Sport Tourism Events and Local Sustainable Development: An Overview

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.

This book aimed to outline the importance of sport tourism, particularly the contribution of small scale sport tourism events for local sustainable development. This final chapter synthesizes the findings and current trends of nine countries across three continents that participated in this international research project. As illustrated in the nine case studies, sport tourism has increased in importance over the last two decades, representing one of the fastest growing tourism sectors. Of the most important sport tourism activities, scholars cited nature sports, cycling and football tourism as the most popular categories. Authors also highlighted the areas of greatest growth among sport tourism events, recognizing small scale sport tourism events, such running events or races, as exceedingly popular. The growth of sport tourism around the world has also brought both positive and negative impacts to local communities, their economies, environment and social life. In response to negative impacts, local and national governments in most of the countries presented in this book are aware of these potential problems. The analysis carried out in this chapter compares the geographic and socio-demographic characteristics of the cities or municipalities hosting these half marathons, the characteristics of the event’s organizers, demographic profiles of race participants and perceived and actual impacts of such events on the local community. Finally, the chapter presents some concluding remarks and future directions in small scale sport tourism events research.

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.

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

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.

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.

This paper uses a comparative analysis method of literature compilation to review the impact of sports events on sports tourism development, and the strategies to develop the sports tourism response in combination with sports events in China, the United States, and Japan during the COVID-19 epidemic. In the United States, continuous repair or reconstruction of infrastructure, support for related industries, continuous hosting of sports events, and rational planning of post-event legacy took place. In Japan, the trends included building a sports tourism destination brand, using new media webcasting and short video promotion, applying digital intelligence technology, and setting sustainable development goals. In China, sports tourism started late, and despite strong support from national policies and the continued development of the boutique route, the sports tourism destination brand effect is still weak, and some areas of infrastructure management struggle, coupled with the shackles of the epidemic. Hence, there is a pressing need for the rapid recovery of China’s sports tourism development. This study proposes the integration of digital intelligence technology into the process to develop intelligent sports tourism, effective practices of sustainable development, the transformation of post-competition heritage into livelihood resources, support for related industries to create sports tourism complexes, and the use of new media and short videos to establish the brand image of sports tourism destinations.

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.

Purpose: Sport Tourism is a driving force for sustainable economic development of tourism destinations. The Winter Olympic Games is a catalyst for this momentum. In order to clearly sort out the impacts of the Winter Olympic Games on sport tourism of the host city, this paper employed a systematic review. This study allowed to provide some enlightenment for the development of sport tourism in the host cities of the Winter Olympic Games in the future, and proposed the corresponding reference for the continued research in this field. Method: This paper adopted systematic review, more rigorous than the traditional literature review, to ex-plore the impacts of the Winter Olympic Games on sport tourism in host cities. Through the literature search of selected data, 369 articles in English language was retrieved and finally narrowed down to 17 articles accord-ing to the set research criteria. The information extracted from the remaining articles was used to present the types of impacts the Winter Olympics have had on sport tourism in host cities and in how it impacted. Results: Through the review and summary of the literature, current Winter Olympic Games had both positive and negative impacts on sport tourism in host cities. According to its specific manifestation, this paper classi-fied the impact factors. Positive impacts could be summarized into three parts: improving sport tourism reve-nue, improving city image and promoting urban reform. Negative impacts were mainly reflected in two aspects: the excessive cost leads to excessive burden and the unsatisfied sustainable development sustainable develop-ment. Conclusions: This paper clearly stressed that the Winter Olympic Games had both positive and negative im-pacts on the development of sport tourism in host cities, and further analyzed the aspects in which these im-pacts are found. Based on research results, it proposed the enlightenment on the development planning and ecological environment in order to ensure the sustainable development of sport tourism for the upcoming Bei-jing Olympic Games. It is a pity that there were still some limitations in the research scope and methods, and it hoped that they can be solved in the following research.

Research on the environmental science and sustainable sport development the perspective of geological ecology

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.

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...

The development mode of sports tourism is based on the ecological environment. In order to reduce the negative impact of sports tourism on the environment, the development of ecological sports tourism based on the perspective of ecology is the top priority for the healthy and sustainable development of sports tourism. On the basis of summarizing and analyzing the previous research results, this paper expounds the elements and value of ecological sports culture tourism resources, introduces the ecological sports tourism complex model of landscape environmental culture belt, and expounds the cultural connotation characteristics of ecological sports tourism environment. Environmental science is mainly reflected in the promotion of the benign cycle of natural ecological environment, the protection of living things, the protection of water bodies and the treatment of water pollution, and the good protection of atmospheric environment, geology, and geomorphology. Based on the development of ecological sports tourism space with landscape environment culture belt, this paper introduces the resource development system of Beijing-Hangzhou Canal ecological sports culture tourism, constructs the landscape space development mode of ecological sports tourism, and analyzes the landscape space structure of ecological sports tourism. Based on landscape culture with the basis of sports tourism resources, analyzes the influence factors of sports tourism spatial structure from the direction of the depth and breadth of two dimensions expand sports events and the ecological sports cultural tourism, the depth of the fusion depth aspects emphatically at sporting events, and the ecological sports cultural tourism into the connotation of mining, breadth aspect focuses on the formats of the extension of rich and associated industries. To study the important carrier of promoting the development of ecological sports culture resources and sports industry in the Canal, to plan the layout and establish the sports culture tourism industry base reasonably, and to form the sports culture tourism industry ecosphere. The results show that the scale and speed of the development of sports tourism not only depend on the attractive sports tourism resources but also highly depend on the level of economic and social development in the region. The supply of sports tourism must take the demand of sports tourism market as the guide, combine sports activities with tourism activities in an ecological and organic way, develop various sports items to meet the needs of tourists, and realize the ecological, economic, and social benefits of ecological sports tourism. The research results of this paper provide reference for the further development of eco-sports tourism in landscape environment and culture belt.

Cultural rights are the foundation of cultural policies, and the guarantee of their legitimacy and coherence. The various documents elaborated in the framework of the UN human rights system are an extraordinary source of inspiration. Yet cultural rights in practice is still regarded as problematic at a national level in terms of the formulation of domestic public policy, but are not so difficult to identify and be operationalised at a local level. This article will attempt to be pedagogical, and explain to the reader: (a) the contents of key documents by the UN human rights system – considering their consistency with the new ‘local sustainable development’ agenda; (b) the global guiding documents that interconnect cultural rights and local sustainable development; (c) examples of cities and local governments that are operationalizing cultural rights at a local level; and (d) a potential list of key issues to be considered by actors on local cultural policies based on cultural rights.

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.