How do sports events revitalize rural areas? An evolutionary analysis of tourists' fun experiences from the “events–places” dual perspective

Purpose Taking rural sports events as background, this study aims to examine the impact of tourists' fun experiences through the lenses of events and places, constructing a model across three levels, fun scale, event-place attachment and event-place revisit intention, with the aim of demonstrating how to carry the tourist traffic of rural sports events over into rural destinations themselves. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling was employed to examine linear causal relationships, complemented by fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify combinatorial effect configurations. Data collected from 435 on-site tourists participating in or observing rural sports events formed the empirical basis for this mixed-methods analysis. Findings The study concludes that in rural sports events, consumers present an evolutionary path of “experience-emotion-behavior intention.” The influence of consumer event attachment on their revisit intentions for both events and places is consistent, whereas the impact of place attachment on revisit intentions for events versus places varies. Consumer attachment to events and intention to revisit events exhibit an extended effect of “events and places.” Originality/value This study innovatively answers the key question of how sports events can empower sustainable development within rural regions and provides a feasible path model for promoting new quality productivity in rural areas and helping to revitalize the rural sports industry.