Attitudes toward attending the 2016 Olympic Games and visiting Brazil after the games

Drawing on signaling theory and branding framework, the aim of this research was to describe the impacts of the interaction between, on the one hand, the brand images of the Olympic Games and Brazil (as a tourism destination), and on the other, attitudes toward attending the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and visiting the country after the event. A sample of American adults (n = 722), most (82.2%) with at least one international travel experience, was analyzed. Results showed that the interaction between the hospitality associated with the Olympic Games hospitality and that of Brazil positively affected attitudes toward visiting the country after the Games. None of the tested interactions affected attitudes toward attending the 2016 Olympic Games. In the second part of the study, five focus groups with sport management graduate students (n = 23) indicated that the association with the Olympic brand might bring fewer gains to Brazilian tourism than the expected.