Sports Tourism
Table of Contents
Active vs. Passive Sports Tourism.. 4
Social and demographic trends. 8
Implications for the future. 9
Sports Tourism
Sports tourism has precipitated much discussion in the recent past. Indeed, the greatest challenge has been to come with a conclusive and an all-encompassing definition of the terminology. The definition for sports tourism has been visited on different ways and approaches by various authors and scholars. Sports tourism is the movement of people from one place to another of the purpose of taking part in sporting activities, either actively or passively (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). The other component of this definition is that such events are conducted either for commercial or non-commercial purposes. The other feature that is inherent in this definition is the element of active or passive participation in sports (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). This means people could travel to take part in sports or to be spectators. Other varied definitions carry similar approach, although with slight variations. For instance, some researchers have introduced the concept of hard and soft tourism in sports (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). The Hard sports tourist is someone who travels with the aim of actively taking parts in sports (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). A soft sport tourist is one who travels for recreation and leisure (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). However, recent definitions have incorporated the concept of infrastructure development (Meriwether, 2013). Indeed, infrastructural expansion is indispensable in the development of sports tourism in any country. Other scholars argue that these definitions look at the economic aspect and ignore the social cultural aspects of sports tourism (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). However, the focus of this paper will not necessarily be pegged on the right definitions or not (Homafar, Honari, Heidary & Heiday, 2011, Hudson, 2008). Indeed, the spotlight is on the totality of the gains of sport tourist and related activities might bring to an economy. In this aspect, the paper will focus on the simple definition of travelling outside the normal places of inhabitance to get involved passively or actively in competitive sports (Ritchie & Adair, 2007, p 254). Principally, the key theme to travel here is sports, which of course brings in the issue of tourism or leisure in the process.
Active vs. Passive Sports Tourism
From the above definition, sports tourism can then be broken into two categories. First, we have travel that is directed related to taking part in the sporting activities (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). In this category, the spotlight is on the people who are directly involved in the sports, and not casual observers. The second category is spectatorial travel. The focus of spectatorial sports tourism is for one to go with the only purpose of watching the games or sports (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). It is from this perspective that the focus can ideally shift to the visualization of the economic, social, as well as the cultural implications of each component. Indeed, this is not an extension of the definition, but rather a close look at the overall effects of sports tourism.
A Growing Industry
As highlighted above, sports tourism is a fast growing sector. It is estimated to be an industry that rakes in over $600 billion annually (sportstourismexpo.com, 2012). Those involved in sports tourism spend highly and stay for long than other types of tourists and for this matter; they propagate other forms of tourism. The sports tourism has its effects depending on which level it is hosted, be it regional, national, or international level. The effects may be direct or indirect; direct from the competitors or spectators and indirect from marketing of the host country whereby the tourists starts coming in, leading to the host benefiting from their presence.
Sports and tourism are the worlds leading industries where sports industry is mostly the feeder industry for tourism (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). The sports tourism has therefore emerged as a big international business, raking in billions of dollars. In addition, it has played a big part in attracting investors (Dodds & Graci, 2009) and those interested in political agendas to travel and participate or spectate. Some of the world famous sport tourism attractions are the soccer FIFA World Cup, Olympics and the European Football Champions. Estimates show that the international annual trip turnouts are about 12 million, though the figure is likely to depreciate depending on the season and events of the year. According to Simon Hudson (2008), five major areas have influenced the growth of the industry. These include attractions, resorts, cruises, tours, and events (p. 445).
Attractions
Under this category, development comes from the perspective of the industry offering attractive things to see which are sports-related. These attractions are either naturally occurring or created by man. Such destinations are characterized by sporting facilities offering events in sports, museums designed for commemoration of heroes (Hudson, 2008).
Resorts
These centers offer sports facilities to tourists, which include amenity and destination spas (Hudson, 2008); golf and tennis resorts; water and snow sport resorts (Hudson, 2008).The resorts are of varying sizes and at times conferences and meetings are held in them because of their conducive and attractive environment.
Cruises
These offer boat like trips with sport facilities and activities. Arrangements to transport tourists with ships fitted with sporting facilities can be made to cater for and satisfy the customers’ needs. There is also wide range- use of watercrafts for competition or recreation sports (Hudson, 2008).
Tours
Tourists can make their own arrangements or be arranged for to travel to various destinations in the world for sport activities. Some private tour and travel institutions have emerged to provide these services for a fee. Such tours may be aimed at visiting stadiums or arenas where the games are being hosted (Hudson, 2008).
Events
Most sports coverage is through media such as TV and radios; however of late fans have developed the urge of experiencing live coverage of the sports (Gammon and Robinson, 2003). This has created and increased the demand for travelling to the specific destinations where the sports are hosted owing in mind that most travelling costs have been slashed by most regional and international airlines. This has therefore made the sports tourism market to expand to meet the increasing demand for customers (Hudson, 2008).The highest catchment areas of this industry are from the UK, US, Germany, France, Spain, and South Africa among others. It is projected that the sports tourism market will grow by about 6% in a span of less than 10 years. Indeed, this calls for increased facilities to cater for the increasing number of customers in this industry. It is evident from this analogy that most regions, cities and to a far extend countries all over the globe have there economies relying on visitors for players or spectators of golf, football and rugby among other events (Hudson, 2008).
Recent Trends
The development of the sport tourism industry is actually sports oriented since the entire urge for travelling is passive or active participation in sports (Ritchie & Adair, 2004). Unlike other tourism-oriented industries, which suffer slow growth, the sports tourism is experiencing a hefty growth despite low attention from advisors. It is so clear from the two sectors that their impact is vast in terms investments, growth of economies, creating job opportunities and generation of funds (Hudson, 2008). For a politically stable country like Canada, the sector attracts over 3 million tourists between July and August annually (Statistics Canada, 2000). In most third world countries, unemployed and high population growth in widely pronounced and the development of sport tourism sectors has minimized this anomaly (Homafar, Honari, Heidary & Heiday, 2011). It has also boosted social cultural interactions in the host regions. Sports tourism requires some analysis to equip us with general knowledge on future uphill in this industry. The sport tourism industry is likely to lead and be influenced by a number of trends. The underlying trends to sports tourism can be examined under; the economic, political, societal, and technological trends which form the context in both sports and tourism (Homafar, Honari, Heidary & Heiday, 2011).
Economic Trends
Increasing income calls for increased tourists, while decreasing income degenerate its growth. Positive outcomes associated with flourished sport tourism are increase in trade and deregulation among others while negative ones are economic downturns and protected trading. The most dominant economic trend that has emerged from the latter part of the 20th century is globalization (Homafar, Honari, Heidary & Heiday, 2011), which has brought about commodification in this industry. The introduction of man made sporting sites like snowmaking and cloud seeding has provided opportunities for businesses to flourish like constructing indoor skis. Pollution is on the increase altering climate due high emissions of carbon dioxide coming from tourism activities (Hudson, 2008), mainly from the transportation industry, food and beverage and the attraction sectors (Hinch & Higham, 2011) and if these are not checked the industry is likely to face problems with regulatory agencies.
Political Trends
For this sector to face expansive development, political stability is vital. The developed countries like Europe and US are better placed in political stability and pose a big influence on global politics, which brings about imbalances in power among states where the result is driving of political trends (Hinch & Higham, 2011). Terrorists have also become increasing and widespread and this poses threats to sports tourism activities and development. This calls for increased and advanced methods of combating terrorism both in minor and major sports areas. Counter checking on this issue may increase the number of people in this sector. This is because people would be less concerned about terrorist attacks.
Social and Demographic Trends
There is likely exertion of pressure on this industry from the social and demographic front. Because of the increasing urge to discover, participate and learn about the places tourists visit, the sports tourism industry is challenged to come up with methods to address and meet the challenges posed by social needs of the citizens. There is however, a big change in the sporting activities due to immigration patterns in the world. Most sports tourism fanatics are aging and there those involved in this industry need to change some of their products to suit the consumer (Hinch & Higham, 2011). This may involve changing from tough activities to less tough outdoor activities that might not require much energy to perform with a theme of helping the customers maintain their health and not risking it. The desire to move from modern to postmodern lifestyle has contributed to the change in sports tourism (Homafar et al, 2011). In addition, the interaction between people from diverse origins can lead to mutual appreciation of other people’s social lives, bonding, and liking for others. Tourists promote social infrastructure such a schools and cyber cafes, among others. However, it can negative effects on social lives as well as culture. Indeed, tourism can lead to cultural dilution or its destruction (Mirbabayev & Shagazatova, 2007).
Technological Trends
These have helped in improving performance and experiences of tourists. Technology has played a big role in this industry, such as the development of the internet (Ritchie & Adair, 2004, which give people the information they need quickly and easily. Indeed, it might be that in future people will not need to travel to sporting destination if they can follow every proceeding in the comfort of their homes.
Implications for the future
From the above discussion, it is apparent that sports tourism will continue to explode in the coming years. The indelible potential of sports tourism can be measured by the current trends in the industry. Indeed, possibilities are pegged on ingenuity, new discoveries, as well as technological advancements. Moreover, countries will continue to dig deep into their coffers to build infrastructure that can attract sporting activities into their home countries (Meriwether, 2013). A well-developed infrastructural framework is critical in deciding which country will host certain events. In doing so, host nations will have to invest heavily, thus boosting their overall economic latitude (Ritchie & Adair, 2004, Hudson, 2008). However, in spite of such phenomenal and anticipated economic growth, there is cause of alarm for countries because of the cultural and social degradation that might result. The avalanche of social-cultural values from different corners of the world can significantly influence morals in host nations. It is indubitable that social and economic factors play an indelible part in every. Therefore, it is imperative that countries take cognizance of the benefits as well as potential threats posed by sports tourism (Ritchie & Adair, 2004).
Conclusion
In summary, this discussion has defined sport tourism as the movement of people from their habitation to another place for sports activities, either actively or passively. This paper has looked at the simple definition without necessarily contextualizing the social, social, economic, and cultural definitions as advanced by several authors. However, the proclivity of sports tourism towards the three facets has been dealt with, albeit on a different perspective. On the economic front, countries as well as business stand to benefits a lot. However, there are unforeseen negative effects of sports tourism, which can be projected in the light of recent trends. Indeed, technological advancements can potentially limit travel. However, the desire to visit diverse ecosystems could quintessentially influence cultural and social norms in host countries. It is therefore imperative that host countries take note of these critical issues to avoid the erosion of social and cultural values in pursuit of profits.
References List
Dodds, R. & Graci, S. (2009). Sustainable tourism in Island Destinations. Routledge, New York.
Hinch, T. & Higham, J. (2011). Sports Tourism Development, 2nd Edition. Channel View Publications, London.
Homafar, F., Honari, H., Heidary, A. & Heiday, T (2011). An Investigation of the Factors Influencing Sports Tourism Development. Retrieved from http://www.academicjournals.org/jhmt/pdf/pdf2011/Jan/Homafar%20et%20al%20%20pdf.pdf
Hudson, S. (2008). Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: a global perspective. SAGE, London.
Meriwether, K. (2013). New York City Cashing in on Sports Tourism. Retrieved from http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/new-york-city-cashing-in-on-sports-tourism-363123.html
Mirbabayev, B. & Shagazatova, M. (2007). The Economic and Social Impact of Tourism. Retrieved from http://www.grips.ac.jp/alumni/UzbekistanTourism%282%29.pdf
Ritchie, W. B & Adair, D. (2004). Sport Tourism: interrelationships, impacts, and issues. Routledge, New York.
sportstourismexpo.com. (2012). Sports Tourism. Retrieved from http://www.sporttourismexpo.com/sport-tourism
Statistics Canada (2000).Canadian Travel Survey. Retrieved from http://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/Statcan/87-212-XIE/0009887-212-XIE.pdf
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