The Role of Esports Events in the Tourism Industry

Abstract

In the field of tourism, many destinations are familiar with receiving visitors motivated to travel for traditional sport events. But working in esports is another world entirely, since it combines the competitiveness of sport with entertainment. It is from these particularities that tourism destinations that want to host this type of event must learn the basics of how to navigate the esports ecosystem and where to start when their city seeks to organize esports events. Although esports have roots based on digital consumption, their transfer from virtual space to physical space occurs more frequently through the celebration of increasingly crowded competitive events with greater international repercussion. This chapter aims to analyze the benefits of hosting esports events for the tourism ecosystem of a destination, taking Argentina and Spain as study cases. In particular, the chapter focuses on how destinations looking to diversify their offer can interact with those events, and the opportunities and challenges that they bring.