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Comparative Analysis of the Projected and Perceived Images of International Equestrian Events Based on Online Texts: A Case Study of the FEI Jumping World Cup China League

Author(s)

Wenkai Chen

Affiliation(s)

International Equestrian Academy, Wuhan Business University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Abstract

Driven by the integration of sports and tourism under the "Equestrian+" model, equestrian events have become a vital engine for destination cities to build distinctive city brands and unlock sports consumption potential. Taking the 2025 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup China League as a case study, this paper employs the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model to compare the official projected image and the user perceived image based on official communications and user-generated texts on Douyin The findings reveal that the official projected image emphasizes event progression, competitive outcomes, and the regional characteristics of host cities; in contrast, the user perceived image focuses predominantly on the visual aesthetics of horse-and-rider combinations, emotional engagement, and realistic considerations regarding financial thresholds and socioeconomic class attributes. A three-dimensional misalignment emerges between the projected and perceived images across focus of attention, competition versus emotion, and symbolic interpretation, which attenuates the overall effectiveness of destination image communication.

Keywords

Equestrian Events; Projected Image; Perceived Image

References

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