Fintech-driven sport event sponsorship: how commercial banks’ innovative marketing strategies shape destination branding and inclusive tourism

The convergence of financial technology (fintech), sport event sponsorship, and destination marketing constitutes an underexplored but increasingly consequential research paradigm in tourism studies. This paper presents a conceptual analysis of how commercial banks-particularly regional and development-oriented financial institutions operating in emerging economy contexts-utilize fintech-based marketing strategies through sport event sponsorship to simultaneously advance destination branding and inclusive tourism. The study grounds its inquiry in the Uzbekistan and Central Asian context, where rapidly developing digital payment infrastructure intersects with ambitious tourism growth targets and significant financial exclusion among potential visitors. Drawing on four complementary theoretical lenses-Stakeholder Theory, service-dominant logic (S-D logic), the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Sen's Capability Approach-the paper develops an integrative conceptual framework identifying three causal pathways through which fintech innovation, including mobile payment systems, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and alternative lending products, can transform sport event sponsorship into a vehicle for destination competitiveness and social inclusion. The paper also critically engages with the digital divide literature to acknowledge conditions under which fintech sponsorship may deepen rather than reduce exclusion. Seven theoretically grounded propositions are derived, along with four key moderating factors. The study makes conceptual contributions to tourism marketing literature by clarifying the triadic relationship among financial institutions, sport properties, and destination management organizations, and identifies priority directions for empirical research in emerging market contexts.

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