Cape Town and the two oceans marathon: The impact of sport tourism

Abstract

Travel is a very old activity. In early times and civilisations, there were harsh realities associated with travel; and there were also restrictions and constraints on modes of travel, accommodation and services. Additionally, the leisure time required for recreational travel in ancient societies was rather limited. As the quality of life gradually improved, individuals began to travel between places without difficulty. Shorter working weeks, holidays and religious days contributed to mass travel, leisure and self-development. Gradually, travel and tourism were transformed. In addition, technological, political and social events made tourism a world-wide leisure experience (Bhatia, as cited by Zauhar, 2004:6). In the past, tourism was viewed and studied in terms of travel patterns, typology, financial implications, general activity movement, as well as the demandsupply equation and service development. Studies in travel motivation often refer to pleasure, religion, culture, business and related aspects; and many authors and specialists refer to tourism as a somewhat contemporary phenomenon (Curran, 1978). However, the roots of tourism can be traced back to the Grand Tour. The popularity of these tours is considered by some to have heralded the beginning of tourism; and only very rarely has this concept been analysed in terms of sport pursuits and sport offerings (Zauhar, 2004:6). However, by the end of the 20th century, event tourism had emerged as one of the fastest-growing components of the leisure travel market. Although event tourism includes arts festivals and cultural activities as well as sport events, the latter have played a key role in the growth of the event industry. One reason for this is that sport events have been seen to make an effective contribution to the economic development mix of cities and regions (Chalip and McGuirty, 2004; Turco et al., 2003; Saayman and Uys, 2003). According to Gibson (2004) researchers had turned their attention to the study of sport tourism by the mid-1990s, and had begun to describe and define this phenomenon. But even among "experts" there is considerable controversy con-