollution, and noise pollution due to the races that take place nearby. Some of them do not mind it that much as the

23 German: „Zwiespältig, einerseits positiv für die Region. Andererseits erlebe ich in meiner Nachbarschaft Lärmbelästigung durch angrenzenden Campingplatz im Siedlungsgebiet.”

86 major motorsport events only take place a few times a year as the advantages are clearly outweighing the negative sides. Interview partners B and D said that they are fans of motorsport and that were very excited to have the motorsport events back in the region. They do not think that the negative aspects are dominant and appreciate what the return of major events have done for the region.

Some other prevalent statements are listed below:

“A higher noise pollution for residents. Not only because of the events, but also because of the heavy-duty transporters that pass now more frequently.”24 (Questionnaire)

While events take place, heavy-duty transporters take different routes to avoid traffic jams or, respectively, have to transport the race cars and other equipment to the race track. The Formula 1 comes with many tracks that transport the motorhomes of the different race teams. Two other interesting complaints were that the area around the race track are closed off for residents as well as visitors and that green spaces are being replaced with concrete and new buildings.

“The fact that at the Formula 1 the race-, respectively around is closed off is negatively connotated for me, especially at such big events.”25 (Questionnaire)

Many complained that even though they are residents of the district, they encounter problems getting to certain places due to fencing-off. Some also compared it with previous years where they were still able to roam around the premises in the evenings and now, they are unable to do so.

“Unfortunately, more areas for supermarkets and „Playcenter” have been paved over. More noise pollution!”26 (Questionnaire)

24 German: „Eine große Lärmbelästigung für Anrainer. Nicht nur durch die Events selbst, sondern auch durch die Schwertransporter, die jetzt öfters vorbeifahren.“ 25 German: „Das bei der Formel 1 der Renn- bzw. Rundum so intensiv abgesperrt wird ist für mich mit einem negativ behaftet, überhaupt bei so großen Events.“ 26 German: „Leider wurden noch mehr Flächen für Supermärkte und "Spielezentrum" zugepflastert! Mehr Lärmbelästigung!“

Of course, when new facilities are built, green spaces will be destroyed for the sake of them. Most of the locals perceive the loss of green spaces as negative. Though, they welcome the new facilities and the possibilities that come with them. Another negative aspect of the races that were mentioned were the air pollution, the pollution of the fields due to the parking of cars there during events, and, as already discussed, the increased traffic during the events.

“Improvements: The image of Murtal has improved, new workplaces have been created and great, new cafés have been built. Worsenings: Our air in Murtal gets polluted.”27 (Questionnaire)

A few of the respondents also worried about the fact that motorsport is only open to some of the elite members of society and that the focus should be more on creating better workplaces in order to stop the emigration to other districts. Some issues regarding the social or logistical nature were also mentioned:

“The events affect many areas in the private sector in a positive way, however the residents of Murtal are confronted with various issues regarding social and logistical problems.”28 (Questionnaire)

In terms of negative aspects due to the return of major events the answers are very repetitive. The ROW stated that the protection against noise has improved. They are aware of the CO2 emissions that the motorsport events produce but also say that there are only a few big events and if we would to lower the CO2 emission produced by everyday traffic, then the CO2 emission of the events would be to some extend more justifiable.

The following statement highlights one respondent’s attitude towards the changes in the region such as the change of image and the effect of the increase of tourism in the region, showing how torn the respondents are:

27 German: „Verbesserungen: Das Image von Murtal hat sich gebessert, neue Arbeitsplätze konnten geschaffen werden und tolle neue Cafes ua. wurden errichtet. Verschlechterung: Unsere Luft im Murtal wird verschmutzt.“ 28 German: „Die Events wirken sich in einer positiven Weise auf viele Bereiche der Privatwirtschaft aus, allerdings sehen sich Bewohner des MT mit einer Vielzahl logistischer, aber auch sozialer Probleme konfrontiert.”

“Devaluation to the "Red Bull region" and accompanying image change. Increasing awareness of the region. Confrontation with "party tourists", or so-called "binge tourists"! Again and again, problems with the traffic situation. Appreciation of the periphery, but also profitable occurrences of the urban structures, such as an increasing number of restaurants, etc. In many cases it can be seen that the money, which is invested by the increasing number of tourists lead to an upgrade of certain businesses, such as the "Burg" in Zeltweg.”29 (Questionnaire)

On the one side the before already discussed negative sides were mentioned such as traffic jams, but the confrontation with party tourists was also pointed out by one of the respondents. This can be a big problem at such big events and especially the camping sites are famous for their parties during bigger events such as the MotoGP. In this specific statement, the person also considers the change of image in favor of Red Bull as negative.

8.2.6. Positive changes

On other side, positive changes and improvements that were mentioned were especially the image of Murtal which has changed to the positive according to many residents, more advertisement for the region, the increased tourism, the increased economy, the improvement of leisure activities, the renovation of buildings and the embellishment of the region in general, more workplaces as well as, most importantly, the revival of the region. All in all, the respondents were convinced that the return of motorsport events revived the region and boosted the tourism. Some even wish for more events in the region. They are also aware of the changing image of the region towards the outside.

“Overall, the region seems to be busier and tourism is boosted. The rest of the tourist attractions in the area are certainly being used more intensely - but in my opinion these are by far not as popular as events around and at the Red Bull Ring. It should also be noted that the noise pollution for residents is particularly high. Even several kilometers away, one is able to hear the noise coming from the Red Bull Ring. Although the waste management

29 German: „Abwertung zur "RedBull-Region" und damit einhergehender Image-Wandel. Steigender Bekanntheitsgrad der Region. Konfrontation mit "Partytouristen", oder auf gut-deutsch "Sauftouristen"! Immer wieder Probleme mit der Verkehrslage. Aufwertung der Peripherie, aber auch profitable Begebenheiten der städtischen Strukturen, wie zum Beispiel eine steigende Anzahl an Lokalen, etc. Vielfach ist auch zu erkennen, dass die Gelder, welche durch die steigende Anzahl an Touristen in direkter Linie investiert werden und zu einer Aufwertung bestimmter Betriebe führen, so zum Beispiel der "Burg" in Zeltweg.”

(garbage disposal, cleaning of meadows and the ring / campsites surrounding areas) works relatively well, the amount of waste generated during the events is enormous and the remains of the garbage can still be seen days later.”30 (Questionnaire)

Many are very pleased with the ongoing developments and the organization of the events as well. However, as the statement above once again shows, the respondents are very torn in their opinion. The following statements now show the positive sides of hosting bigger events.

“More advertising and media presence for the region; high competence of the emergency services such as traffic management; emergency services...”31 (Questionnaire)

One of the positive side effects of hosting international events is that there is more media coverage. Consequently, the host destination receives more screen time and is shown on TV and is recognized as a tourism destination by others. Due to the hosting of the Formula 1 and the MotoGP, Mural has received worldwide attention. In terms of positive effects, many also argued that the private economy benefits from such events and the tourism in the region is boosted. Some named the improvement of infrastructure, the international recognition as tourism region, the revitalization of the region, and renewals of buildings and streets as positive outcomes.

“More fame. New jobs were created and the tourism in the region as well as the leisure facilities were expanded and improved.”32 (Questionnaire)

What has also been mentioned a few times in the questionnaire and the interviews was the job situation in connection to the migration of younger people to cities. In my interviews I was able

30 German: „Insgesamt scheint die Region belebter zu sein und der Tourismus angekurbelt zu werden. Die übrigen Tourismusangebote der Region werden mit Sicherheit intensiver genutzt - jedoch sind diese meiner Meinung nach bei weitem nicht so populär wie Ereignisse um und am Red-Bull-Ring. Zudem ist anzumerken, dass die Lärmbelastung für Anrainer besonders hoch ist. Sogar mehrere Kilometer entfernt ist man in der Lage, den vom Red-Bull-Ring kommenden Lärm zu vernehmen. Auch wenn das Müll-Management (Müllentsorgung, Säuberung von Wiesen und den Ring/Campingplätze umgebende Flächen) relativ gut funktioniert, ist das Müllaufkommen während der Events enorm und die Reste des Mülls können noch Tage später gesehen werden.“ 31 German: „Mehr Werbung und Medienpräsenz für die Region; hohe Kompetenz der Einsatzkräfte wie z.B. Verkehrsabwicklung; Rettungsdienste...“ 32 German: „Mehr Bekanntheit. Neue Jobs wurden geschaffen und der Tourismus in der Region, sowie das Freizeitangebot hat sich erweitert und verbessert.“

90 to deduce that my interview partners saw an improvement in the job situation and linked it with the future of the region which they see in the younger generations. As many regions have to fight migration of the younger people to bigger cities and have been dealing with migration of people to the cities for decades now, they see the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of events as an incentive for people to stay in Murtal. Interview partner C stated that he thinks that there is now a perspective to stay in Murtal. In interview A she also said that there were more workplaces created in different fields such as marketing and that maybe the region has become more interesting and attractive to younger people

“So overall, I think the job situation and the perspectives for young people here in Murtal have already improved. Not only in direct connection with the companies of the Red Bull project, which of course also have many employees. But also in the craft sector, in the service sector, I would say that the prospects have developed quite well due to the relatively stable economic situation.”33 (Interview D)

The increase of tourism has led to the creation of not only seasonal but full-time jobs throughout the entire year. In the district of Murtal in the year 2017 (as of 31.07.) about 1.110 people were employed in the gastronomy and hotel industry, which corresponds to 3.2% of Styria's employees in these trade associations. The proportion of women was 75.1%. Compared to the previous year, an increase in employment of + 3.9% was recorded. The 5-year trend was slightly higher at +9.3%, in contrast to the Styrian trend (+7.6%). In the entire "Tourism & Leisure Industry" sector, the number of employees in 2017 (as of 31.07.) was just under 2.000. This corresponds to an increase in employment of +8.3% compared to the previous year (cf. Verwaltung- Land Steiermark, 2019). Another interesting aspect is that it is clearly noticeable that the region is experiencing a qualitative influx of people coming from Austria or abroad that start working in different businesses and consequently decide to stay in the region. In general, this has been perceived as very positive. Nevertheless, migration to the cities is still a problem the region is confronted with and needs to deal with. The regional development offices try on various levels to counteract this. Of course, this is a trend that will take some time to oppose, however, because of the year round offers in the different sectors, the fact that the Bezirk Murtal is a popular location for industries, and now the increased tourism activities, it

33 German: „Also ich glaube schon insgesamt hat sich die Jobsituation und eben die Perspektiven für junge Leute hier im Murtal schon verbessert. Nicht nur im direkten Zusammenhang mit den Betrieben des Red Bull Projektes, die natürlich auch viele Angstellte haben. Aber auch im Handwerksbereich, im Dienstleistungsbereich würde ich sagen, haben sich die Aussichten durch die recht stabile Wirtschaftslage ganz gut entwickelt."

91 will be easier to keep people in the rural area. Especially the increased tourism and the newly created workplaces ranging from management positions to jobs in service and industry create the possibility to enthuse the younger generations to stay. The municipalities are now as well trying to revive the cities with multiple tools.

8.2.7. Image change

Very important to observe was the change from an image of a heavy-industry district to a tourism district. The table below shows how the people feel about the change of image of Murtal.

Do you think that the image of Murtal has changed due to the motorsport events at the Red Bull Ring?

Not at all 1.83%

Slightly 7.80%

Moderately 32.57%

Very 38.99%

Extremely 18.81%

0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00%

Do you think that the image of Murtal has changed due to the motorsport events at the Red Bull Ring?

Table 18 Q13 Murtal's image change

Murtal was in the past and still is in the present known for its industry. Ever since the return of the motorsport events, tourism increased and consequently, the image that dominated the perception of the district changed and the image of the Bezirk Murtal as tourism region has dominated ever since. The table above shows that 19% of the locals think that the image extremely changed, 39% think that it changed very much. 33% stated that they think the image changed moderately while the other 10% are convinced that it only changed slightly or not at all. Interview partner C stated that:

“And I think, even if the ring wouldn’t exist anymore, we nevertheless achieved that we turned into a holiday region. The change of image has always been there for me. I think twenty years ago nobody would have come here for holiday but now I am convinced that presently the region sells well as a holiday destination.”34 (Interview C)

Of course, the nature and the activities linked to the nature is an important part of the image as well as now the Red Bull Ring and its event. However, there still needs to be a lot of work done in creating a sustainable image. The goal of the region is to convey that it is a dynamic region and the right attributes that reflect that need to be found. For example, the ROW offices plan to do more work on the image creation starting this fall as they think it is still one of the weaknesses of the region. Obviously, Murtal and especially Spielberg are associated with the Red Bull Ring and the motorsport events and the region profits from that public perception. It is a very dominant image but nevertheless, attributes such as “We are innovative, we are dynamic”35 and “We have good workplaces”36 are, according to the ROW (cf. Puhl, interview, 2019), not as present as they should be. The problem is that the locals themselves do not perceive the region as such and this attitude projects outwards. Consequently, she thinks that this has to be changed because the locals are multipliers to the outside world. If locals are convinced that they live in a great region, they can go and spread the word to others. As for now, the results have shown that the people perceive a big change in the image of the region, however, this change is mostly related to the increased tourism and the events taking place there.

8.2.8. Future of the region

When it comes to the future of the region, the opinion of most of the respondents may seem clear at first glimpse as 71% see the future of the region in tourism and only 18% in industry, however, 12% of the asked are of the opinion that the future of the region continues to be in both:

34 German: „Und ich glaube, selbst wenn es jetzt den Ring nicht mehr geben würde, hat man es trotzdem geschafft, dass man eine Urlaubsregion geworden ist. Der Imagewandel ist für mich schon da. Ich glaube, es wäre vor zwanzig Jahren keiner auf die Idee kommen, hier her Urlaub zu fahren und ich glaube durchaus, dass die Region als Urlaubsregion momentan schon verkauft worden ist.“ 35 German: „Wir sind innovativ, wir sind dynamisch.” 36 German: „Wir haben gute Arbeitsplätze.”

“Tourism, service, technical developments around motorsport and aviation. I personally hope that industry and tourism stay. The past has often shown that it is wrong to just focus on one thing. Should the Red Bull Ring no longer exist, and the focus was only on tourism than it will be hard to revive the region.”37 (Questionnaire)

This is the most common opinion. When conducting the interviews, most of my interview partners were convinced that we have turned into a region that has a present and future in both tourism as well as industry. We have been established as an industry region and we have always had leading companies in the region according to Interview D. Only interview partner B was convinced that we should focus more on tourism and that the residents should finally accept that we have turned into a tourism region. Tourism is seen as something positive as it helps the locals to perceive the region as more attractive through the beautification of cities, expansion of gastronomy, more cycle paths and much more. Some also added that there should be more attractions in the off-season of the motorsport events. The respondents also often referred to tourism in regard to sustainable, green tourism and activities such as hiking and river adventures. The region needs more, however, than tourism to guarantee sustainable workplaces. Another thought was that in the future the region could establish itself in the education sector in terms of a university of applied sciences, specifically aeronautical engineering and a specialization in the metal sector. This question revealed various, interesting thoughts on how the region should develop in the future.

To end this chapter, I want to add something, one of my interview partners said that resembles with all the other interview partners and respondents of the questionnaire:

“You can really be proud, or at least I am feeling that I'm proud of the region. I love living here and I think that it has a lot of positive things to offer and that image has improved a lot here in recent years. The cohesion may also have partially increased. There are still a few declared opponents, but that will always be the case everywhere and they are so clearly outnumbered that you do not have to pay that much attention to them. But overall I think the positive feeling in the region among locals to live here has increased and improved.”38 (Interview D)

37 German: „Tourismus, Dienstleistungen, Technische Entwicklungen rund um Motorsport und Luftfahrt. Persönlich hoffe ich, dass es bei Industrie und Tourismus bleibt. Die Vergangenheit hat schon oft gezeigt, dass es verkehrt ist sich nur auf eines zu konzentrieren. Sollte jemals der Red Bull Ring nicht mehr sein und es wurde nur auf Tourismus gebaut, wird es schwer die Gegend wieder zu beleben.“ 38 German: „Also man kann wirklich stolz, oder ich spüre selbst bei mir schon, dass ich stolz bin auf die Region. Ich wohne total gern hier und ich glaube, dass sie wirklich viel positives zu bieten hat und sich dieses Image hier

One respondent even said that there should be more events:

“There should be more events like that!”39 (Questionnaire)

8.3. Conclusion

In this chapter I have given an insight into the perceived ongoing changes and the opinion of the respondents to my questionnaire, who primarily consisted of female, young people, the opinion of the interview partners and the ROW. Most of the respondents experienced changes in Murtal due to the major events happening in Spielberg. Only a few said that that they have only observed a few changes and even less have not observed any changes at all. Overall, these changes have been perceived in a very positive manner. Of course, some are not happy about the noise pollution, the waste generated during the events, the air pollution and the traffic jams, however, some said that this is just a small price they have to pay for the positive effects that came along with the events. Positive effects that were mentioned were the improvement of infrastructure, the international recognition as tourism region, the revitalization of the region, and the renewal of buildings and streets. Most locals also noticed the increased number of tourists, the establishment of more hotels and restaurants and better cycle paths. In fact, more than half of the respondents think that the number of such businesses have improved massively since the return of the events to the Bezirk. They are also convinced that hotels, cafés, bars, and restaurants have profited from the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events. When it came to infrastructural changes, the only dominant opinion was that the cycle paths were improved and expanded. They did not perceive many other changes in terms of roads and public transport.

Lastly, most of the interview partners as well as the respondents from the questionnaire were convinced that we have turned into a tourism region that has a present and future still in both tourism and industry as many are convinced that tourism alone cannot sustain Murtal. The in den letzten Jahren deutlich verbessert hat. Der Zusammenhalt mag teilweise womöglich auch gestiegen sein. Ein paar erklärte Gegner gibt es ja nach wie vor, dass wird aber immer und überall so sein und die sind so deutlich in der Unterzahl, dass man dass glaube ich nicht so sehr beachten muss. Aber insgesamt ist einfach, glaube ich, im Durchschnitt der Bevölkerung das Gefühl, das positive Gefühl in der Region zu leben da noch angestiegen und hat sich noch verbessert, ja.“ 39 German: „Es sollten noch mehrere solcher Events gemacht werden!“

95 region has become more attractive to younger people because of the many events that are happening now and the jobs that the respondents think are now more and more versatile than in 2011. Moreover, the beautification of the region and the sense of optimism now contribute to a feeling of pride in the region itself.

In general, I observed that the image of Murtal and the changes have contributed to a different perception of the region. The picture that people have in their mind when they think of Murtal is no longer the picture of a heavy-industry district, but that of a district that has a lot to offer and is very well positioned in terms of tourism.

9. Conclusion

In this thesis, I have discussed the effects on regional development in the Bezirk Murtal with the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of motorsport events. As I have discussed in chapter 5, the Bezirk Murtal has become an important destination for motorsport enthusiasts and with the return of the Formula 1, the MotoGP, Truck Trophy Race, the DTM, the ADAC as well as many other motorsports the Red Bull Ring was brought back to life. This thesis discusses how events and place branding initiatives can lead to positive changes in the host region and how this can contribute to positive perceptions by residents. Thus, this thesis contributes to debates in human geography.

In order to be able to find answers to my research questions of how the region has realized its potential as tourism destination in the last few years and how the residents perceive the impact that major events have on the Bezirk Murtal and the subsequent developments, I looked at the term “event” more closely. Events are usually a dynamic, fast-growing and competitive sector which has clear synergies with tourism. Generally, they are temporal phenomena that have a clear beginning and an end. They are planned in detail and follow a certain schedule. An example for an event would be the Formula 1 GP in Spielberg, Austria. Just like Spielberg, many destinations have realized the potential of events in order to further economic development and generate profit, get internationally recognized, create an image, and establish itself as a tourism destination. Some features of events are that they are scheduled public or social occasions, goal-oriented, planned as unique experiences, speak to more senses of the participants, transfer the feeling of an exclusive community and belonging, and, in most cases, are focused on one theme. In regard to the Formula 1, I thought that due to its specific

96 purpose that offers a unique experience in addition to its contribution to the formation of identity within a certain target group it can be classified as a special event. Though, F1 events may also be classified as mega events because they require large investments in terms of infrastructure and event venues, and they are justified mainly in terms of tourism.

As most of the events that take place in the district of Murtal are sporting events, it has to be mentioned that hosting such can be of great competitive and economic advantage, however, it can also bring many disadvantages. Those advantages and disadvantages were discussed in chapter 3. Events can have positive and negative effects on the host region. By using appropriate literature by different authors such as Köhler (2014), Bowdin (2011), Preuß/Kurscheidt/Schütte (2009), Hall (1989) and Ritchie (1984), I was able distinguish following impacts:

• Economic impacts • Touristic impacts • Environmental impacts • Socio-cultural impacts • Political impacts • Structural/Physical impacts • Other impacts

In this thesis, I have dealt more closely with economic effects, touristic impacts, negative and structural/physical impacts as well as slightly touched upon some effects in the socio- cultural field by drawing on secondary sources such as the ones mentioned above and data taken from different databases such as Landesstatistik Steiermark, Statistik Austria, Bergfex, Steirische Tourismus GmbH, LASTAT and WKO.

Since 2008, the Bezirk Murtal has undergone quite a few changes. The owner of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, decided in that year to privately invest into the facility and with financial support from the province of Styria build a test and race track. This was the beginning of Projekt “Spielberg neu”. It did not take long until the Formula 1 returned in 2014, attracting people from Austria and all over the world. Shortly after, in 2016, the MotoGP and many other events returned to the now called Red Bull Ring. With the help of the return of such events, the region has definitely taken the chance to become a tourism destination and has done a lot, especially Dietrich Mateschitz, to realize its potential as a tourism destination by adding new hotels and restaurants, adding new events, and creating new packages for the tourists that encourage

97 activities such as hiking, snowshoeing, visiting the planetarium in Judenburg and many others. By looking at data from the tourism fact sheet taken from Verwaltung- Land Steiermark and Statistik Steiermark, it was possible to see the changes in terms of tourist arrivals. Since the return of the Formula 1 in 2014 and the MotoGP in 2016, the numbers of overnight stays, arrivals, domestic and foreign arrivals, beds and businesses have increased gradually. Thus, one can deduce that since the return of major motorsport events, the region has benefited from more visitors. While the number of overnight visitors in 2010 was only 132.1 (in thousands) people, 2014 could already show for 228.6 (in thousands) people. In 2018, the number of overnight visitors reached 362.1. However, the MotoGP also contributed to the raise in numbers. One year before the return of the major motorsport event, namely in 2015, 246.9 overnight stays and 85.4 arrivals were counted. One year later overnight stays increased to 290.8 and arrivals increased to 101.4. The number of available beds and the number of businesses increased as well. Whereas the years 2009/2010 only had 19.602 beds available, 2018 could show for 49.931 beds already. In 2010 1.115 business in the tourism sector were counted in Murtal, while 2018 already counts 1.296 active businesses. Another aspect that I looked at was the countries of origin of the visitors. The top five countries of origin in terms of overnight stays in 2018 were Germany, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, and Switzerland. The Austrian visitors came from mainly Styria, Lower Austria, Vienna, Upper Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Tyrol, Burgenland, and, at last, Vorarlberg. Looking at this data, the number of tourist arrivals have definitely risen and developed for the better.

In terms of structural/physical changes, a few things have also changed. After rebuilding the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events, Red Bull invested in old buildings or hotels and restaurants that were not doing well and rebuilt and renovated them. The G'Schlössl Murtal, the Steirerschlössl in Zeltweg, the Hofwirt in Seckau, the Landhotel Schönberghof, the Enzingerhof in Spielberg, the Wasserturm in Zeltweg, the Gasthof Seetalblick in St. Wolfgang, and many others were some of Red Bull’s projects. Moreover, he hosts smaller events at those places, for example, at the G’Schlössl a Christmas market is held annually and the Wasserturm in Zeltweg hosts music evenings. With the renovation of such buildings, more leisure activities for both locals and tourists were added as well. Due to Red Bull’s investments and the following increase in tourism, other entrepreneurs were encouraged to invest in projects as well. One of those projects is, just to name an example, the “Playworld” that is currently built. The infrastructure has not experienced major changes. One important

98 change, however, was the investment into the expansion and renovation of cycle paths leading to and from the Red Bull Ring.

To answer my research questions of how the residents perceive the impact that major events have on the Bezirk Murtal and the subsequent developments in terms of infrastructure and such as well as regarding the potential of the region, I created a questionnaire which 218 people answered. To get more insight, I additionally conducted semi-structured interviews with locals and Dr.in Bibiane Puhl from the ROW offices. The goal was to find out how they perceive the changes in Murtal due to the motorsport events and where they see the future of the district. Overall, the changes were mostly perceived as positive. Only 20% feel bothered by the events and naturally some are not happy about the noise pollution, the waste generated during the events, the air pollution and the traffic jams. Nevertheless, since there are only a few bigger motorsport events in the year and because they brought many positive effects with them such as the expansion of the cycle paths some said that this is just a small price to pay. The ROW as well as my respondents and interview partner noticed that the number of arrivals has clearly increased as well as the number of business in the tourist sector such as restaurants and hotel. Those changes contributed to a nicer perception of their surroundings. Not only the businesses owned by Dietrich Mateschitz were renovated, also the renovation of some houses was paid for by the project “Werkberg” initiated by Red Bull. Moreover, the municipalities have taken it upon themselves to present themselves in a better light. To do so, the main square in Knittelfeld was renovated, for example.

What most agreed on as well was that the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of motorsport events brought many jobs ranging from management to service and gave an incentive for younger people to maybe stay in the region. This goes along with the image that the ROW tries to bring among the locals of the region. They want to convey the image of a dynamic, innovative, and exciting place. Due to the motorsport events and the fact that the Bezirk Murtal has many leading industries here, this image is very accurate. Additionally, the region offers many culture- and nature related activities and a high standard of living. Of course, the image created by the successful marketing of Red Bull contributes to creating the new image of the region. This image of a dynamic, innovative region needs to be instilled into the locals so it can be successfully projected to the outside.

To conclude, most of my interview partners as well as the respondents from the questionnaire were convinced that Murtal has become a tourism destination and has realized a lot of its

99 potential. Nevertheless, the ROW, my interview partners, and the respondents have agreed that the potential is not yet fully exhausted and that there is more that can be done, for example fill the off-season with events and other leisure activities or open up a test center for e-mobility in the region. What has become obvious though during my research was that most of the people think that even though we have become a tourism destination, industry is still very important and should not be neglected because tourism alone cannot sustain the region.

In this research I have found out that since 2011 and especially since 2014, the region has changed profoundly. Not only are we now hosting major motorsport events again, but the tourism associations, Projekt Spielberg, the ROW, the municipalities, and the locals have all contributed to the changes mentioned above. The Bezirk Murtal has been in a state of optimism ever since the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of motorsport and continues to be. There are still many developments ongoing and I am sure that the sense of optimism will motivate more to start projects and to invest into Murtal. As one of my interview partners said, the region has disposed of its image of a dying region and has been revived again.

100

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Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark. (2019d). TOURISMUS - Ankünfte, Übernachtungen und durchschnittliche Aufenthaltsdauer nach Herkunftsländern. Retrieved from http://www.landesentwicklung.steiermark.at/cms/beitrag/12707981/141979459/

Landesentwicklung - Land Steiermark. (2019e). Steiermärkisches Landes- und Regionalentwicklungsgesetz 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from http://www.landesentwicklung.steiermark.at/cms/ziel/142543756/DE/

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11. Appendix

11.1. Semi-Structured Interview ROW

Vielen herzlichen Dank für Ihre Zeit und Hilfe. Ich hoffe, es ist für Sie in Ordung, wenn ich dieses Interview mit einen Tongerät (Handy) aufnehme.

1. Inwiefern hat sich der Bezirk Murtal verändert seit der Rückkehr der Formel 1, MotoGP? Auf welche Bereiche hatte das besondere Auswirkungen? 2. Was ist in der Region passiert? Wie hat sie sich entwickelt? 3. Wirschaftliche Entwicklung, wie wurde diese durch den Ring/Events beeinflusst? 4. Was wurde bisher ins Murtal hineingesteckt, um den Tourismus zu fördern? 5. Welche Maßnahmen setzten Sie? Und wo würden Sie sich mehr Engagement von den Beteiligten erwarten? 6. Was wurde an der Infrastruktur bisher verändert? Sind diese Veränderungen auf den Red Bull Ring zurückzuführen? 7. Gibt es viele neue Hotels und Restaurants? Welche? Dienstleistungssektor profitiert? Mehr Zuwanderung anstatt Abwanderung? Wurden viele Jobs geschaffen? Revitalisierung? 8. Demographischer Wandel? 9. Wurde die Lebensqualität erhöht dadurch? 10. Welche Freizeitangebote abseits vom Ring gibt es? 11. Projekte Hauptplatz Knittelfeld- hat das u.a. mit Projekt Spielberg zu tun? 12. Wie ist die allgemeine Stimmung? 13. Hat die Rückkehr der Motorsportevents ihrer Meinung nach die Region aufgewertet? Wie? 14. Hat sich das Image der Region geändert? 15. Wo sehen Sie den Bezirk in der Zukunft? Welches Potential sehen sie in der Region? Ist das Murtal als Tourismusdestination oder Industrie ausbaufähig? 16. Was für eine Verbesserungsvorschläge gibt es? Wünsche?

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11.2. Semi-Structured Interview Guide Residents

Vielen herzlichen Dank für Ihre Zeit und Hilfe. Ich hoffe, es ist für Sie in Ordung, wenn ich dieses Interview mit einen Tongerät (Handy) aufnehme. Anonymität wird gewährleistet.

1. Beruf, Alter, Wohnort 2. Inwiefern hat sich der Bezirk Murtal verändert seit der Rückkehr der Formel 1, MotoGP? a. Auf welche Bereiche hatte das besondere Auswirkungen? 3. Inwiefern sind Sie von den Veränderungen getroffen? a. Wie sehen Sie diese Veränderungen? Warum? 4. Was wurde an der Infrastruktur bisher verändert? a. Haben Sie diese wahrgenommen? Sind diese Veränderungen auf den Red Bull Ring zurückzuführen? b. Hat die Rückkehr der Motorsportevents Ihrer Meinung nach die Region aufgewertet? Wie? 5. Größter Nachteil dieser Motorsportevents? 6. Wo sehen Sie den Bezirk in der Zukunft? a. Welches Potential sehen Sie in der Region? b. Wurde das gesamte Potential bereits ausgenutzt?

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11.3. Online-Questionnaire

Q1: Has Murtal changed ever since the return of major motorsport events?

1.40%

24.17%

74.41%

Yes, a lot has changed Only a few changed have occured Nothing has changed

Q2: How do you perceive the changes?

8.41%

12.62%

78.97%

Positive Negative Others

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Q3: What has changed the most?

Other 4.59%

Nothing 1.83%

More businesses 0.92%

More leisure time activities 1.83%

More tourism 41.28%

More and better cycle paths 9.63%

Better public transport 1.38%

More public roads 5.96%

More hotels and restaurants 32.57% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00%

Q4: Has the leisure program improved since the return of the major motorsport events?

5.50%

32.11%

62.39%

Yes No Other

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Q5: Do you think that businesses like hotels, cafés, bars, and restaurants have profited from the re-opening of the Red Bull Ring and the return of major motorsport events? 2.29% 0.00%

33.03% 64.68%

Yes Very likely Very unlikely No

Q6: Do you think that the number of hotels and restaurants has increased since the return of motorsport to the region?

3.67%

20.64%

75.69%

Yes No Others

Q7: The Red Bull Ring offers a variety of experiences related with motor, such as Offroad Buggy experiences, GoKart driving, Enduro experiences, KTM -Box experiences and much more. How often have you participated in such?

Never 57.34%

More than 6 times 5.05%

4 to 6 times 4.13%

1 to 3 times 33.49%

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00%

Sales

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Q8: How many events at the Red Bull Ring have you been to? (Formel 1, MotoGP, DTM, Truck Race Trophy,...)

Never 28.90%

More than 6 times 16.06%

4 to 6 times 16.06%

1 to 3 times 38.99%

0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00%

Sales

Q9: Projekt Spielberg offers many events aside from motorsport events, for example the Christmas market at the G'schlössl Murtal, the Sparkassen Businessrun, Jazzbrunch at Hofwirt, music evenings at Schloss Gabelhofen and much more. How often have you part

Never 23.39%

More than 6 times 9.17%

4 to 6 times 20.64%

1 to 3 times 46.79%

0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00% 50.00%

Sales

Q10: Do you think that the Red Bull Ring and the events boost tourism in the region? 1.38% 0.46%

25.23%

72.94%

Yes Very likely Very unlikely No

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Q11: Do you think that the Red Bull Ring and the events boost the economy?

5.07%

94.93%

Yes No

Q12: Do you feel bothered by the motorsport events?

19.72%

80.28%

Yes No

Q13: Do you think that the image of Murtal has changed due to the motorsport events at the Red Bull Ring?

Not at all 1.83%

Slightly 7.80%

Moderately 32.57%

Very 38.99%

Extremely 18.81%

0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00%

Do you think that the image of Murtal has changed due to the motorsport events at the Red Bull Ring?

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Q14: How has the infrastructure changed in Murtal?

Q15: Have you noticed any other changes, improvements, or degradations in regard to the return of major events in the region?

Q16: Where do you see the future of the region?

11.63% 17.67%

70.70%

Industry Tourism Other

Q17: You are… Q18: How old are you? 2.75% 0.00% 0.00% 4.59% 0.00% 11.01%

5.96% 34.40% 51.38% 24.31% 65.60%

Under 18 18-24 years old 25-34 years old Female Male 35-44 years old 45-54 years old 55-64 years old Other Prefers not to say Above 64

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Q19: Where are you from in Murtal?

Sonstiges (bitte angeben) 11.27% 9.39% Weißkirchen in Steiermark 3.29% 1.88% Spielberg 9.86% 1.88% Sankt Peter ob Judenburg 1.41% 4.69% Sankt Marein-Feistritz 4.23% 0.00% Pusterwald 0.00% 0.47% Pöls-Oberkurzheim 1.41% 1.88% Lobmingtal 3.29% 2.82% Judenburg 7.04% 0.00% Gaal 1.41% 6.57% Knittelfeld 27.23% 0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00%

Where are you from in Murtal?

Q20: Would you be willing to talk about the changes in the Bezirk Murtal more thoroughly? If yes, please leave your contact information below. I would be very grateful for your support.

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