sustainability Article “One Event, One City”: Promoting the Loyalty of Marathon Runners to a Host City by Improving Event Service Quality Xiaoying Chen 1 , Brian H. Yim 2 , Ziqing Tuo 3 , Liangjun Zhou 3, *, Ting Liu 4, * and James J. Zhang 5   Citation: Chen, X.; Yim, B.H.; Tuo, Z.; Zhou, L.; Liu, T.; Zhang, J.J. “One Event, One City”: Promoting the Loyalty of Marathon Runners to a Host City by Improving Event Service Quality. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3795. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073795 Academic Editor: José Carmelo Adsuar Received: 24 February 2021 Accepted: 18 March 2021 Published: 30 March 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Sport Media School, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou 510500, China; 11253@gzsport.edu.cn 2 Department of Foundations, Leadership and Administration, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA; hyim@kent.edu 3 School of Leisure Sport and Management, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou 510500, China; annatuo1002@163.com 4 Department of Political Theory, Guangdong Vocational Institute of Sports, Guangzhou 510663, China 5 Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA; jamesz48@uga.edu * Correspondence: 11212@gzsport.edu.cn (L.Z.); liuting901228@163.com (T.L.); Tel.: +86-13380088446 (L.Z.); +86-15920367081 (T.L.) Abstract: China has entered into a new developmental phase where the government can promote national fitness, the sports industry, and city tourism, simultaneously. Rapidly becoming the largest single sporting events in China, marathon events help facilitate this integration. However, event organizers tend to focus on winning bids for events instead of improving event services and increasing the loyalty of runners to the host city, which could benefit the city for sustainable development. In this study, the antecedents affecting marathon runner loyalty to the city hosting the annual hallmark event (i.e., destination loyalty) were investigated by studying a sample of 392 repeat runners during a recent HengQin International Marathon (HQ-M). Conducting structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses, the proposed model, integrating event service quality (ESQ), destination image (DI), satisfaction (SAT), and destination loyalty (DLOY), was confirmed. Nine hypothesized paths were identified among these four constructs, including six direct paths and three indirect paths. Meanwhile, mediation effects and serial mediation effects of DI and SAT between ESQ and DLOY were found. Good ESQ, positive DI, and high SAT were found both separately and collectively to enhance DLOY and have important implications for the strategic marketing of sporting events and sustaining city brand image. Keywords: event service quality; destination image; satisfaction; destination loyalty; host city; repeat runners; integrated model; HengQin; marathon 1. Introduction After the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, China entered a new stage where the govern- ment began promoting national fitness [1], the sports industry [2], and city tourism [3], simultaneously. Since 2014, the Chinese government has successively enacted more than 18 policies to include the sports industry as a part of the efforts of transforming and up- grading the national economy. In 2016, the State Council of China released an outline for “Healthy China 2030,” an initiative to promote health among all citizens [4]. Meanwhile, since 2018, the Chinese government has proposed strategies for promoting three major regions: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Yangtze River Economic Belt, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The core idea is to stimulate urban agglomeration in order to drive overall development in each region. This goal has pushed China’s urban marketing strategy toward accelerated and fierce competition. In the context of these social initiatives, China has seen an explosive increase in marathon events in recent years. These events promote urban marketing, facilitate growth in the sports industry, and encourage healthy activity. According to data from the China Sustainability 2021, 13, 3795. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073795 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability