impacts of sport tourism

How does sport contribute to tourism?

Tourism is one of the world’s most important economic sectors. It allows people to experience the world’s different cultural and natural riches and brings people closer to each other, highlighting our common humanity.

The many important contributions of tourism encouraged the  UN World Tourism Organization  ( UNWTO ) to institute World Tourism Day, celebrated annually since 1980 on 27 September, to highlight the importance of tourism and its impact on our society.

Tourism and sports

According to UNWTO , tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world, while sport is one of the world’s largest social phenomenon. As a professional or leisure activity, sport often involves travel to other places, to play and compete in various destinations. Further, major sporting events, such as the Olympics and various World Cups, have become powerful tourist attractions.

Sports tourism constitutes a large part of the tourism industry, with some sources claiming that a  quarter of all tourism in the world is sports-related. Sports tourism includes not only participation in and attending sporting events, but also personal recreational activities.

Statements from the World Tourism Organisation and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have highlighted the importance of sports tourism; in 2004, the organisations committed to reinforcing their partnership and collaboration in the sports tourism domain, stating :

“Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurants- projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.”

Sports tourism and sustainable development

Tourism is an essential pillar of the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially  goals 8 ,  12 , and  14 . As a segment of tourism, sports tourism can also help achieve sustainable development .

At an economic level, sports tourism contributes to SDGs 1 (end poverty in all its forms everywhere) and 8 (promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all). Sports tourism promotes local businesses, creating demand in areas such as transportation, hotels and restaurants. Thus, local populations can avail jobs and income opportunities. Depending on the nature of the sports and experiences, local people can work as instructors and guides, who are likely to be paid more due to their special skills.

Further, sports tourism contributes to SDG 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages). Besides providing the tourists with sporting opportunities and an outlet for physical exercise, investment in sports tourism can also promote the participation of local populations in sporting activities.

Finally, sports tourism can also contribute to SDG 11 (make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Accessible sports tourism products like hand bikes provide access to sports opportunities for people with disabilities. Para-sport activities can be enjoyed by tourists and residents alike. The development of accessible sports tourism can improve accessibility in the destination city by the provision of not only sports products, but also accessible accommodation and transport. Furthermore, accessible sports tourism helps increase the understanding of people with disabilities in society.

Sports, tourism and sustainability

Sports federations, like the IOC, have realised the need for sustainable practices during mega sporting events. Thus, the IOC launched the International Federation (IF) Sustainability Project in 2016 to obtain an overview of their sustainability initiatives, identifying common topics, challenges and good practices. Building on the Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC Sustainability Strategy was developed in close cooperation with many stakeholders and partners to fundamentally shape the working practices of the IOC, the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement.

To develop synergies between the stakeholders so that sports and its facilities can be included in the local assets, it is necessary for decision-makers at all levels to understand their potential and agree to work together to set up sustainable development strategies. 

Host cities should target participants who are most likely to engage in sustainable behaviour while in the destination. This includes developing event portfolios geared towards sustainable event practices. The host city should also harness collaborative partnerships to foster social cohesion and build the capacity to increase sustainable practices.

From the design and construction of sports facilities and the way resources are managed, to valuing the natural environment and health and well-being of people, all decisions should be informed by sustainability principles. As the role and relevance of sport in today’s society continue to grow, progress can only be in cooperation and partnership with others, including the tourism industry.

• Related article: Active tourism
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What is sports tourism and why it is so big?

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Sports tourism is BIG business. We all know that sport tourism involves sporting activity, that much is pretty obvious, but there is much more than a game of sport involved in the multi million Dollar global industry. In this article I will explain what sports tourism is, I will tell you about the different types of sports tourism and I will discuss the benefits of sports tourism.

What is sports tourism?

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Sports tourism is the act of travelling from one locality to another, with the intention of being in some way involved with a sporting activity or event .

Many people believe that sports tourism relates only to watching a sporting event. However, this is not correct. The sports industry is much more than this.

Sports tourism encompasses travelling for your own sporting purposes, such as a yoga teacher training course, a badminton competition or to learn to surf. Sports tourism includes attending sporting events such as a Formula One race or a Premiership football match. Sports tourism includes nostalgic visits to places of historical importance, such as the Olympic stadium in Barcelona or to see memorabilia related to your favourite sporting hero, such as the museum at the Maracana football stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

There are, in fact, four main types of sport tourism. These types are known as:

• Sport Event Tourism
• Active Sport Tourism
• Nostalgia Sport Tourism

Passive sports tourism

While sports tourism has not always been extremely popular, during the recent decade the amount of people attending out of area sporting events has drastically increased. People are now traveling far and wide just to attend their favorite events, and it is no wonder as to what has encouraged the sudden spike in popularity.

Sport tourism is a relatively new concept, although it has been around for a long time.

There are many academic studies which delve into the concept of sports tourism, particularly sports tourism that involves large sporting events, such as the football World Cup or the Olympic Games. Some scholars and sports tourism stakeholders have attempted to define the term sports tourism.

According to Neirotti (2003), sports tourism can be broadly described as;

‘Including travel away from one’s primary residence to participate in sports activity, for recreation or competition purposes, travel to observe sport at grassroots or elite level, and travel to visit a sports attraction such as a sports museum, for instance’.

Weed and Bull (2004), provide a conceptualisation of the sports tourism phenomenon as;

‘A social, economic and cultural phenomenon arising from the unique interaction of activity, people and place’’.

Gammon and Robinson (2003) state that sports and tourism is;

‘Not just about the management and operation of mega events; it also concerns offering consumer-specific sports and tourism-related services and experiences to the sports tourist.’

Read also: Sustainable tourism- everything you need to know

Gammon and Robinson (2003) further argue that the sports tourism industry cannot be defined easily and that there should be different definitions according to the type of sports tourism that is being discussed. They visualise this in the model below.

Today, sport is regarded as the world’s largest social phenomenon. And, tourism is predicted to become the world’s biggest industry early in the next century. So it doesn’t take a genius to work out that sports tourism is pretty big business!

The sports tourism industry has grown considerably in recent years. In 2016 the sports tourism industry was worth $1.41 trillion and this figure is expected to increase to approximately $5.72 trillion by 2021. This is a whopping 41% growth in only four years!

**Studying sports tourism? I recommend- Sports Tourism: Participants, Policy and Providers **

The sports tourism industry makes up a significant part off the overall tourism industry. Some people claim that this figure is as high as 25%, meaning that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports related!

The importance of sports tourism is further emphasised by the media statements from the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which in 2004, announced their commitment to reinforce their partnerships on collaboration in the sports and tourism domain. They stated that; 

‘Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurant-projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.

This demonstrates that sports tourism has a wider economic and social impact than simply the sporting occasion itself. It provides social and economic opportunities for the local population , as well as visitors to the area.

The different types of sport tourism

Sport tourism can be segregated into four main types: sport event tourism, nostalgia sports tourism, active sports tourism and passive sports tourism. Below I have provided a short explanation of what each type of tourism is, along with some examples.

Sport event tourism

Sports event tourism is tourism which centres around a sporting event. Sporting events can be of any size and importance, however it tends to be the major sporting events which gain the most gravitas.

Hallmark events, such as the Olympics or football World Cup, are important centres for sport event tourism, bringing millions of tourists to the host destination.

Smaller events, such as the Henley Regatta in the United Kingdom or a national tennis competition also clarify as sport event tourism.

An often overlooked example of sport event tourism are amateur sporting events. Events such as regional school competitions, youth sporting leagues and non-profit community based sport events are just a few examples.

Wimbledon, also known as ‘The Championships’ is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. A prestigious sporting event, Wimbledon is often associated with the upper class, where spectators sip sparkling wine and Pimms whilst dressed in their best frocks.

Knowing very little about tennis, I attending Wimbledon a couple of years ago just to experience this famous event, which is an integral part off British heritage!

Dating back to 1877, Wimbledon has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, on the outskirts of London, each year. The tennis is played on outdoor grass courts, which is unlike tennis matches played in many other parts of the world.

Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open.

The tournament takes place in late June/early July each year.

The football World Cup, known officially as the FIFA World Cup, is an international football tournament held every four years.

The  Fédération Internationale de Football Association  (FIFA) is the sport’s global governing body. The football consists of mens only teams and boats the most skilled footballers in the world.

Teams must first pass the qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years. After this, 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament. The World Cup tournament generally lasts about one month.

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition that takes place. It involves what are considered to be the six best nations in terms of rugby in Europe The six nations are:

The Six Nations tournament begins on the first weekend in February each year and finishes with ‘Super Saturday’ on the second or third Saturday in March.

Each team is required to play every other team once (making a total of 15 matches). Each team will play one match at home and one match away from home.

I attended a six nations match once and whilst I’m really not into rugby (surprise!), I really enjoyed the sophisticated and supportive atmosphere at the venue.

Inspired by the ancient Greeks, the modern Olympic Games have been running since 1896. But, in fact, the games have been played in some form or another since long before this date.

The Olympics is perhaps the most famous and the most popular international sporting event. It features both summer and winter sports competitions which take place every four years. Like many other major sporting events, the Olympics are held in a different location each time.

Read also: Slow tourism: Everything you need to know

The Olympics involves thousands of athletes from around the world who compete in a range of different sports, from trampolining to running. Over 200 nations participate in the event.

The Super Bowl is the annual championship of the National Football League (NFL). Based in the Unites States of America, this is the most popular sport tourism event of the year.

Some interesting facts include The Super Bowl being the second-largest day for food consumption in the USA (after Thanksgiving) and the Super Bowl being the most-watched American television broadcast of the year.

Nostalgia sports tourism

Nostalgia sport tourism involves travelling to famous sport-related tourist attractions.

Nostalgia sports tourism may celebrate sports of the past or the present. It may include visiting museums or exhibitions, visiting sporting hall of fames or visiting sporting venues.

The nostalgia sports tourist does not need to be actively participating in sport or to be spectating. They may simply want to learn more or to reminisce.

Here are some examples of popular nostalgia sport tourism attractions.

We visited Calgary Olympic Park on travels through Canada with a baby and loved it!

WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park (COP), (formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill) was one of the venues used in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Nowadays, it is open to the general public and iw well known for its ski jumping, bobsleigh and luge.

Whilst we did learn a little bit about the Olympics on our visit here, we actually sent more time on the luge ride than anything else because it was so much fun!

The Maracana is a famous football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is rich in history and was once the largest stadium in the world.

The stadium was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup. The venue has seen attendances of 150,000 or more at 26 occasions. Over time terraces were replaced with seating, and after the renovation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Maracana’s original capacity was reduced to 78,838.

Nowadays, it is popular to take a tour to visit the Maracana stadium, like I did when I travelled to Buenos Aires with my friend who is football mad!

The Olympic Village, known in Spanish as La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou is an area in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona, Spain.

The Barcelona Olympic Village was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Barcelona.

Nowadays, visiting the Barcelona Olympic Village is a popular sports tourism activity undertaken by many tourists visiting Barcelona.

19 Sport, Tourism, and Social Impacts

Heather J. Gibson is a professor of tourism at the University of Florida. Her work cuts across the fields of leisure, tourism, and sport, with a focus on understanding behavioral choices in the context of gender, life span, and well-being. She authored some of the seminal papers in sport tourism and incorporated her focus on women and mid- and later life into the study of active sport tourism. She is a former managing editor of Leisure Studies and is an associate editor for the Annals of Tourism Research and the Journal of Sport & Tourism, among others.

Sheranne Fairley is an associate professor in the School of Business at the University of Queensland. Fairley’s research focuses on three major streams: sport and event tourism, volunteerism, and the globalization of sport. Her books include Rebranding and Positioning Australian Rules Football in the American Market (2009) and Renegotiating the Shanghai Formula One Event (2009, with K. D’Elia). She is editor-in-chief of the research journal Sport Management Review .

• Published: 21 September 2022
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Scholarship in sport tourism began to gather speed in the late 1990s. Initially attention was on defining sport tourism and the economic impact of sport events. Calls to move scholarship from largely descriptive case studies to a theoretically informed body of work manifested in various ways. This chapter chronicles some of the developments in sport tourism scholarship over the past 20 years, with a focus on legacy and leveraging, social impacts, and small-scale events. In so doing, topics such as event portfolios, social capital, youth sport, and the impact of COVID-19 are discussed. The growth of event management as a discipline is examined in terms of its impact on sport tourism going forward. The authors note the touristic dimension in sport event research has often been missing or downplayed in recent studies, which raises questions about the long-term viability of sport tourism as an area of study.

As tourism became increasingly specialized in the 1990s, there was a growing recognition about travel associated with sport. Initially, when a group of scholars began to focus on sport tourism as an area of study, there was much debate around the definition of “sport tourism” (e.g., Gibson, 1998b ; Higham & Hinch, 2002 ; Weed & Bull, 2004 ). Through the years we have reached somewhat of a consensus that sport tourism breaks down into three main types: (1) travel to actively participate in sport, (2) travel to spectate at a sport event, and (3) travel related to nostalgia. The third form of sport tourism has always received less attention and has also been the most contested (e.g., Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005 ). Yet a quick review of the literature shows that there is an active group of scholars who have coalesced around this nostalgia/heritage sport tourism focus (e.g., Cho, Ramshaw, & Norman, 2014 ; Fairley, 2003 ; Ramshaw, 2020 ; Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005 ).

The first decade of sport tourism–related scholarship gave rise to two issues which are relevant to this chapter. The first was a focus on economic impact, primarily of sport tourism events (e.g., Daniels & Norman, 2003 ; Turco, 1998 ). This focus was not surprising, as communities were starting to use sport tourism as an economic development tool in the late 1990s, and many of these studies were commissioned by tourism agencies and emerging sports commissions. The second issue was a critique about the overly descriptive, atheoretical nature of early work (e.g., Gibson, 2004 ; Weed, 2006 ). However, the focus on description at this stage was not unexpected since the state of knowledge necessitated delimiting the area of study and conceptualizing and describing what comprised sport tourism. However, if, as sport tourism scholars, we were to move forward in developing this emerging area of study located at the intersection of sport management, tourism management, and leisure studies (this was the home to some of the early publications and themed conferences; cf. Gammon & Kurtzman, 2002 ), we needed to move into the next phase of knowledge development: understanding the how and the why ( Gibson, 2004 ).

At this stage we had not actively incorporated event management scholarship into this intersection. While Getz (1998) had written a paper on sport tourism in the event management context, event management had not penetrated sport and tourism management to the extent it has today. In fact, as we noted earlier, while our spectator sport tourists were called “event sport tourists” ( Gibson, 1998b ) in our early work, and while we were often researching sport tourism in event-related contexts (e.g., Higham & Hinch, 2002 , 2001 ; Ryan & Lockyer, 2002 ), the event was not the main focus. Today we have seen a definite shift in the prominence of the event context. This shift has been so extensive that the focus on sport tourism has been somewhat subsumed by the focus on sport events ( Gibson, 2017 ). Indeed, some may question the viability of this area of study going forward. Yet, at the same time, we can point to a resurgence of interest from practitioners and the industry, particularly in niche areas of sport tourism such as youth sports. Also evident is a growing interest among academics throughout Asia, particularly in China and Japan ( Dong, 2020 ; Hinch & Ito, 2018 ). As authors of this chapter, in reflecting back as well as projecting into the future, we are provided with an opportunity to examine some of the most significant developments in sport tourism research which helped to counter the early critiques of being atheoretical.

Responses to the critiques about lack of theory and being overly descriptive, as well as the focus on economic impacts, led us in two directions. First was the identification of appropriate concepts and theories that might enhance the explanatory power of sport tourism–related work to help us build a body of work that was sequential and could push our understanding forward. Weed (2006) , drawing upon Forscher’s (1963) classic treatise on “chaos in the brickyard,” challenged us to move beyond the individual case study approach to work toward building a cohesive body of knowledge about sport tourism. Gibson’s (2006) edited book, Sport Tourism Concepts and Theories, provided a compendium of potential theories that might be used to frame our work. Certainly, in the research on the active sport tourist there is evidence that scholars did heed the call to frame their work in appropriate theories. For example, Kaplanidou and Vogt (2007) used the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand participants in a cycling event. The concepts of involvement and enduring involvement, which have a long history in leisure studies, were applied to understand participation in Master’s Games ( Ryan & Lockyer, 2002 ) and travel to take part in running events ( McGehee, Yoon, & Cardenas, 2003 ), and were combined with a benefits-sought framework to investigate cycle tourists ( Gibson & Chang, 2012 ). A constraints framework, again from leisure studies, has been a popular approach to understanding participation patterns in snow sports ( Hudson, 2000 ; Williams & Fidgeon, 2000 ) and surfing tourism among women ( Fendt & Wilson, 2012 ), as has using serious leisure (Stebbins, 1982) to examine commitment and experiences in active sport tourism contexts (e.g., Shipway & Jones, 2007 ). Lamont, Kennelly, and Wilson (2012) added the idea that active sport tourists not only negotiate but prioritize constraints on their participation; they examined this within the event travel career framework proposed by Getz (2008) . Getz combined serious leisure (Stebbins, 1982) , Pearce’s (1998) travel career, and Unruh’s (1979) social worlds to develop the event travel career framework, which has spawned a series of studies on running ( Getz & Anderson, 2010 ) and mountain biking ( Getz & McConnell, 2011 ). Buning and Gibson (2015) proposed some further developments to what they called the active sport event travel career in their study of cycling within a U.S. context by providing more detail on career development and how this intersected with the events in which these cyclists chose to participate. Recently, Aicher, Buning, and Newland (2020) put more focus on the social worlds aspect of the active sport event travel career among runners and found that degree of immersion in the running social world shapes not only event participation but also related tourism behaviors.

These are only some of the conceptual approaches that have been used by researchers on active sport tourism; the application of these various frameworks has provided some unique insights into how and why active sport tourists participate in their various sports. More important, we have seen a shift in focus to understand the meanings and benefits that such participation has for these individuals, notably with a recent focus on the well-being associated with participation in active sport tourism ( Mirehie & Gibson, 2020 ). However, some notable gaps remain, particularly in that much of the focus on active sport tourism has not interrogated the sociostructural issues associated with participation, such as gender, race, and class ( Gibson & Mirehie, 2018 ). Active sport tourism is still mainly experienced by white, middle-class, and predominantly male participants, as was evident over 20 years ago, when some of the first papers were written ( Bordelon & Ferreira, 2019 ; Gibson, 1998a ). Another issue of importance is that there are few current researchers focusing on active sport tourism. This was evident in editing a special issue of the Journal of Sport & Tourism, where it took several rounds of the call for papers to attract a sufficient number of submissions ( Gibson, Lamont, Kennelly, & Buning, 2018 ). Of course, some of this can be attributed to researchers being pushed to publish in higher-impact journals, but the sister special issue “Sport Tourism and Sustainable Destinations” ( Hinch, Higham, & Moyle, 2016 ), for example, attracted enough papers for two issues. In delving more deeply into this topic, it is evident from the recent literature that there are an increasing number of studies on sport participation and also a growing focus on understanding the whys and hows of participation and links to health and well-being (e.g., Mirehie & Gibson, 2020 ). However, more troubling for sport tourism, is that many of these projects have ignored the touristic aspects of participation (e.g., Raggiotto & Scarpi, 2020 ), when we know that the very act of traveling not only contributes to well-being (e.g., Smith & Diekmann, 2017 ) but is part of the reason people take part in these events. So perhaps one pressing issue is that participation in event contexts may not be conceptualized and understood to its full extent without a focus on the touristic components of the experience.

As we reflect back on the original event sport tourism category, where the focus was on the hosting of events and spectators traveling to them, we can see that much research about the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games acted as a catalyst for the expansion of different disciplinary approaches to study sport tourism and events. The work of the Cooperative Research Center for Sustainable Tourism’s Sydney Olympics Tourism Impacts Study is a source of much of the work that we see today on leveraging and flow-on tourism (see Faulkner et al., 2001 ). The application of concepts from marketing and the call to reconceptualize our thinking away from impact to leveraging ( Chalip, 2004 ; Faulkner et al., 2001 ) were significant shifts in the way we think about events, and will be explored in more depth below. Additionally, in a project funded by the Australian Research Council, Green (2001) applied concepts from anthropology and proposed a sociocultural approach to understanding volunteering associated with Sydney 2000, at a time when much of the existing work was focused on volunteer motivation (e.g., Farrell, Johnston, & Twynam, 1998 ). Following the long tradition of focusing on resident responses to tourism, Waitt’s (2003) study on the sociological and social-psychological impacts of hosting the Olympics on Sydney residents reflected not only the growing focus on the social impacts of event hosting that were beginning to emerge at the time but also growing concerns from sociologists and others about the legacy of hosting these sport mega-events (e.g., Cashman, 2003 ; Preuss, 2007 ).

Within research on nostalgia sport tourism, the big issue has always been the legitimacy of this form of sport tourism ( Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005 ; Weed & Bull, 2004 ). The original conception of nostalgia sport tourism emanated out of Redmond’s (1991) work and was used to describe sport-related travel associated with visiting museums, sport halls of fame, stadium tours, and other sport-themed tourism ( Gibson, 1998b ). Fairley (2003) broadened this definition and noted that the nostalgia around sport tourism could be based on social experience rather than event or sport memory. Ramshaw and Gammon (2005) have suggested that nostalgia sport tourism is a form of heritage tourism and should be conceptualized as such. While this debate is not settled, scholars continue to work in this area and produce theoretically informed work pushing the boundaries of our knowledge on nostalgia. One such trend is to move beyond a focus on nostalgia relating to famous stadia or sports halls of fame to consider intangible forms of nostalgia such as the social experiences among longtime fans of a particular team or memories of significant sporting triumphs or losses as social nostalgia ( Fairley, 2003 ; Fairley, Gibson, & Lamont, 2018 ). Several key papers explore the idea that nostalgia is multidimensional, and we can see that, for the participants of these studies, nostalgia is linked to multiple attachments, such as family and identity ( Cho et al., 2014 ; Fairley et al., 2018 ). Indeed, as nostalgia gained prominence in the COVID-19 era, Gammon and Ramshaw (2020) suggested that nostalgia might be a coping mechanism people use to deal with changes in everyday life, such as stay-at-home orders enacted by many countries during spring 2020. Closer still to sport tourism, Weed (2020) mentions nostalgia as one of the key concepts in understanding the effects on and potentially the reshaping of sport and tourism in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With much of the contemporary focus on sport tourism residing largely within event contexts, we will devote this part of our chapter to a more in-depth focus on the conceptual approaches that have predominated in the sport-event tourism domain: (1) legacy versus leverage, (2) social impacts and social legacies, and (3) small-scale sport tourism events.

Legacy or Leverage?

Events are believed to provide benefits to destinations; however, research has suggested that these benefits do not occur as a matter of course ( Brown, Chalip, Jago, & Mules, 2002 ; Chalip, 2004 , 2006 ; Chalip & Leyns, 2002 ; O’Brien & Chalip, 2007 ). Economic impact studies provide mixed results ( Gratton, Dobson, & Shibli, 2000 ; Mules, 1998 ). Given the significant public investment in events like the Olympic Games, and rising questions about whether such events actually produce the touted benefits ( Maennig, 2007 ), scholars turned to event legacy. Event legacy focuses on long-term impacts from events ( Preuss, 2007 ). Specifically, Preuss defined legacy as “all planned and unplanned, positive and negative, tangible and intangible structures created for and by a sport event that remain longer than the event itself” (p. 211). Many potential types of legacies have been identified, including infrastructure, knowledge, policy, networks, sport, social capital, and environmental impacts ( Dickson, Benson, & Blackman, 2011 ; Preuss, 2015 ; Swart & Bob, 2012 ). Legacy assessments have been mixed; for example, Swart and Bob listed 33 positive and 39 negative legacies.

The International Olympic Committee included legacy in its charter in 2003, and since then potential host cities must detail a legacy plan in their bid documents ( Leopkey & Parent, 2012 ). Leopkey and Parent noted that while the first mention of legacy was found in the bid documents for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, the 2000s saw a significant increased focus on legacy effects among candidate cities. However, as Chalip and Heere (2013) suggest, host governments and event owners often use a narrative of legacy to legitimate significant public expenditures on sport events with little attention given to measurement and accountability. Indeed, basic questions arise about how and when one should assess whether a legacy has occurred. Further, many questions about who should be held accountable for legacy benefits remain unanswered. Most typically, public funds are spent before and during the event. Most committees formed to host events disband at their conclusion, and the stakeholders in the community responsible for making claims about the impacts and legacies of the events have often moved on to different roles by the time legacy is discussed and examined. As a consequence, legacy is often criticized as being mere rhetoric ( Tomlinson, 2014 ). In contrast, Chalip (2004) advocates for the use of an ex ante approach known as event leveraging, rather than the ex post approach that is legacy. Event leveraging focuses on strategic planning, views the event as the “seed capital,” and asks what a destination can do with an event to generate desired benefits ( O’Brien & Chalip, 2007 ). Chalip (2017 , p. 29) makes a good case that leveraging is of more use than legacy “because it focuses on strategic processes, rather than categories of outcome, and can thereby be applied across disparate contexts.”

Chalip’s (2004) original event leveraging model suggests that destination stakeholders can capitalize on the hosting of an event by strategically planning to capitalize immediate benefits from event visitors and trade, to entice visitor spending, lengthen visitor stays, and enhance business relationships. Further, destinations can use the opportunity to generate long-term benefits by utilizing the event-related media to showcase the destination and enhance its image. The leveraging framework includes identifying a leverageable resource, identifying the opportunities, creating strategic objectives from the opportunity, and developing means to achieve the objectives ( Chalip, 2004 ). Research on event leveraging has highlighted the need to consider culture, attitudes and beliefs, and systems and structures ( Chalip, Green, Taks, & Misener, 2017 ). Constraints and barriers to destinations leveraging events should also be considered; for example, host city contracts that involve commitments to global suppliers may prevent local businesses and tourism organizations from maximizing the value of the event to the local population ( Kelly, Fairley, & O’Brien, 2019 ).

Alternatively, an event portfolio approach, which is itself a leveraging strategy, changes the focus from singular events to a holistic and synergistic view of events at a destination ( Chalip, 2004 ; Getz, 2008 ; Ziakas, 2010 ). Specifically, event portfolios are based on “a series of interrelated events in terms of resources, theming, and markets which are strategically patterned on the basis of their operation and thematic readiness” ( Ziakas, 2014 , p. 329). The event portfolio facilitates the sharing of resources, collaborations, and cross-leveraging opportunities to achieve tourism outcomes ( Ziakas & Costa, 2011 ), while often considering the diversity of events, seasonality, and timing in selecting events ( Clark & Misener, 2015 ; Kelly & Fairley, 2018a ). The portfolio approach provides a balanced approach and opportunities for smaller events that may otherwise be overlooked ( Getz, 2008 ). Some destinations, however, may be dominated by one genre of event, such as sport events, as is the case of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Benefits from event portfolios are maximized only when strategic leveraging takes place ( Kelly & Fairley, 2018a ). The Sunshine Coast has one of the most recognized examples of this approach. As part of their strategic approach to leveraging their event portfolio, the Sunshine Coast has an established Events Board (with tourism, events, and government organizations represented) and an event strategy that outlines clear strategic goals. Guided by their event strategy, the Events Board provides advice to tourism and government organizations that direct funding for events. Additionally, long-term funding contracts and the provision of human resources to manage each transaction are used to establish long-term relationships between events and the destination.

Social Impacts and Social Legacies

Questions about legacies from sport mega-events generated a related line of research with a focus on social legacies. Chalip’s (2006) treatise on social leveraging and Misener and Mason’s (2006) work on building community networks and social capital were part of a “turning of the tide” from a focus on economic impact to more intangible outcomes from hosting events. The timing on this change of focus occurred when London had been awarded the 2012 Olympic Games and South Africa was getting ready to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and conversations were on legacy (for London 2012) and nation-building for South Africa. In the tourism journals, following the resident-impact line of inquiry, a body of knowledge about social impacts had emerged ( Fredline, 2005 ). For example, Gursoy and Kendall (2006) found that hosting mega-events, in this case the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, resulted in positive social outcomes such as increased pride, self-esteem, and community spirit. Enhanced pride and community spirit were again identified in South Korea’s hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup ( Kim, Gursoy, & Lee, 2006 ). Similarly, Ohmann, Jones and Wilkes (2006) found that Germany’s hosting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup instilled a sense of unity and national pride among its citizenry. Burgan and Mules (1992) had already invoked the concept of “psychic income” to describe this enhanced sense of pride, patriotism, and excitement, as expressed by residents of Brisbane in their hosting of the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Psychic income appeared to explain, at least during the event, why many of the negative impacts associated with hosting were forgotten as residents got caught up in the excitement and euphoria induced by the sporting competition. Similarly, as South Africa was getting ready for FIFA 2010, scholars reflected back on the 1995 Rugby World Cup and how President Nelson Mandela, as depicted in the movie Invictus , tried to establish a sense of collective spirit in the Rainbow Nation through rugby and advanced several treatises on nation-building through the hosting of such mega-events in the South African context (e.g., Labuschagne, 2008 ; Van Der Merwe, 2007 ). However, criticism associated with the 1995 Rugby World Cup pointed out that the collective spirit boost soon faded as the memory of winning the Cup diminished and the long history of challenges in that multiethnic nation was too complex to be solved by a sport event ( Van Der Merwe, 2007 ). Nonetheless, with the impetus shifting to a focus on legacy, in particular among politicians and event owners such as the IOC and FIFA, some scholars shifted their attention to the intangible outcomes of hosting under the umbrella term of “social impacts” or “social legacy” (e.g., Fredline, 2005 ; Minnaert, 2012 ; Prayag, Hosany, Nunkoo, & Alders, 2013 ; Schulenkorf, 2009 ).

This shift away from economic impacts, a focus often described as “disappointing” by residents (e.g., Kim, Gursoy, & Lee, 2006 ), pointed to needs for research to be sensitive to the more complex social and political micro-contexts of many hosting countries. Since the 1990s, sociologists, in particular, had been writing about the breakdown of community and social networks ( Putnam, 1995 ). There were also growing concerns about the increasing sociostructural divide and resulting increases in social inequality and the breakdown of social capital (e.g., Gould & Hijzen, 2016 ). Perhaps it is not surprising that governments started conceptualizing their mega-event hosting strategies in terms of building or rebuilding social cohesion. Waitt (2003) noted this with respect to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and Cornelissen, Bob, and Swart (2011) focused attention on South Africa’s nation-building goals in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As stated earlier, the idea of building social capital through sport and events had already been raised (e.g., Misener & Mason, 2006 ). Several empirical studies emerged, evaluating the degree to which event hosting was linked to psychic income as the immediate emotional response but also to longer-term outcomes such as social capital (e.g., Gibson et al., 2014 ), building national identity among peoples with different ethnic identities ( Heere et al., 2014 ), happiness ( Hallman, Breuer, & Kuhnreich, 2013 ), and national well-being ( Kavetsos & Szymanski, 2010 ). While the research showed that the psychological response associated with hosting (psychic income) was indeed present, the longer-term goals of building social unity were often not met (e.g., Gibson et al., 2014 ). The missing part of these initiatives appeared to stem from the relative lack of social leveraging that was associated with the pursuit of these longer-term goals ( Chalip, 2006 ).

So while research on the social benefits of event hosting has grown and moved into the realm of sport for development (e.g., Schulenkorf, Thomson, & Schlenker, 2011 ) or has been used to examine volunteer legacies (e.g., Downward & Ralston, 2006 ), critiques over hosting these sport mega-events have escalated, so much so that the pool of potential host cities has considerably declined ( Sidhant, 2020 ). Critique levied at these sport mega-events is nothing new; in the sociology of sport, such a skeptical posture has a long tradition (e.g., Whitson & McIntosh, 1993 ). However, in the work in sport tourism in the late 1990s, some of these concerns became more central to inquiry in the emerging area of study focused on how tourism was associated with hosting these events. Higham (1999) , in a commentary paper, used this tradition of critiquing these mega-events as a point of departure to suggest focusing on another avenue of study in sport tourism events, that of small-scale event tourism.

Small-Scale Sport Tourism Events

As we said, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as communities began to invest in sport as a tourism development strategy, many of the early studies on these small-scale events were focused on economics ( Daniels & Norman, 2003 ; Turco, 1998 ). The tourism-event funding model at local levels is often based on investing public monies (tourist taxes generated from commercial lodging) into tourist ventures (e.g., hosting small-scale sport events) that generate economic activity for the community (i.e., return on investment). It is common for these event organizers to track hotel room nights and expenditure data from local businesses to demonstrate that these public monies have been used effectively. However, when leveraging strategies use grants to entice event managers to adopt a strategy designed to generate tourism, it may result in “mission drift” by shifting the event managers’ attention from their core purpose of staging the event ( Kelly & Fairley, 2018b ). When the focus of event managers shifts to tourism, they spend less time on the staging of their own event, leading to a product of lesser quality.

At the level of small-scale events in those early days, sports commissions, convention and visitors bureaus, as well as parks and recreation departments were encouraged to host sport events that would attract visitor spending from outside the community while making use of existing facilities and leveraging existing sport events ( Daniels & Norman, 2003 ; Higham, 1999 ). In the United States, calls were made to recognize the tourism value of college sports ( Gibson, Willming, & Holdnak, 2003 ); in New Zealand, Super 12 rugby was positioned as a way of counteracting seasonality in tourism ( Higham & Hinch, 2002 ); and motor sports were used to diversify tourism on the Gold Coast in Australia (e.g., Fredline & Faulkner, 1998 ). While each of these initiatives focused upon economic impacts, they also measured social impacts, such as the effects of event hosting on local communities ( Fredline, 2005 ) and understanding how sport tourists might be encouraged to engage in non-sport-related activities while visiting a destination, known as flow-on tourism ( Gibson et al., 2003 ).

By about 2010, hosting small-scale sport events for many communities had become a major part of their tourism strategies. Indeed, Gibson, Kaplanidou, and Kang (2012) argued that, for communities with sport facilities and a sport-centric culture, small-scale event sport tourism was a form of sustainable tourism development. We also saw a shift at this time in how event sport tourism was being conceptualized. Contrary to the earlier focus on spectators, the growth in travel for participatory sport events was a noticeable development ( Kaplanidou & Gibson, 2010 ). As we noted earlier, this gave rise to a line of research on sport-event participation experiences (e.g., Lamont et al., 2012 ; Shipway & Jones, 2007 ). Another development occurred at the community level as more communities recognized the economic potential associated with hosting small-scale sport events, particularly those featuring youth sport.

In 2019, it is estimated that sport tourists spent US $45.1 billion, including expenditures by venues and event organizers ( Sports ETA, 2019 ). Also in 2019, Wintergreen Research, Inc. reported that youth sport travel spending alone was estimated at U.S.$15 billion per year. In the meantime, some communities had invested heavily in new facilities to host these sport events, using both public monies as well as commercial investment. This resulted in a proliferation of “mega-complexes,” where sports facilities are combined with hotels and other guest services that specifically target traveling youth sport families ( Drape, 2018 ). While the youth sport industry understands the economic significance of this form of small-scale sport tourism and the local sports commissions and other agencies involved in hosting recognize that tourism is economically beneficial to their communities (a fact that was made abundantly clear when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted these contests [ Drape & Chen, 2020 ]), there has been little interest from academics on examining the tourism associated with youth sport for these families ( Garst, Gagnon, & Stone, 2019 ; Mirehie, Gibson, Kang, & Bell, 2019 ; Scott & Turco, 2007 ). Taks, Chalip, Green, Kesenne, and Martyn (2009) examined the flow-on tourism behaviors that take place as a result of some of the bigger youth sport tournaments. Still, the majority of research on youth sport participation has largely omitted consideration of tourism impacts. Indeed, costs associated with mandated travel have increased the time, money, and resources needed to participate in youth sport, disproportionally affecting those who lack the finances to participate (e.g., Knight & Holt, 2013 ).

Despite some of the growing concerns over the “big money” in youth sport, we still suggest that small-scale sport events have more positive potential for both communities and participants. As Higham (1999) suggested over 20 years ago, such events can bypass many of the negatives associated with hosting sport mega-events. Not surprisingly, research on sport-event participation has grown in tandem with more communities finding benefits in hosting participatory sport events. However, as noted, when considering active sport tourism, the focus on participation has come with reduced focus on understanding the touristic nature of small-scale sport events (e.g., Raggiotto & Scarpi, 2020 ). Further, returning to our earlier discussion on leveraging, Kennelly (2017) finds few event organizers understand how to effectively leverage their events to maximize both tourism benefits and participation experience. Much remains for future inquiry into this dynamic.

Our narrative shows that, over 20 years after study on the topic began, there is a body of theoretically informed work on various aspects of sport tourism, some of which has been accomplished in partnership with relevant agencies. However, the biggest debate today appears to be over the continued relevance of sport tourism in Western academic communities, particularly in light of the ascendance of event management in relation to both tourism management and sport management. Where is the focus on tourism in much of the contemporary research on events in general, and sport events in particular? We even have diverging opinions on this ourselves. It may be that our assessments stem from our different geographical contexts. While Australia is a more strategic leader in cohesive planning of sport events and event tourism, in the United States the importance of tourism in events varies widely depending on whom you are talking to, and event management and planning is largely dispersed among small independent agencies. In Australia, tourism and events often sit together within one organization; for example, Tourism and Events Queensland is a state statutory body in charge of events and tourism in Queensland.

One notable development since the mid- to late 1990s, when we saw the first coalescence around sport tourism, has been the rising prominence of events, both as an industry sector and an academic area of study. As a field, events and event management is claimed by hospitality, tourism, sport management, recreation, and event management in and of itself. The discipline housing degree programs or the events sector you work in will shape how you view tourism’s role in events. Not surprisingly, tourism academics tend to think of events as “just tourism.” Often they cannot understand why, over the past 10 years in university settings, students have been gravitating to event management degrees in such numbers that concerns have grown over the decrease in student enrollment in tourism programs. In fact, many of these event management students have no interest in tourism, as they do not see it as relevant to their future jobs as event planners.

In sport management degree programs, where there has been an appreciation of sport tourism for over 20 years, we have also seen a move away from the tourism aspects of sport events. Thus, while sport event management has grown in emphasis, both as an academic degree component and an area of research, we risk losing tourism, and by extension sport tourism, as an area of academic focus in parts of the world that were first associated with this area of study. A significant exception is continued growing interest in sport tourism from governments and scholars in the East, most notably in Asia. However, while it is encouraging to see scholars from a broader range of countries focusing on sport tourism, some of the earlier critiques about overly descriptive and atheoretical work remain. We hope, as was the case with our work in the late 1990s, that this turn of interest will fuel a new phase of research. There is promise for new ideas and approaches that can push the boundaries of our understanding about sport tourism in these countries, rather than emulating studies published in Western contexts over the past 20 years. Of course, we hope that this emergent stimulus of interest will be helpful in reframing and bringing culture-specific considerations more forward on the research agenda.

Another resilient area of debate surrounds the notion of leveraging, and the extent to which both academics and practitioners understand what it entails. As Kennelly (2017) found in her study of participatory events in the United Kingdom, few event organizers understood the need to leverage their events. This mirrors Chalip and Leyns’s (2002) conclusion almost 20 years ago in their studies about leveraging sport events on the Gold Coast in Australia. As journal reviewers and editors, we know that it is not uncommon to see manuscripts that claim to have a focus on leveraging, but in reality the focus remains on questions of impact rather than on how event-related actors devise and implement strategies to leverage outcomes from an event.

A new twist in discussions of sport mega-events that lead us to the legacy and leveraging debate is concern over the costs and resources devoted to hosting these events. In particular, there is growing concern that countries from the developing world are bidding for and hosting large-scale events; some observers suggest that it is irresponsible to burden such countries (or any country) with unnecessary debts given unrealistic expectations of benefits ( Dowse & Fletcher, 2018 ). Indeed, these bids are often motivated by unproven claims about economic benefits ( Whitson & Horne, 2006 ), with limited mention that the major beneficiaries of such events are most typically the elites, while everyday taxpayers are left with sometimes considerable burdens (e.g., Tomlinson, 2014 ).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on sport, tourism, and sport tourism. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have been postponed, and many other international and domestic sport events have been postponed or canceled. Just how sport tourism will recover remains unknown. Some professional sports have received special dispensation from governments to continue play despite state and national restrictions on social distancing and travel. For example, the National Rugby League and the Australian Football League have resumed playing in Australia, with some teams being forced to relocate to another state in order to continue playing, and strict protocols around social contact with others. Likewise, in the United States, the National Basketball Association has created a “bubble” at the ESPN Disney Wide World of Sports to finish a season that was interrupted by the sudden stay-at-home orders in spring 2020.

In tourism, the economic fallout from the pandemic has been particularly acute, as many countries have created tourism-centric economies since the previous global disruptions on tourism flows in the early to mid-2000s. Since 2014, international tourism had resumed exponential growth each year and in some parts of the world had reached a crisis point of too many visitors, a condition referred to as “overtourism” ( Weber, 2017 ). The almost complete shutdown of international tourism in April and May 2020 showed residents of these tourism-receiving communities what local life is like without hordes of visitors ( Haywood, 2020 ). Some have suggested that tourism in these communities could be reenvisioned ( Haywood, 2020 ), although the economic realities of having little to no tourism have also become apparent. Will the economic imperatives win out?

Similar discussions have been occurring in the youth sport world, led by the Aspen Institute’s (2015) Project Play ( Farrey, 2020 ). Without organized sport, physical activity during the early days of the pandemic-related lockdowns increased in outdoor venues such as parks and empty streets, and people of all ages rediscovered cycling and walking ( Ding, del Pozo Cruz, & Green, 2020 ; Venter, Barton, Gundersen, Figari, & Nowell, 2020 ). The number of youth in organized sport has been declining over the past decade (e.g., Aspen Institute, 2015 ); will the pandemic exacerbate this downward trend? Many U.S. youth sport tournaments were held despite public health concerns ( Allentuck, 2020 ).

In bringing this chapter to a close, it is time to think about the future of inquiry of sport tourism by reflecting on our dual critiques of early work in sport tourism for being too focused on economics and for being too often atheoretical. First, we should make clear that we still believe there is a role for economic-focused work. In the post-COVID-19 era, using a cost-benefit analysis to examine the economic returns from sport tourism initiatives for communities will be imperative ( Mules & Dwyer, 2005 ). For associated industries and communities, accurate estimates of economic impact will be needed to guide policy and engender support from government and residents alike. However, one lesson from research on sport events over the past 20 years is that economic benefit cannot be assumed. This is most particularly the case for the larger events involving major infrastructure development and the multilevel disruption of life for host communities.

As our discussion in this chapter has shown, there has been a two-pronged approach, centered on legacy and leveraging, to event-related research. While our knowledge had advanced in these two areas, Chalip and Fairley (2019) argued in the introduction to their special issue of the Journal of Sport & Tourism that there is still a need for a strategic approach to leveraging. Understanding the principles of leveraging and building partnerships remains limited as event organizers are understandably preoccupied with planning and executing the event itself. Thus, going forward, we suggest that there is still much work to be done in untangling the principles of leveraging and how best to apply them in sport tourism and event management. If we are to continue to stage sport mega-events in the face of increased opposition from potential host cities, a shift from legacy to leveraging is warranted. Citizens deserve accountability and return on investment from their backing of these events. The need to revisit the ethics of hosting is in line with the growing call for attention to sustainability in sport and tourism generally, and in event hosting in particular.

This returns us to a discussion about the size and scale of events for communities. Proponents of small-scale events have demonstrated that while they are not perfect, their strategic use offers the prospect of a balanced event portfolio ( Ziakas, 2014 ), whereby communities can host events that complement their image as a destination ( Chalip & Leyns, 2002 ) and use existing facilities and infrastructure ( Gibson et al., 2012 ). Such strategies may offer the best way forward for many communities.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the first events communities returned to were for youth. Because of this, the larger events industry has come to recognize that the pandemic has opened the door to the need to think differently about events and how they might be staged. For example, eSports, one of the new genres in the sport industry before the pandemic, held in-person competitions with live audiences. During the pandemic, the integration of new technologies into people’s lives during spring/summer 2020 has raised questions about the changing expectations of hosting and attending events. For example, does the next eSports event need to be held in person at a convention center, or can it be held virtually?

On another technology-driven front, the integration of AI generally in tourism has gathered speed during the pandemic. While we are not suggesting that in-person participation in sports (for spectators and athletes) or traveling will disappear, accepted ways of doing things changed drastically in January 2020. As in the work of Project Play ( Farrey, 2020 ) and in youth sport after COVID-19, the wider tourism and events industries have also been reenvisioning the future (e.g., UN World Tourism Organization, 2020 ).

While we do not envision that people will stop traveling, attending sport events, and participating in sport tourism in person, we have seen glimpses of new ways of participation, such as virtual marathons. However, we have also seen more people cycling and (re)discovering participating in physical activities outside ( Venter et al., 2020 ). To what extent will this continue and reshape the sport tourism opportunities that are offered? Over the past few years, the IOC has sanctioned the inclusion of skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing in the Olympic Games as a way of reaching the younger generations, some of whom have turned away from traditional (Olympic) sports ( Farrey, 2020 ). At the recreational level, the growing popularity of ultramarathons, adventure racing, and mud runs and the rise in interest in cycling and running may continue to reshape sport tourism offerings as more people seek to compete and socialize with other participants in greater numbers. It is possible that as some of those individuals who became engaged in physical activity during the pandemic enter higher levels of commitment, they may be encouraged to seek participation in sport tourism opportunities (e.g., Buning & Gibson, 2015 ; Getz & McConnell, 2011 ).

We think there has definitely been some progress in the theoretical development of work in sport tourism, both deductively and inductively. Here, new theoretical suppositions have been proposed, such as the event travel career ( Getz, 2008 ), and there has been some refinement advanced through grounded theory applications, such as the active sport event travel career ( Buning & Gibson, 2015 ). Further, we have seen promising refined approaches to leveraging in small-scale sport settings ( Kelly & Fairley, 2018b ; Kelly et al., 2019 ) and explorations of the multidimensional nature of nostalgia ( Cho et al., 2014 ) in sport tourism. However, as Chalip and Fairley (2019 , p. 157) note about the tendency for a focus on sport events beginning to dominate the sport tourism knowledge base, “Although we have learned a great deal in recent years about ways to enhance the policy utility of sport events, the field remains undertheorized and overly general.” We concur, but we also revert to an essential question we raised earlier: Will research on sport events continue to subsume sport tourism, or will sport event researchers rediscover the integral role that tourism plays in these events, both on the demand and supply sides of event experiences?

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Sport Tourism: An Analysis of Possible Developmental Factors in Sport and Recreation Centers

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• Georgia Yfantidou 4 ,
• Charalampos Spiliakos 3 ,
• Ourania Vrondou 3 ,
• Dimitris Gargalianos 4 ,
• Antonia Kalafatzi 5 &
• Eleni Mami 6  

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The development of sport tourism is determined by several factors. Various models’ and factors’ typologies have been identified in the literature. The aims of the present study were (a) the identification and classification of factors affecting the development of sport tourism, (b) the investigation of the level to which these factors are met by a sport and recreation center, and (c) the comparison of opinions of the users of the center regarding these factors. The methodology of the structured questionnaire was adopted. The results revealed that (a) the most important factors are the changing rooms/bathrooms/resting rooms, the security, the healthcare and the injuries’ rehabilitation, and the accommodation facilities (camp—rooms) and the less important factors were the proximity to a port and marinas, as well as the access through the railway network, (b) these factors were met by the sport and recreation center under study in a very high either adequate level, and (c) there were significant differences in the opinions of the users of the center.

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Department of Sports Organization and Management, University of Peloponnese, Sparti, Greece

Charalampos Spiliakos & Ourania Vrondou

Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece

Georgia Yfantidou & Dimitris Gargalianos

Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK

Antonia Kalafatzi

Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

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Yfantidou, G., Spiliakos, C., Vrondou, O., Gargalianos, D., Kalafatzi, A., Mami, E. (2021). Sport Tourism: An Analysis of Possible Developmental Factors in Sport and Recreation Centers. In: Katsoni, V., van Zyl, C. (eds) Culture and Tourism in a Smart, Globalized, and Sustainable World. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72469-6_1

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Patrycja Żegleń

The paper presents the issue of sports activity development in the context of the European City of Sports project in selected Slovakian cities: Košice, Banská Bystrica and Nitra. It is an analytical overview aiming at the development of these cities for tourism through the organisation of international sporting events. Using several methods, especially comparison, the authors analyse certain activities and other sports-related issues. The events and activities not only contributed to the development of sport but also supported tourism in the region. A review of the literature on the subject demonstrates the importance and basic assumptions of the European City of Sports as a popular project. The comparative analysis has enabled the authors to present its results in each of the three Slovakian cities.

Arefeh Jamshidi

International Journal of Tourism Research

Daryl Adair

Cristina Jönsson

The timing of hosting sport tourism events during tourism high season can socially impact the quality of life of the residents living within the host community. Therefore, in order to successfully assess the impact of these types of events on the social well-being of residents, the perceptions of those who reside in close proximity to the event should be taken into consideration. Social impact assessments of sport tourism events, though seemingly important, are often avoided by scholars who give precedence to the perceived economic benefits of hosting a tourism sporting event. Avoidance in measuring the social impact stems from the limited credibility that this type of assessment is believed to have, as the perceptions of residents can change over time. Regardless of this, the manner in which local residents view a particular event is critical to its long-term success. From a social sciences perspective, this paper examines the impacts of hosting a sport event in tourism high season...

RICHARD JUMA

Sports tourism is viewed as an ideal tool for supporting the livelihood of the host communities in developing countries. As an alternative way of involving the host community in tourism activities, sports tourism aims to enable the hosts to earn income from tourism. Sports tourism events have been hosted in the country for decades but still facing challenges that has hauled its growth process. This article will shade light on the challenges and opportunities of hosting sports tourism in Nairobi as a way of enhancing sustainable tourism development. A cross-sectional research design is used in the study, 404 respondents form the sample size of the study. Questionnaires and interviews are used to collect data from informants in three stadia that frequently host sports tourism events. Descriptive, thematic analysis and inferential statistics are used for data analysis. Findings indicate that major challenges facing the hosting of sports tourism event are; poor planning, policy issue...

Zygmunt KRUCZEK

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal

Sarah Mittal

ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper is to present a moderated model of sport tourism as an economic development generator from a destination marketing perspective. The model takes into account the differing roles of sport tourism segments on the relationship between motivators of sport tourism and destinations outcomes. Design/methodology/approach ‐ This conceptual paper presents a framework for explaining the differential impact of factors that influence sport tourism based on the tourist segment attracted to the destination. Findings ‐ The proposed model, supported by extant literature, presents sport tourist types as moderating a variety of influencing factors that determine sport tourists' interest in visiting a destination and the resulting economic impact on a destination. Practical implications ‐ Practical implications are discussed for managing and marketing destination-specific factors to appeal to different segments of the sport tourism market in order to maximize the economic impact of sport tourism. Originality/value ‐ This conceptual model provides a contribution to tourism researchers by providing a comprehensive view of the complex nature of the factors that influence destination choice for different types of sports tourists and the possible economic outcomes that can result.

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The Perceived Impacts of Sport Tourism: An Urban Host Community Perspective

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Sport tourism is one of the fastest growing market segments in the tourism industry and is receiving increased attention for its social, environmental, and economic impacts upon destinations. Prior research in tourism impacts has tended to focus exclusively on tourism as a whole and does not differentiate among the different types of tourism that may be present in a destination. The purpose of this study was to examine how residents of Indianapolis, Indiana perceived the impacts sport tourism has upon their city. A total of 347 surveys were returned in a mailed questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four factor structure of social benefits, environmental benefits, economic benefits, and general negative impacts. Social and economic benefits were strong predictors for support for further sport tourism development revealing a strong identification with the advantages of sport tourism in their city such as an increased cultural identity and social interaction opportunities.

* Ross is with the Dept. of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405. Hritz is with the Dept. of Health and Applied Human Sciences, University of North Carolina – Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403.

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Sport Tourism: Interrelationships, Impacts and Issues (Aspects of Tourism, 14) Paperback – July 26, 2004

Purchase options and add-ons.

This book examines the economic, social and environmental impacts and issues associated with the development of sport tourism globally, including the lack of research and coordination between industry and government. The book suggests the need for a more balanced analysis of the impacts and issues associated with future sport tourism development.

• Part of series Aspects of Tourism
• Print length 312 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Channel View Publications
• Publication date July 26, 2004
• Dimensions 5.85 x 0.67 x 8.27 inches
• ISBN-10 1873150652
• ISBN-13 978-1873150658
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the author.

Dr Ritchie is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Tourism at the University of Queensland, Australia. His research interests have focused on city and capital tourism, visitor behaviour and tourism marketing. He has also published extensively in the area of tourism crisis and disaster planning, management and recovery, in journals such as Tourism Management, the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing and Current Issues in Tourism. He is also co-editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management and on the editorial board of four tourism journals including Tourism Recreation Research.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Sport tourism, interrelationships, impacts and issues, multilingual matters.

Sport Tourism: An Introduction and Overview

BRENT W. RITCHIE AND DARYL ADAIR

Introduction

The concept of sport-related tourism has become more prominent in the last few years as both an academic field of study and an increasingly popular tourism product (Gibson, 1998). This Chapter 1provides an introduction to the concept and practice of sport tourism. It also provides an overview of how the book explores the interrelationships, impacts and issues associated with sport tourism. However, in terms of the development of the field of sport tourism, readers are directed to the extensive analysis provided by Hinch and Higham (2003). In the present study, Chapter 1 begins by defining key terms such as sport, tourism and sport tourism before outlining various types of sport tourism that comprise a basis for various chapters within this book. The chapter notes the growing academic and industry interest in the field of sport tourism. It concludes by highlighting the main themes from specific chapters of the book and explains how readers might best use the book. To begin with, we outline a brief history of sport tourism, illustrating that the interrelationship between sport and tourism is not a new phenomenon.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this chapter readers should:

(1) Understand the increase in sport tourism and the growing attention of industry, government and research in this field.

(2) Be able to define and understand the concepts of sport, tourism and sport tourism.

(3) Be able to highlight the major segments of sport tourism including active, event and nostalgia sport tourism, as well as the capacity to provide specific examples of each.

(4) Understand how interdisciplinary research can advance the understanding of sport tourism as an academic sub-discipline and an industry sector.

Current Interest in Sport Tourism

Researchers have recognised that people have been travelling to participate or watch sport for centuries (see Delpy, 1998; Gibson, 1998). Today sport and tourism are among the 'developed' world's most sought after leisure experiences. Just as significantly, these popular social practices have also become very important economic activities. Recent research has indicated that the contribution sport makes to the gross domestic product (GDP) of industrialised nations is between 1–2%, while the contribution of tourism is between 4–6% (WTO, 2001). Research conducted on sport tourism has been undertaken at international and national levels by researchers, government and non-governmental organisations, thus illustrating the growing importance and recognition of sport tourism as an industry sector.

At the international level the World Tourism Organization (WTO, 2001) concluded that German tourists accounted for 32,000,000 sport-orientated trips a year, or 55% of all outbound travel, while 52% (7,000,000) of all trips made by Dutch tourists included a sport component. French tourists were less motivated by sport holidays, although 23% or 3.5,000,000 trips still included a sport component. Across the English Channel, the British Tourist Board and the English Tourism Council (formerly the English Tourism Board) claim that as many as 20% of tourist trips are directly related to sports participation, while 50% of holidays contain some form of incidental sports participation (DISR, 2000). However, this development is not simply a European trend. Research conducted in Canada during 1998 demonstrated that 37.3% of the 73,7000,000 domestic recreational journeys were undertaken for attendance at a sports event. In 1996 a Canadian Sports Tourism Initiative programme was developed to increase the tourism potential of sports events in Canada (Canada Tourism, 2000). Similarly, in South Africa, 4% of the domestic tourism market comprises sport tourism, and the potential to develop the international sport tourism market can be best seen by the recent inauguration of South Africa Sports Tourism (SAST). This is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Ministry of Sport and Recreation in South Africa. In Australia, the Bureau of Tourism Research (2000) has shown that a total of 12,900,000 domestic trips were undertaken by residents to either participate in, watch, or organise a sporting event in Australia during 1999. However, they note that only 3,5000,000 trips were overnight trips compared with 9,400,000 day trips, this illustrating that some tourism benefits from sport are not commercially maximised, with many visitors not staying overnight in hotel accommodation or visiting additional tourist attractions before or after a sporting event.

It is no surprise that sport and tourism have both received interest from academics and industry practitioners over recent decades. Curiously, though, the links and relationships between sport and tourism have largely been overlooked by scholars. Indeed, the genre of 'sport tourism' (of sport generating tourism activity or tourism generating sporting activity) is a recent research development. Despite growing interest there is still the need for a better understanding of the nature, impacts and management issues concerning the different segments of sport tourism.

The Nature of Sport Tourism

Sport definitions

Even among 'experts' there is considerable controversy over efforts to define sport. Some critics insist that an all-embracing definition is impossible because sport is a socially constructed activity that has varied across historical eras, societies and cultures. Others hold that sport has specific and timeless characteristics, such as being goal-oriented, competitive and a forum for the creation of winners and losers (Goodman, 1976; Paddick, 1975; Rader 1979). The term 'sport' has been applied to numerous and different types of activities, but this eclecticism has been a sore point for some. Critics of bullfighting, for instance, contend that it is not a sport; among their arguments is the point that the bull is deliberately weakened for the spectacle, so it is not a 'sporting contest' at all (Marvin, 1986). Moreover, while some historians are comfortable with the term sport for gladiator fights in ancient Rome, others emphasise the inherent inequality between those contestants and the absence of consent to rules (Plass, 1995). On this score sport, like beauty, seems culturally relative and conceptually elusive.

Yet there is some common ground about the notion of sport among 'western' scholars. Jay Coakley's definition is a typical example of the attempt to classify sport. He cites four major factors:

Physical conditions

• Use of physical prowess, physical skill or physical exertion.

Complex physical skills

• Coordination, balance, quickness, or accuracy; speed, strength and endurance.

• Excludes non-physical activities such as chess and cards.

• Includes human use of equipment and machines, i.e. motor car racing.

Institutionalised and competitive

• Rules are standardised.

• Rule enforcement is overseen by official regulatory agencies.

• Organisation and technical aspects of the activity are important.

• Learning of playing skills becomes formalised.

Individual participation is motivated by a combination of intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors

• Intrinsic rewards through involvement (dynamics of the activity – play, fun, etc.)

• Extrinsic rewards through (salary, prize money, medals, fame).

• If the orientation tips toward intrinsic, the activity is more play like,

• If the orientation tips toward extrinsic the activity is more game like.

Coakley also provides a fairly typical working definition of organised sport: 'Sport is an institutionalised competitive activity that involves vigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex skills by individuals whose participation is motivated by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors' (Coakley, 2001: 8).

Historian Alan Guttmann, seeking to acknowledge the changing nature of sport, has attempted to pinpoint characteristics of modern, as compared with pre-modern, sporting activities (Guttmann, 1974). He identifies these seven features that, in his view, are necessary preconditions for a sport to be accepted as part of modern societies:

(1) Secularism (absence of the religious element from sport; i.e. not competing to 'please the Gods').

(2) Equality (participation open to all, with competitors facing the same set of competitive conditions).

(3) Specialisation (attuning athletic skills to specific positions and roles).

(4) Rationalisation (sports governed by specific rules, playing conditions, types of equipment, etc.).

(5) Bureaucratisation (sports competitions regulated by organisations, which contain hierarchies of power and responsibility).

(6) Quantification (predilection for precise measurement of athletic performance).

(7) Records (provide archive of performance achievements of athletes over time, under certain conditions, etc.).

Notwithstanding these definitions, it needs to be pointed that sporting activities may be either formal or recreational. The key, it is argued, is that there should be at least three persons (two taking part and a third to act as referee or judge), and they must be engaged in competition to establish a winner (Coakley, 2001). Over and above that, modern sport is generally considered to be highly organised and structured, with contests taking place at common times and places, and records kept of performances. This view may, however, be unnecessarily rigid – particularly in terms of recreational sporting activities. Two people can play a game of tennis informally without the need for an umpire, and can easily keep score. Moreover, golf can be played by counting strokes or, it seems, without counting at all. Purists may contend that such practices deviate and distort the 'true' meaning of sport. But it defies common sense for an observer to conclude that the aforementioned activities, though ad hoc and semiserious, are not a form of sport. They are, arguably, sport-as-play, whereas tightly structured and goal-oriented tennis matches and golf tournaments are sport-as-competition (Gruneau, 1980). In terms of sport tourism, sport-as-play is normally associated with active tourist behaviour (taking part in sport), while sport-as-competition is usually associated with passive tourist behaviour (witnessing sport) – though in the latter case sports tourists can also be competitors, such as with young tennis players following the satellite circuit in Europe, playing to win but sight-seeing between matches. We might conclude, therefore, that both sport-as-competition and sport-as-play are legitimate ways of conceptualising the physical activities we take for granted as 'sport'. Crone, none the less, reminds us that there are key aspects to competitive sport that mark it as different to playful sporting activity:

(1) the degree of emphasis on winning;

(2) the degree of emphasis on extrinsic rewards (e.g. money, power, and prestige);

(3) the amount of bureaucratization (Crone 1999).

Sport has, of course, long been part of the educational curriculum, though now associated more than ever with the health and life sciences. More noticeable, of course, is how elite-level sport has been influenced by commercialisation and professionalism – so much so that the amateur ideals once taught in school sports appear somewhat irrelevant. Sport is consumed widely – by patrons at stadia, viewers in front of television, listeners within earshot of radio, readers of newspapers and magazines. It is also, now more than ever, a tourism product – as this book goes on to attest.

Tourism Definitions

The growth of tourism has been fuelled by general improvements in leisure time combined by increased discretionary income for many people. This has helped to fuel a desire to escape from work routine and engage in holidays, whether domestically or internationally. Definitions of tourism vary with respect to whether the term is applied from a supply side (industry) perspective or a demand side (consumer) perspective. As Smith (1988: 181) has noted, 'there are many different legitimate definitions of tourism that serve many different, legitimate needs'. Moreover, many of the tourism definitions vary due to organisations or individuals trying to define their own motives for tourism activities and opportunities. However, there is common ground covered by many of the definitions.

An early definition of tourism stated that a minimum of a 24-hour stay at a site was required for an individual to be considered a 'tourist'. However, this has been modified to an overnight stay which, according to Weaver and Oppermann (2000: 28) 'is a significant improvement over the former criterion of a 24-hour stay, which proved to be both arbitrary and extremely difficult to apply'. If a person's trip does not incorporate at least one overnight stay, then the term excursionist is usually applied (Weaver & Oppermann, 2000). This definition can be applied to both international and domestic travellers. For example, international stayovers (or tourists) are those who stay in a destination outside their usual country of residence for at least one night, while international excursionists (or same-day visitors) are those who stay in an international location without residing overnight. Furthermore, a domestic stayover (or tourist) is someone who stays overnight in a destination that is within their own country of residence but outside of their usual home environment (usually specified by a distance of some kind). Domestic excursionists (or same day visitors) undertake a similar trip but do not stay overnight.

Smith (1988) believes that it is difficult to determine the precise magnitude of the tourism industry due to an absence of an accepted operational definition of tourism. Nevertheless, the tourism industry has been defined in principle as a sector that 'encompasses all activities which supply, directly or indirectly, goods and services purchased by tourists' (Hollander et al., 1982: 2). Hall (1995: 9) believes that three factors tend to emerge when examining various definitions about the tourism industry:

• the tourism industry is regarded as essentially a service industry;

• the inclusion of business, pleasure, and leisure activities emphasises 'the nature of the goods a traveller requires to make the trip more successful, easier, or enjoyable' (Smith 1988: 183); and,

• the notion of a 'home environment', refers to the arbitrary delineation of a distance threshold or period of overnight stay.

However, McIntosh et al. (1995: 10) take a more systems based approach when defining tourism as 'the sum of phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments, and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors'. This definition includes the potential impacts that tourists may have upon the host community, which until recently was a neglected component of the definition process.

The above discussion illustrates that there are many different components to defining tourism, which range from tourists themselves, the tourism industry and even the host community or destination. A number of authors therefore view tourism as an integrated system of components (Gunn, 1988; Leiper, 1989; Mathieson & Wall, 1982; Mill & Morrison, 1985; Murphy, 1985; Pearce, 1989) that generally contain a number of interrelated factors:

• a demand side consisting of the tourist market and their characteristics (motives, perceptions, socio-demographics);

• a supply side consisting of the tourism industry (transport, attractions, services, information) which combine to form a tourist destination area;

• a tourism impact side whereby the consequences of tourism can have either direct or indirect positive and negative impacts upon a destination area and tourists themselves;

• an origin-destination approach that illustrates the interdependence of generating and receiving destinations and transit destinations (on route) and their demand, supply and impacts.

According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO, 1999) tourism is predicted to increase with future tourist arrivals growing to 1.6 billion by the year 2020 at an average growth rate of 4.3%. Despite the effect of external variables, such as the Asian Economic Crisis in the late 1990s and the 11 September incident in 2001, tourism growth appears to be assured. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC, 2001) tourism currently generates 6% of global gross national product (GNP) and employs 1 in 15 workers worldwide. It is predicted that by 2011 it will directly and indirectly support one in 11.2 workers and contribute 9% of gross national product worldwide (WTTC, 2001).

Sport tourism definitions and segments

Alongside the rising academic attention devoted toward sport and tourism has appeared a growing interest in the interrelationships between two of the most conspicuous aspects of sport-related tourist activity. Sport tourism includes travel to participate in a passive (e.g. sports events and sports museums) sport holiday or and active sport holiday (e.g. scuba diving, cycling, golf), and it may involve instances where either sport or tourism are the dominant activity or reason for travel. Standevan and De Knop (1999: 12) therefore define sport tourism as 'all forms of active and passive involvement in sporting activity, participated in casually or in an organised way for non-commercial or business/commercial reasons that necessitate travel away from home and work locality'.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Channel View Publications (July 26, 2004)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1873150652
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1873150658
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.02 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.85 x 0.67 x 8.27 inches
• #11,010 in Hospitality, Travel & Tourism (Books)

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Ice hockey has been making an impact in South Florida even before the Florida Panthers recent run at the Stanley Cup.

The executive director for the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, George Linley, said the growth of ice hockey in the county over the last decade has been tremendous.

"Going back to 2019, we had one youth amateur hockey tournament at Palm Beach Skate Zone and Palm Beach Ice Works," Linley said. "In 2024, by the end of the fiscal year, we will host 13 ice hockey events."

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Linley is excited to see the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

But he adds, hockey was already the number one growing sport in the county.

"What we've seen with the sport of ice hockey has been youth hockey," Linley said. "But amateur hockey has been phenomenal, and it is the number one growing sport right now in our county."

Palm Beach County has three rinks and all together they provide six sheets of ice which allows for larger and more tournaments to come to the area.

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Online Travel Companies See Surge in Sports Tourism in India – India Report

Bulbul Dhawan , Skift

June 3rd, 2024 at 11:00 PM EDT

Indian travelers are combining their love for sports with increased spending power to experience major sporting events live. To better understand the trend in sports tourism, Skift reached out to online travel companies - here's what they're seeing.

Bulbul Dhawan

The Skift India Newsletter is your go-to platform for all news related to travel, tourism, airlines, and hospitality in India.

Sports tourism is on a rise in India, with the country’s sports tourism market expected to be valued at nearly $53 billion in 2033, according to a report released by market research firm Future Market Insights last year. The firm expects the industry to grow at an annual rate of 17.1% from its valuation of $11 billion in 2023. 

Major sporting events, including the cricket T20 World Cup series, Wimbledon, and the 2024 Olympics are coming soon. These tournaments are popular among sport enthusiasts in India, and as the spending power of Indian travelers is increasing , there seems to be an increased interest in seeing them live.

Skift reached out to online travel companies to understand the trends that they are seeing:

Rajeev Kale – President and Country Head, Holidays, MICE, Visa at Thomas Cook (India) Limited: “Our consumer data trends for 2024 highlight a 40% surge in demand for big-ticket global sporting events. Topping the list is the cricket World Cup series, Wimbledon, the Olympics, and F1. We have received about 200 queries including confirmed group bookings for the anticipated India-Pakistan cricket match in New York.”

Kale said that these events play a key role in influencing travel decisions, with 23% of consumers taking them into account while choosing destinations. 

“What is truly encouraging is that Indians are clearly displaying a spend appetite for such sporting extravaganzas.”

Daniel D’Souza – President and Country Head at Holidays, SOTC Travel: Sports tourism is becoming a major driver for the Indian market, said D’Souza. “The demand is increasing by 20-35%. Live attendance is an exciting and desirable experience for Indian travelers, evident by their dominance in overseas ticket purchases for major sporting events such as cricket, Wimbledon and Australian Open in lawn tennis, and football.” 

D’Souza added that sports tourism used to be a niche market in India previously, but is now attracting a wider audience, including high net worth individuals and ultra high net worth individuals, families, and young Indians across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.

Santosh Kumar – Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com: “Indian sports fans are traveling the world to watch their favorite sporting events. According to our travel trends for 2024, 73% of Indian travelers are planning to travel internationally for sporting events this year. We are seeing this passion translating into real action with our accommodation search data revealing a rise in searches for host destinations.”

Kumar shared that London, Paris, and New York are among the top 10 most searched destinations by Indians – corresponding with events like Wimbledon Championships, Paris 2024 Olympics, and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup respectively. 

TBO Tek Reports 35% Increase in Net Profit

Travel distribution platform TBO Tek has announced its financial results for the fiscal 2024. It reported a 35% increase in its net profit as well as a 31% growth in its revenue. 

TBO Tek co-founder Gaurav Bhatnagar said, “In the coming year, we will continue to invest in global market development, supply strengthening, and platform innovation. We will be looking for strategic inorganic opportunities as well.”

TBO Tek has recently launched its IPO following which it recorded a strong debut on the Indian stock exchanges . The company is planning to use its IPO funds for strategic acquisitions and investments, Bhatnagar told Skift in an interview .

Radisson Signs its First Hotel in Bihar 

Radisson Hotel Group has signed its first hotel in the Indian state of Bihar. The 120-key Radisson Hotel Patna is expected to open in 2026. 

“We are excited to achieve another milestone in our journey of expanding our presence in Tier 2 and Tier 3 regions of the country,” said Radisson’s South Asia area senior vice president Nikhil Sharma. 

The company has been strategically focusing on Tier 1 as well as smaller markets in India for its growth across brands. It recently debuted its luxury lifestyle brand, Radisson Collection, in India . 

In an interview with Skift, Radisson executive vice president Elie Younes said, “India has seen significant economic growth over the past few decades, leading to an increase in disposable income and a growing appetite for luxury lifestyle experiences. We recognize the immense potential of this flourishing market.”

Royal Orchid Hotels’ Total Income Increases by 12%

Royal Orchid Hotels has announced that its total income in the fiscal 2024 increased by 12% as compared to fiscal 2023. Its profit after tax has seen a marginal increase of 3%. 

However, the company is gearing up for the next financial year, said chairman and managing director Chander K Baljee. “We are implementing key drivers for growth to demonstrate our vision for the future of Indian hospitality – by redefining brands, strengthening our management team, and bringing in new technologies and processes. Financial year 2025 is poised to be a  transformative year, setting the company up for the future,” he said. 

The company is planning to add 30-35 new properties with about 2,000 rooms in fiscal 2025 as part of its expansion plans across India.

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Kentucky tourism continues record-setting pace in 2023 with nearly $14 billion in economic impact

FILE - Tourists stand in the rotunda area of Mammoth Cave in Mammoth Cave National Park, Ky., on Aug. 3, 2011. Kentucky’s tourism industry stayed on its record-setting pace in 2023, generating an economic impact approaching $14 billion while sustaining nearly 100,000 jobs, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke, File)

FILE - In this March 23, 2015 file photo, a 120-foot-tall replica bat fronts the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky’s tourism industry stayed on its record-setting pace in 2023, generating an economic impact approaching $14 billion while sustaining nearly 100,000 jobs, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s tourism industry stayed on its record-setting pace in 2023, generating an economic impact approaching $14 billion while sustaining nearly 100,000 jobs, Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday.

Travelers visiting the Bluegrass State last year spent $9.7 billion as tourism continued its post-pandemic momentum as a key contributor to Kentucky’s growing economy, the Democratic governor said.

“We’re welcoming people to our new Kentucky home, one filled with opportunity and prosperity,” Beshear said during his weekly news conference. “Where we want you to come see what we have to offer, and then we want you to move your family here to be a part of it.”

The governor joined tourism leaders at Castle & Key Distillery to celebrate the second straight record-breaking year for tourism in Kentucky. In 2022, the tourism sector bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic to generate an economic impact of nearly $13 billion and was responsible for 91,668 jobs.

Last year was even better, with the statewide tourism industry producing $13.8 billion in economic impact and the sector sustained 95,222 jobs, Beshear said. The study by Tourism Economics determined that 79.3 million travelers visited Kentucky in 2023, up 4.5% from the prior year, he said.

Kentucky’s attractions include horse farms and bourbon distilleries as well as outdoor adventure, history, arts and cultural draws. Kentucky is also home to Mammoth Cave National Park.

Bourbon tourism is flourishing, with attendance surpassing 2.5 million visitors last year along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour, which showcases smaller distilleries. Bourbon tourists tend to spend more and stay longer compared to other attractions, the bourbon industry says.

“With distilleries now in 42 counties, bourbon tourism is resurrecting Main Streets across the commonwealth and pouring much-needed revenue into local coffers. And there’s more to come,” said Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

Spirit makers have invested big sums into new or expanded visitor centers to play up the industry’s heritage and allow guests to soak in the sights and smells of bourbon-making.

Communities across Kentucky registered robust tourism numbers last year.

Beshear said tourism generated $4.2 billion of economic impact last year in Jefferson County, which includes Louisville, the state’s largest city. In Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties — just south of Cincinnati — the combined economic impact of tourism was $2.1 billion, he said. It was $1.6 billion in Fayette County, home to Lexington, the state’s second-largest city. In Warren County, tourism brought in $477 million of economic impact, and in McCracken County it generated $319 million.

State Tourism Commissioner Mike Mangeot thanked tourism officials statewide for their role in the sector’s success, along with the thousands of leisure and hospitality industry workers. The tour guides, restaurant workers, hotel desk clerks and others are “the frontline ambassadors,” he said.

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Tourism, meetings and visitor spending reach deep in toronto, driving economic growth across wide range of sectors.

New study reveals 26.5 million annual visitors spend over $8 billion , drive over $12 billion in economic impact

TORONTO , June 6, 2024 /CNW/ - The millions of travelers who visit Toronto each year leave a dramatic impact on our community, spending over $8 billion and driving more than $12 billion in overall economic activity, a new study reveals. The study shows both the immediate effect of direct visitor spending and the continued impact of the visit as this new money continues to circulate throughout the city and regional economy.

The report on the Economic Impact of Visitors in Toronto , found that 26.5 million visitors arrived in the city of Toronto in 2023, and spent $8.4 billion across a wide range of sectors, including accommodations (26 per cent), local and air transport (26 per cent), dining (24 per cent), shopping (13 per cent), and entertainment (11 per cent). Beyond this direct spending, the effects of induced and indirect spending reach even further into the broader regional economy, benefiting the finance, insurance and real estate, utilities and health care industries, to name a few.

"There is a straight line between visitor arrivals and economic growth, and this study reveals just how thick that line is," said Andrew Weir , President and CEO of Destination Toronto. "The impact of visitors while they are here is clear as they spend on accommodations, dining and experiences. And their impact on our community doesn't stop when they get on a plane to go home. They have brought new money into our economy that continues to support businesses and tens of thousands of jobs all throughout our city and region."

"There's no tourism without hotels, and our latest study confirms just how central the hotel industry is to the Greater Toronto Area economy," said Sara Anghel , President & CEO of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, a co-funder of the research.

The new study was prepared by Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics, and commissioned by Destination Toronto in collaboration with the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, Toronto Global, the Toronto Region Board of Trade and the City of Toronto . It is based on 2023 data and provides a new view of Toronto's visitor economy five years after the previous economic impact study, published in 2019.

"Visitors to the city of Toronto spent $8.4 billion in 2023," said Tariq Khan , lead economist and study author with Tourism Economics."While that is higher than the previous record of $8.2 billion in 2019, inflation plays an important role in that five-year increase, as some key segments of the visitor economy have not fully recovered from the pandemic interruption."

Jobs and taxes

When considering direct, indirect, and induced impacts, 67,000 jobs are sustained in the City of Toronto by tourism spending and meetings, according to the new study, generating $3.5 billion in labour income. Visitor spending also contributes $2.1 billion in tax revenue to all three levels of government, with the Province benefiting the most at 46 per cent, or $961 million .

"Visitor spending benefits all Torontonians by generating more than $2 billion in tax revenue that supports vital public services we all value. If visitor spending were to disappear, each Toronto household would have to spend $1,800 more on taxes just to sustain services at the same level," said Mr. Weir.

Regional Impacts

The study also analyzed visitor trends and impact across the broader Toronto region. In 2023, 45.9 million visitors arrived into the Toronto region, spent $12.3 billion and generated an economic impact of $20.3 billion . In addition, these visitors who travel to Toronto often move beyond the city and region to other parts of the province.

"As Toronto attracts a substantial number of international visitors, many of those visitors extend their trip and explore other parts of Ontario ," said Mr. Khan. "We found those visitors add a further $1.7 billion , or 81 per cent of the total $2.1 billion , in spending in communities beyond Toronto , showing the true gateway effect of Toronto in generating visitation and spending throughout the province."

Additional quotes:

"There is no question that tourism is a major driver of Toronto's economy. Investing in the visitor economy is a true example of spending for impact—every dollar we put in not only generates a sizeable return for the GTA, it supports thousands of small businesses and tens of thousands of jobs for hardworking Torontonians." - Councillor Shelley Carroll, Budget Chief and Mayor's Economic Development Champion

"Accommodation alone accounts for over $3 billion of the $12.3 billion that visitors spent in the Greater Toronto Area in 2023. This sector adds $1 billion to the GDP and sustains more than 22,000 jobs. To build on this success, we urge all levels of government to collaborate with our industry to enhance the region's competitiveness by investing in tourism infrastructure and reducing cost burdens on job-creating businesses." - Sara Anghel , President and CEO, Greater Toronto Hotel Association

"The results from this year's study prove the direct link between foreign direct investment and visitor spending. International companies choosing Toronto means more meetings, conferences, and events, which amounted to an economic impact of $470 million in 2023. Not to mention, companies want to do business in a global city, and increased tourism allows Toronto to maintain the title of one of the world's premier locations for business and travel." - Stephen Lund , CEO of Toronto Global

"The numbers speak for themselves – Toronto's thriving, well-developed tourism sector is a critical component of its economy. Our ability to attract millions of tourists annually not only makes Toronto a more vibrant city but also attracts billions of dollars in visitor spending, powering businesses, job creation, and broader economic growth." - Roselle Martino , Executive Vice President, Policy, Advocacy & Stakeholder Engagement, Toronto Region Board of Trade

About Destination Toronto Toronto's visitor economy is a vital economic engine for the city, generating $8.4 billion in visitor spending in 2023. Destination Toronto's mandate is to reflect the breadth and diversity of Toronto's people, places and culture to inspire residents and visitors to meet, visit and explore our city. Operating in partnership with the City of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, Destination Toronto markets and promotes the city to attract visitors and major meetings and events and supports local businesses to maximize the opportunities of the visitor economy. For more information, please visit  DestinationToronto.com .

SOURCE Destination Toronto

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2024/06/c1417.html

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China recovers its position as top spender in 2023 as Asia and the Pacific reopens to tourism

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China has recovered its position as top spender on international tourism in 2023 as Asia and the Pacific consolidates its recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. In 2022, the list of top spenders was headed by the United States. France, Spain and USA took the top spots for most-visited destinations.

Top Tourism Spenders in 2023 

Chinese expenditure on travel abroad reached USD 196.5 billion in 2023, ahead of the United States (USD 150 billion), Germany (USD 112 billion), the United Kingdom (USD 110 billion) and France (USD 49 billion). Making up the top ten spenders for 2023 are Canada, Italy, India, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea. India jumped to 8th place, from 14th in 2019, confirming the growing importance of the country as a source market, while Italy rose from 10th to 7th position. 

Top in arrivals and receipts: France, Spain and USA consolidate their positions 

France consolidated its position as the world’s most visited destination in 2023 with 100 million international tourist arrivals. Spain was second with 85 million, followed by the United States (66 million), Italy (57 million) and Türkiye, which closed the top five with 55 million international tourists.  

Completing the top ten most visited destinations in 2023 are Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece and Austria. Compared to before the pandemic, Italy, Türkiye, Mexico, Germany and Austria all rose one position, while the United Kingdom rose from 10th to 7th and Greece from 13th to 9th. 

On the side on international tourism receipts, the ranking is led by the United States, earning USD 176 billion in 2023, followed by Spain (USD 92 billion), the United Kingdom (USD 74 billion), France (USD 69 billion) and Italy (USD 56 billion). 

Following the above, destinations earning the most from international tourism in 2023 include the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Australia, Canada, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Macao (China), India and Mexico which complete the top 15 list of tourism earners.  

Upward movements in the ranking among the top earners include the UK jumping to the 3rd position from 5th pre-pandemic, the United Arab Emirates from 13th to 6th, Türkiye from 12th to 7th, Canada from 15th to 9th, Saudi Arabia from 27th to 12th, and Mexico from 17th to 15th.  

Croatia (from 32nd to 25th), Morocco (from 41st to 31st) and the Dominican Republic (43rd to 34th) also moved up in the Top 50 ranking by receipts in 2023, as did Qatar (from 51st to 37th) and Colombia (50th to 44th). 

Looking ahead to a full recovery globally in 2024 

As per the latest World Tourism Barometer , in 2023 international tourist arrivals recovered 89% of 2019 levels and 97% in Q1 2024. UN Tourism’s projection for 2024 points to a full recovery of international tourism with arrivals growing 2% above 2019 levels, backed by strong demand, enhanced air connectivity and the continued recovery of China and other major Asian markets. 

Total export revenues from international tourism, including both receipts and passenger transport, reached an estimated USD 1.7 trillion in 2023, about 96% of pre-pandemic levels in real terms. Tourism direct GDP recovered pre-pandemic levels in 2023, reaching an estimated USD 3.3 trillion, equivalent to 3% of global GDP. 

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Kristaps Porzingis' instant impact off bench in NBA Finals Game 1 exactly what Celtics needed

BOSTON – Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis had started 472 of 473 games in his career, playoffs included, prior to Game 1 of the NBA Finals .

Coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game since sustaining a calf injury April 29 , Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 Thursday.

“Getting on the court (and) getting that kind of support was unreal,” Porzingis said of the Celtics fans. “The adrenaline was pumping through my veins and that definitely helped.

“Obviously it wasn't ideal that I was out for such a long time, but I did everything I could to prepare mentally for this moment coming back and it paid off and we got the job done tonight and had a good game and happy about the result.”

Though Porzingis, who spent two-plus seasons with Dallas, missed more than a month of the playoffs, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla wasn’t worried.

“I know the storyline has to be ‘What's he going to look like because he was off for a month?’ ” Mazzulla said. "But that's what he's been doing his whole career. He's a great player. He's been great for us. The reason why we are here is because of what he's done. It doesn't matter how long he takes off, the guy is going to make plays because of how talented he is and the work he puts in.

“What he did for us tonight was big and we need that for the rest of the series.”

The Celtics didn’t "miss" Porzingis in that they still reached the NBA Finals with Porzingis sidelined due to his right calf injury.

But the Celtics, who acquired Porzingis from Washington in a 2023 offseason trade, missed his production, and that was evident in Porzingis’ return against the Mavericks. Mazzulla told Porzingis he planned to use him as a reserve.

“From day one I came here and I said I'll do whatever it takes to help this team win,” Porzingis said. “This, it made sense. I didn't care. I didn't care. I knew I could prepare to come off the bench, which is something different for me, and that's what I did and stepped into that role and embraced it and had a good game.”

He is the fourth player since 1970-71 to score at least 20 points off the bench in his first Finals game, joining Derrick White (21 points in 2022), Fred Brown (30 points in 1978) and Phil Smith (20 points in 1975). He is also the first player in a Finals game to play 22 minutes or fewer and score at least 20 points, collect at least six rebounds and block at least three shots, according to basketball-reference.com.

Coming off the bench, Porzingis was the early star. He entered the game with 7:17 left in the first quarter and scored 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting.

“I was so in the moment and enjoying the moment and the crowd and everything,” he said. “It’s like a blur to me right now. I have to rewatch the game, but I was completely just in the game. That's the best feeling. Like, I had the most fun, and I hope to have more of those moments going forward.”

The Mavs tried several defenders on the 7-foot Latvian, but he continued to make shots. During a two-minute stretch late in the first quarter, Porzingis made a dunk, blocked a shot, made a 16-foot jump shot, made a 3-pointer and blocked another shot that led to a Sam Hauser 3-pointer.

“He was just making play after play. He’s back, there’s no question about it,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said.

With Porzingis on the court alongside Brown, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, the Celtics have the best five-man rotation in the league offensively and defensively.

On Wednesday, Porzingis caused consternation when asked what he expected from himself by answering, “It's tough to say. I haven't played. I haven't played for a while. Tomorrow will be my first real minutes in a while.”

He explained his answer after Game 1.

“All these thoughts like went through my mind in that moment,” he said. “Like, what do I answer? I want to say I'm fine, but obviously I haven't played. I haven't been out there. I haven't had the feel of like, am I 100%?

“But tonight, was an affirmation to myself that I'm pretty good. Maybe I'm not perfect, but I'm pretty good and I can play like this and I can definitely add to this team.”

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Big 12 football transfers: New QBs at Baylor, UCF ready to make an immediate impact in 2024 season

Four teams in the conference are expected to start transfer quarterbacks in 2024.

The transfer portal has revolutionized roster building across  college football , and the Big 12 is no exception. Every team in the conference experienced turnover and hopes a newcomer can quickly slide into a new role. Four schools looked to the transfer portal for starting quarterbacks, while four more return a former transfer as a starter in 2024. 

At times, the transfer portal has lifted a team's ceiling. TCU slapped together a defense with key transfers and reached the national title game in 2022. Other times, overreliance has tanked programs. Look no further than BYU and Houston , both of which took more than 20 transfers last season and finished a combined 4-14 in Big 12 play. 

While Big 12 teams added a handful of star players, others opted to lean on internal improvement. Five schools added 10 or fewer transfers. Among them were Iowa State and Oklahoma State  -- two of the top three teams in the country in returning production. 

Here are the top transfers entering the Big 12 in 2024, headlined by a handful of key offensive targets. 

Utah WR Dorian Singer

Revamping a miserable passing game was a top priority for Kyle Whittingham and his staff entering 2024, and Singer adds immediate firepower. The fourth-year player caught 66 passes for 1,105 yards and six touchdowns in 2022 at Arizona and impressed with 16.7 yards per catch. He adds a downfield threat for returning quarterback Cameron Rising .

Singer is the headliner, but Utah added three receivers overall, including Washington's Taeshaun Lyons and Syracuse's Damien Alford . The Utes finished last place in the Pac-12 in passing offense last season, but the new additions should revamp the unit and potentially key a Big 12 title run. Singer ranked as the No. 29 receiver  in the portal. 

Baylor QB DeQuan Finn

The Bears struggled mightily on both sides of the ball last season, but adding Finn -- the former MAC Player of the Year -- gives them some serious upside on offense. Finn threw for 2,657 yards, ran for 563 and posted 29 total touchdowns for Toledo as the Rockets went 11-2 with a trip to the MAC title game. 

He enters an offense with some interesting talent and a new vision. Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital takes the Bears back to a spread look, which should allow Finn to lean on his natural ability in space. While former quarterback Blake Shapen was far from the problem in Waco last season, Finn could provide the solution. Finn ranked as the No. 11 quarterback  in the portal.

Colorado DL Dayon Hayes

The Buffaloes were aggressive at every position in the transfer portal, but the trenches were the top priority. While Colorado added a mix of experience and potential along the defensive line, Hayes stood apart as a blend of the two. 

Hayes was reportedly set to be one of Pitt's highest-compensated players after leading the team with 10.5 tackles for loss. At Colorado, he provides some much-needed leadership on the defense heading into a year with high expectations. If the team takes a big step forward in Year 2 under Deion Sanders, the defensive line will lead the way. Hayes ranked as the No. 39 defensive lineman in the portal. 

Texas Tech TE Jalin Conyers

The Red Raiders return tight end Mason Tharp , but the Arizona State transfer Conyers provides a different skill set. The  6-foot-4, 270-pound behemoth posted nearly 800 yards and five touchdowns over the past two seasons. He figures to earn plenty of snaps in 2024. 

What makes Conyers special is his versatility. Think of him as the ultimate safety net for quarterback Behren Morton . In addition to making big catches, Conyers' frame allows him to play a crucial role in protecting the quarterback and run blocking. Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley is one of the more creative minds in the conference, and Conyers fits right in to his scheme. Conyers ranked as the No. 5 tight end in the transfer portal.

TCU LB Kaleb Elarms-Orr

The Horned Frogs targeted the transfer portal hard after a disappointing 5-7 season, but Elarms-Orr ranks as perhaps the best of the bunch. The California transfer posted 92 tackles and five passes defended in his first real season as a starter for the Golden Bears, and now comes to TCU as a major contributor. 

TCU hired former Boise State coach Andy Avalos as defensive coordinator and much attention will be paid to the linebacker crew. Elarms-Orr will combine with returners Johnny Hodges and Namdi Obiazor to try and settle down a defense that lost its identity last year. Most importantly, Elarms-Orr brings plenty of experience to a position where it really matters. He ranked as the No. 12 linebacker  in the transfer portal. 

Top transfers for remaining Big 12 teams

Arizona DL Tre Smith :   The Wildcats lost several key defensive line contributors in the portal, but Smith arrives after posting 6.5 sacks at San Jose State . He will play a key role in the pass rush if the Wildcats hope to compete for the Big 12. 

Arizona State RB Raleek Brown : Brown was a former five-star prospect who never quite found his footing at USC . However, his skills as both a rusher and receiver mean that Kenny Dillingham can find unique ways to get him the ball. 

BYU LB Jack Kelly: Kelly reunites with his former Weber State coach Jay Hill, who is now defensive coordinator at BYU. The do-everything junior posted 57 tackles, five passes defended and 8.5 sacks in a breakout sophomore season. 

UCF QB KJ Jefferson:  Gus Malzahn loves a dual-threat quarterback, but Jefferson takes him closer to Cam Newton than John Rhys Plumlee. Jefferson started three years at Arkansas , posting nearly 8,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing with 88 total touchdowns. 

Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby : Sorsby played well at Indiana as a freshman and has quickly impressed coaches since arriving at Cincinnati. He hopes to revamp one of the worst passing offenses in the Big 12. 

Kansas State RB Dylan Edwards:  Edwards was linked to Kansas State for a long time before flipping to Colorado at the last second. Now, he returns to provide a blistering complement to running back  DJ Giddens  and quarterback  Avery Johnson . 

Houston WR Mekhi Mews: Mews walked on at Georgia , but managed to find the field as a receiver and dynamic returner. Willie Fritz is an expert at finding ways for speedsters to get the ball in space, and Mews fits the profile. 

Iowa State DE Kenard Snyder:  The Cyclones brought in very few transfers, but ULM's Snyder has interesting upside as an active defensive end. In two seasons playing with the program, he posted 24.5 tackles for loss. 

Kansas   OL Shane Bumgardner:   Bumgardner won the Rimington Award as the top center in Division II in 2023 and coaches are excited about his potential. He'll replace veteran leader Mike Novitsky in the middle of the Jayhawks offensive line.

Oklahoma State TE Tyler Foster: Oklahoma State has not often targeted tight ends under Mike Gundy, but the Ohio transfer could change that. With a 6-foot-7 frame, Foster provides a big target that could help aid an offense that ranked in the bottom half of the Big 12 in converting red zone trips into touchdowns. 

West Virginia WR Jaden Bray: Bray flashed during his time at Oklahoma State but never quite put the pieces together. At West Virginia, Bray can star in a wide receiver room that replaces multiple contributors. 

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