World Applied Sciences Journal 12 (Special Issue On Service Sector Transforms the Economy): 47-52, 2011 ISSN 1818-4952 © IDOSI Publications, 2011 Corresponding Author: Norazlina Rahmat, Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 23000 Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia, E-mail: noraz335@tganu.uitm.edu.my. 47 Crowd Management Strategies and Safety Performance among Sports Tourism Event Venue Organizers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Norazlina Rahmat, Kamaruzaman Jusoff, Norzaidah Ngali, Noorazlin Ramli, 1 2 1 1 Zetty Madina Md Zaini, Azlina Samsudin, Fatimah Abd Ghani and Munirah Hamid 1 1 1 1 Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, 1 Universiti Teknologi MARA, 23000, Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 2 Abstract: High risk of injuries and accidents among attendees at event, especially Sports Tourism Event has become one of the major concerns to researchers and practitioners. One of the major strategies to ensure attendees safety is by practicing effective crowd management strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of crowd management strategies and safety performance practices among sports tourism event venue organizers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. The sample included 40 of safety or operation manager attached to sports tourism event venue organizers. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that the correlation crowd management strategies had significant relationship with safety performance. Since the findings may not have utilitarian value to other event venues in Malaysia, future studies might consider using a national sample rather than the local sample. Key words: Crowd Management Safety Performance Sports Tourism Event INTRODUCTION essential to protect the attendees from unforeseeable With the increased popularity of sport tourism itself [7]. events, it has led to larger and more diverse attendees, In the local scene, Malaysia’s tourism sector is the making safety and crowd management a necessary and second largest contributor to its economy development integral part of the planning process for any event [1]. [8]. Currently, Malaysia tourism sector is rapidly emerging Crowd management at sports tourism event represents a as a premier destination for events with its proven track major concern to event organizers [2]. The attendees’ record of successfully hosting many prestigious events safety is of paramount importance and such safety must with the uniqueness and diverse culture and tradition that be a basic tenet of a facility or event venue philosophy to form the secret ingredient to the attract tourist [9]. ensure continuous attendance. However despite the great and potential that Malaysia Several researches showed that attending to any has, several unexpected incidents of crowd rioting during event was associated with increased risk of injury which a Malaysian National League football match event leads to extreme cases that caused death [1-5]. Statistics between Kelantan versus Selangor [10] occurred and showed that during 1992-2002, a total of 66,787 people these incidents proved that Malaysia faced similar crowd suffered significant injuries and 232 people died at 306 problems as other countries. Furthermore, it was also open air concerts around the world [6]. Every year stated that rioting during concerts was a common throughout the world in stadium, arena and other areas, phenomena in Malaysia [11]. crowd rusher, fires, bomb, heat exhaustion, stage Besides, a review of the sport event literature collapsing, overcrowding and rioting result in thousands reveals a confusion of terminology, with the terms of injuries and deaths [7-9]. Therefore every component hallmark, mega, special, sports tourism, major events of the game or event from the design of the stadium or being used interchangeably [12-13]. Sport tourism area to the game itself needs to be manage well. It is also encompasses a range of activities [14, 15]. However, risk of harm from other individuals or the actual facility