Leveraging Sport Events for Tourism Development: The Event Portfolio Perspective

Abstract

Despite the increasing use of sport events in portfolios as a tourism place-making tool, academic research on this phenomenon is sparse within sport management. In response, the purpose of this theoretical contribution is to review and synthesize pertinent literature on sport events and tourism management in order to set the ground towards developing a policy framework for leveraging event portfolios and creating value for the host destination’s tourism product. To this end, an event portfolio tourism leveraging model is proposed building upon the theoretical tenets of a holistic event portfolio approach integrated with the perspectives on economic event leverage, event tourism portfolio, and destination capitals. It is argued that the proposed model can be used to more effectively integrate sport events into destination development. In doing so, the paper calls for the need to conduct more systematic, nuanced and comprehensive investigations within sport event management that will build knowledge on leveraging multiple events for obtaining multiple benefits.