Conclusion: Current Trends in Small Scale Sport Tourism Events and Local Sustainable Development. A Comparative Approach

Until recently, sport and tourism were studied as two distinct spheres of activity. However, the intersections between these two social phenomena have been gradually increasing, and the growing demand for travel related to sport has created the need for a new tourism segment, referred to as sports or sport tourism. The relationship between sport and tourism has also drawn considerable attention to the potential and real environmental, economic, and sociocultural impacts of these activities, both positive and negative. This chapter provides a review of scholarship to date, with particular focus on the linkages between small scale sport tourism events and local sustainable development. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the evolution of the sport tourism field, highlighting key conceptualizations and categorizations. It then discusses the predominant descriptions and categories of sport tourism events. Next, the chapter analyzes the meaning and practice of sustainable development at the intersection of sport and tourism, with particular emphasis on small scale sport tourism and local sustainable development. Finally, the chapter calls for a comparative methodology to provide a tool for sport tourism scholars globally.

Sport tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors within the global tourism industry. Within this geopolitical context, small scale sport tourism events offer a wealth of opportunities for local host cities and communities. As such, many countries and municipalities within these countries want to capitalize on the local and global opportunities of sport tourism. While many of these locations are interested in the potential economic benefits of these sport tourism events, there is increased pressure on organizers and sponsors to also promote social and environmental sustainability. The aim of this book is to outline the contribution of small scale sport tourism events for local sustainable development in nine countries across three continents. The event, half marathon races, serves as the unit of analysis for comparison, as running tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors within the sport tourism industry worldwide. Findings from this comparative study reveal a collection of best practices for future planning and implementation at the intersection of small scale sport tourism and local sustainable development.

Tourism is a strategic industry for the Portuguese economy, with a continual growth since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The sport tourism sector is also rapidly expanding, highlighting in particular golf, nautical sport tourism and nature sport tourism. Sporting events are also considered strategic opportunities for tourism in Portugal, especially the small scale sport tourism events, particularly, running events or races, as those who have had the greatest growth. Despite these developments, few studies have analyzed the impact of small scale sport tourism events and their potential for local sustainable development. In an effort to fill this gap in the literature, the present study focused on the III EDP Running Wonders Coimbra. An online survey was provided to a sample of 345 participants of the event. An in-depth, semi-structured interview was also conducted to the executive director of the company who organized the running race. Demographic and participation profiles of the runners, as well as, economic, environmental and sociocultural impacts were analyzed. This study concluded that, organizing such small scale sporting events on a regular basis can serve as a catalyst for local sustainable development by ensuring the use of existing resources, the involvement of the host community and a consistent flow of visitors.

Interest in sport-related tourism increased perceptibly around the millennium, however, a comprehensive conceptual framework for a classification of sport (event) tourism is still missing. The predominant focus of sport tourism encompasses event-related touristic endeavors, such as mega sport events; however, an holistic approach to sport tourism suggests the need for further integration of other sub-areas such as nonevent-related components. This research note, therefore, provides a sport tourism perspective and a methodological approach to establishing the sport tourism cube as a necessary tool for the further distinction and integration of sport and event tourism. The research aim is, therefore, to build a foundation for further scientific research in sport tourism.

While significant efforts have been made to define the conceptual boundaries of sport tourism, less attention has been paid to designing a method of studying sport tourism events comparatively. As such, the comparative method introduced in this chapter by the International Research Network on Sport Tourism (IRNIST) helps scholars and practitioners evaluate the tripartite (e.g., economic, environmental, and social) impacts of these events on the local community. In comparing a like event across nine countries and three continents within the same year, the method and corresponding findings elucidate a more empirical way to understand similarities and differences across space, as well as to propose best practices relative to future planning and implementation. The proposed approach, while requiring further refinement, enables researchers to recognize trends and patterns of small scale sport tourism events. This comparative method also has the potential to bridge the historical divide between scholars and practitioners, encouraging applied research while building a collaborative relationship in support of economic and ethical sustainability.

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 issues and security. Results also show that the main opportunities for sports tourism events are boosting of domestic tourism, diversification of tourism products and marketing of host cities. Key recommendations are made to policy makers to craft policies that will spur sustainable sports tourism development. Key words Sports Tourism Events, Challenges, Opportunities, Sustainable, and community DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/55-06 Publication date: March 31 st 2021

Nostalgia sport tourism, one of Gibson's [1998. Sport tourism: A critical analysis of research. Sport Management Review, 1, 45–76] three forms of sport tourism, appears to have received little scholarly attention in contrast to active sport tourism and event sport tourism [Fairley, S. (2003). In search of relived social experience: Group-based nostalgia sport tourism. Journal of Sport Management, 17, 284–304; Gibson, H. J. (2002). Sport tourism at a crossroad? Considerations for the future. In S. Gammon & J. Kurtzman (Eds.), Sport tourism: Principles and practice (pp. 123–140). Eastbourne: Leisure Studies Association; Gibson, H. J. (2003). Sport tourism: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of Sport Management, 17, 205–213; Ritchie, B. W., & Adair, D. (2004). Sport tourism: An introduction and overview. In B. W. Ritchie & D. Adair (Eds.), Sport tourism: Interrelationships, impacts and issues (pp. 1–29). Buffalo, NY: Channel View]. Despite this apparent lack of research relative to the other two domains, insightful and thought-provoking scholarship has emerged within nostalgia sport tourism. Sociology, which is one of sport tourism's parent disciplines, has influenced much of this scholarship [Gibson, H. J. (2004). Moving beyond the ‘what is and who’ of sport tourism to understanding ‘why’. Journal of Sport Tourism, 9(3), 247–265; Harris, J. (2006). The science of research in sport and tourism: Some reflections upon the promise of the sociological imagination. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 11(2), 153–171]. Among other things, this epistemological orientation has yielded the importance of emotion and memory to nostalgically oriented experiences. This paper considers the emergence of emotion and memory within nostalgia sport tourism and, in so doing, continues this sociological emphasis. In particular, it argues that interaction ritual (IR) theory [Collins, R. (2004). Interaction ritual chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press], a micro-sociological perspective, can be used to provide scholars with a deep understanding of tourists' and excursionists' motivations for engaging in nostalgically oriented experiences. Three additional constructs from the field of sport geography – place, placelessness [Relph, E. (1976). Place and placelessness. London: Pion], and topophilia [Tuan, Y.-F. (1974). Topophilia: A study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall] – are posited as useful supplements to IR theory that can enable sport tourism scholars to develop a more nuanced conceptualization of those elements inherent within nostalgically oriented sport sites. These theoretical positions are synthesized and used as a framework to examine sport tourists' and excursionists' attraction to the recent ‘throwback’ esthetic of contemporary Major League Baseball park design.

Through this case study, we show how implementing a running race in a small Swiss Valley can foster sustainable tourism and local development on the economic and social terms with a limited environmental impact. Results show that there are significant expenditures spent by the participants, at least a part of which benefits the local population. Moreover, the running race is included in a broader local strategy of the municipalities that encourage the implementation of small sporting events in order to build a positive image of the valley. Last but not least, this case study shows how collaboration between the different stakeholders can also be crucial to implement a long-term profitable local strategy around sporting event and tourism.

Sport tourism has been one of the fastest developing segments of a growing tourism industry, with sporting events comprising an important part of this growth (Ritchie et al., 2002). It is not surprising then that the prominence of sport-related tourism within the tourism industry has been accompanied by growing interest within academia (Gibson, 1998; Gammon & Robinson, 1997, 2003; Higham, 1999, Higham & Hinch, 2002, 2003; Hinch & Higham, 2001, 2003; Gibson, 2003, 2004; Weed, 2006). However, despite such interest, there has been a relative paucity of research undertaken to examine the profile of sport tourists as individuals who consume sport tourism experiences and products (Saayman et al., 2005; Hennessey et al., 2008). This paper addresses one category of sport tourism – that is, event sport tourism – and focuses on those event sport tourists who travel to watch a sporting event (Gibson, 1998, p. 45). In particular, it focuses on an increasingly significant segment of sport tourism – group sport tours, and identifies an equally significant segment of sport tourists – older or ‘grey’ sport tourists. The paper draws on related studies of sport tourists associated with the sport of rugby union – specifically those tourists, identified as travelling supporters of the New Zealand All Blacks and of the British Lions rugby union teams, who are both spectators and fans – to highlight the nature, characteristics and significance of such grey sport tourists. Our analysis has revealed that the All Black and British Lions sport tourist markets are largely homogeneous, yet have distinctive characteristics, being disproportionately representative of older, wealthier, highly qualified and educated, urbanized males. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research possibilities regarding related sport tourism events, sport tourists' motivations and social/leisure experiences; and also regarding sport spectatorship in New Zealand and beyond.

The purpose of the study was to examine the motivations to participate in a half-marathon among women – local runners and sport-tourists – and also to evaluate the differences between these two groups of respondents. Most of the research concerns motivation to run among men. With the increase in the popularity of mass running events, the question what encourages women to engage in physical activity, especially outside their everyday place of residence, becomes very important now. The sample comprised 214 women that participated in the 6th Poznan Half Mara-thon in Poland. To evaluate the motivation to participate in the half-marathon event, a self-constructed questionnaire was used. Results indicated that local runners and sport-tourists have similar forms of motivation and similar meanings to the event participation with some significance differences. A socio-demographic profile of a half-marathon female participant was also examined. In general, the findings of the present study provide an understanding of motivation to participate in a half-marathon event in different women groups. Current research on the motivation of the running event participants was aimed at determining how meaningful some aspects are. These aspects were not only a willingness to stay fit, healthy, and slim, but also to build social relationships and look for the experiences and emotions that come with recreational sport. These results might be useful for sport managers and city government to analyze consumer behavior and utilize the results in the strategic planning, marketing and implementation of physical culture in connection with massive sport events organizations. References 1 Papanikos G. The economic effects of a marathon as a sport tourism event. Athens Journal of Sports. 2015; 1: 225. 2 Chappelet JL. Heritage sporting events and place marketing, In: Plevnik M, Ratar I, Pisot R. and Ovid A, editors. Sustainable development of sport tourism. Annales University Press; 2015. 3 Pinson J. Heritage sporting events: Theoretical development and configurations. Journal of Sport & Tourism. 2017; 21(2): 133-152. 4 Taks M. Governance in sport and the Olympic Movement: The future of mega-sport events. In: International Olympic Academy – 12th International Session for Educators of Higher Institutes of Physical Education. Ancient Olympia-Greece; 2017. 5 Report Physical Activity of Poles, 2017 [cited 2019 Jul 20]. Available from: https://www.msit.gov.pl/pl/sport/badania-i-analizy/aktywnosc-fizyczna-spol/575,Aktywnosc-fizyczna-spoleczenstwa.html 6 Schulze G. Die Erlebniz-Gesellschaft. Kultursoziologie der Gegenwart. Frankfurt am Main: Campus-Verlag; 1992. 7 Zduniak A. Event as a postmodern form of participating in social life. Roczniki Nauk Społecznych. 2010; 38(2): 207-234. 8 Zuckerman M. The sensation seeking motive. Prog Exp Pers Res. 1974; 7:79–148. 9 Gracz J, Walczak M, Tomczak M. Search for sensations as a trend in contemporary sports and recreation activities. Sport and recreation versus the challenges of modern civilization. University of Szczecin; 2011. 10 Stempien J. Running, sightseeing and the middleclass – a few sociological comments and observations on running tourism. In: Kazimierczak M. (ed.). Sports inspirations in cultural tourism. Poland: University of Physical Education in Poznan; 2016. 11 Crawford R. Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life. International Journal of Health Services. 1980; 10 (3):365-388. 12 Borowiec A, Lignowska I. Is the ideology of healthism a distinctive feature of the middle class in Poland? Culture and Society – Sport in Culture. 2012; 56(3): 95-111. 13 Gibson H, Attle S, Yiannakis A. Segmenting the active sport tourism market: A life-span perspective. Journal of Vacation Marketing. 1998; 4(1): 52-64. 14 Ross D. Developing sports tourism. National Laboratory for Tourism. Illinois: University of Illinois; 2001 15 Roberts C. Sport and adventure tourism. In: Robinson P, Heitmann S, Dicke P. Editors. Research Themes for Tourism. Oxfordshire-Cambridge, UK: CABI Publisher; 2011. 16 Ogles BM, Masters KS. A Typology of marathon runners based on cluster analysis on motivations. Journal of Sport Behaviour. 2003; 26:69-85. 17 Krouse R, Ransdell L, Lucas S, Pritchard M. Motivation, goal orientation, coaching and training habits of women ultrarunners. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011; 25(10): 2835–2842. 18 Ogles BM, Masters KS. Obligatory running and gender: An analysis of participative motives and training habits. International Journal of Sport Psychology. 1995; 26: 233-248. 19 Freyer W, Gross S. Tourismus und Sport-Events. Dresden, Germany: FIT Forschungsinstitut für Tourismus; 2002.

Sport and tourism are two disciplines that can be integrated to strengthen and performn greater impacts to economic, socio-cultural and environmental developments in Indonesia. Therefore sport tourism has currently received special attention from government, private sector, sport industry, tourism industry, academics and community. Sport tourism is a new paradigm since it is a combination of sport and tourism that has been growing rapidly and in great demand among young tourists. This study focused on the use of digital technology and innovation to build a model of sport tourism development with pentahelix approach as an effort to accelerate the sport tourism development, especially the case of sport tourism event for IVCA (International Veteran Cycle Association) 2018 in Bali. The output of the research becomes a reference in carrying out sport tourism events at both national and international levels in facing globalization and digital innovation today. This research used a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study to provide more precise results and clearer understanding towards research problems than the use of only one approach. The mixed method used a sequential model (sequence) consisting sequential exploratory and sequential explanatory (verification). The model is also developed using pentahelix approach for sport tourism development refering to pre event, event and post event. This is important because the development of sport tourism is not only the responsibility of one sector but all elements in the pentahelix system (government, academia, business, media and community) are called to get involved.

Sport tourism and its related events have been identified as a unique niche product and South Africa is considered globally as a leading sport event tourism destination. Despite the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sector, it is recognised for its resilience and ability to overcome crises thereby creating employment and assisting economies to recover. For this recovery to effectively take place, recovery strategies, frameworks and policies are now a necessity for the sustainability of South Africa as a sport event tourism destination. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of existing published and unpublished literature sources and policy documents in order to identify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on sport event tourism in South Africa and to propose directions for recovery strategies going forward, as well as recommendations for future research areas. In doing so, the current paper has found that through adequate recovery policies, strategies and frameworks, sport event tourism in South Africa can effectively be used as a post pandemic tool for urban regeneration, new business opportunities and a range of positive social impacts for host communities. As the sub sector begins to reopen, recovery strategies that include considerations of risk communication, community engagement, risk mitigation and the hosting of hybrid events are essential for its sustainability. For the effective implementation hereof, additional research is needed in the fields of crises in sport event tourism, the use of technology in the sub sector, as well as collaboration in small scale sport event tourism.

Travel and tourism industry has been considered as a major catalyst for local community development. As an alternative way of involving the host community in tourism activities directly, sports tourism aims to enable the hosts to earn income. Host community is an important stakeholder in tourism, their wellbeing is directly proportional to sustainable tourism. Nairobi city has hosted several sports tourism events for decades, but little has been documented on how such events promote the socio-economic wellbeing of the host community. This research sought to put sports tourism events into limelight by looking at the perceived motivational factors behind hosting of sports tourism events and to assess the socio-economic benefits of hosting sports tourism events. A cross-sectional research design was used in the study with a total of 404 respondents. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from informants in three stadia. Descriptive, thematic analysis and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. The major motivating factors for hosting sports tourism event were good infrastructure, expected benefits and availability of accommodation facilities. The main benefits of hosting sports tourism events were identified as employment opportunities and increased trade for local businesses. A number of recommendations were made.

In 2004, Deery et al. (2004, p. 243), in a paper entitled ‘Sport Tourism or Event Tourism: Are they One and the Same’, argued that ‘sport tourism is sport event tourism and that it is focused on co...

PurposeSporting events are the core of sport tourism. However, when it comes to business models (BM) in the context of event sport tourism, that is, how value is created and delivered at events, there is an obvious lack of research. The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of BMs in the specific context of event sport tourism.Design/methodology/approachFocusing on trail-running sport events which are rapidly growing in popularity, the paper assesses actual events relative to the existing conceptual BM framework by using the analytical possibilities of the multiple-case study and by applying the interview and observation methods.FindingsThe results indicate that the core logic of the examined event-related sport tourism practices is very similar, although there are some significant differences. In addition, this study raises questions concerning potential modifications within the applied framework. Primarily, these relate to the partner network being identified as a second-order theme and an independent BM category and, communication with stakeholders (primarily with competitors), as a key process within the event BM.Originality/valueThis paper focuses on under-researched topics in the context of tourism, that is, the BM concept in relation to event sport tourism in general and trail-running sport tourism in particular. The paper provides a better understanding of the BM concept as a whole, and trail-running event sport tourism suppliers could benefit from the research findings by potentially avoiding business mistakes.