Driving nostalgia: historic car rallies and heritage-based sport tourism experiences in Europe

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Tourism Recreation Research

Publication Date

10-1-2025

Abstract

Vintage car rallies create mobile heritage theatres where motorsport, memory, and place promotion converge. Drawing on 51 interviews, field observation and document analysis across five European rallies, this study unpacks how these events stimulate travel, shape onsite experience, and reverberate through host destinations. Findings: nostalgia–rather than speed–proved the strongest motivator; and enriching rallies with multisensory authenticity (unfenced paddocks, period soundtracks, visceral engine aromas) extended intended stays by roughly one day, furnishing organisers with a lowcost lever for dispersing highyield visitors to rural areas. Participants reported heightened place attachment, prolific social media advocacy, and concrete plans to return across seasons with family and fellow enthusiasts, confirming the rallies’ capacity to convert fleeting excitement into repeat business and heritage loyalty. Concurrently, managers navigated a delicate trio of conserving mechanical heritage, signalling environmental responsibility, and widening access for younger, less affluent crews. By weaving nostalgia, authenticity and destination impact into a single analytical frame, the article advances sport tourism scholarship and practice, offering actionable guidance for event strategists, heritage custodians and policymakers. This research uniquely plugs the nostalgia–sport tourism gap by evidencing its most dynamic expression on Europe’s open roads and invites further comparative crosscultural examination.

ISSN

0250-8281

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Disciplines

Tourism and Travel

Keywords

Destination impacts, Experiential heritage tourism, Heritage authenticity, Historic car rallies, Nostalgia sport tourism, Visitor motivation

Scopus ID

105017980827

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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