The Future of Sport Tourism
Managing and Developing the Sport
Tourism Profession
 Tom
Robinson
 Senior
Lecturer
 Hanze
University Groningen
THE EMERGENCE OF SPORT TOURISM

One of the fastest growing sectors of the global
travel and tourism industry.
 Value in 2003 as high as $51billion, equivalent to
10 per cent of the global tourism market.
 By 2011, travel and tourism is expected to be
more than 10 per cent of global GDP
 The economies of cities, regions and even
countries around the world are increasingly
reliant on the visiting golfer and skier or the
traveling football, rugby or cricket supporter.
Source Nov. 2004 Sport Business report (900 Euro)
sportbusiness.com
Future of Sport Tourism
www.sportstravelmagazine.com
 Sports-related
travel is a $182 billion
industry, generating over 47 million hotel
room nights annually.
 Sports
related corporate incentive travel
 Team and sports event participation travel
 Family and sports spectator travel
 Adventure and sports fantasy travel
Sport Tourism
 Sport
is regarded as the world’s largest
social phenomenon
 Tourism
 Is
is the world’s biggest industry
SPORT TOURISM greater than the
sum of its parts?
Areas to address:
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Academic scientific research and scholarship
Education: curriculum / specialist courses. Body
of knowledge ?
Training
Professional organisations
Policy strategy
Trends in Tourism and Sport
Technology
Conceptualisation of Sport Tourism
 What
is Sport Tourism
 3- dimensional concept involving sport and
tourism? (Delpy, L.1998 )
 Travel
to play sport
 Travel to watch sport
 Travel to sport attractions
…..but what about….
 Vacations where sport is secondary motivation
SPORT TOURISM
Hard definition
passive or active participation at a
competitive sporting event
Soft definition
Primarily active recreational
participation in sport
National / International events
Rotterdam Marathon
Olympic Games
Soccer matches
Wimbledon
International cricket
“Fun Runs”
Hiking / walking
Skiing / Skating
Cycling tours
Canoeing
Disney World of Sports / Fantasy Camps
TOURISM SPORT
Soft definition
Visitors who engage in some minor
form of sport or leisure; their
participation is purely incidental
Hard definition
Tourists who as a secondary
reinforcement passively or
actively participate in sport
Mini-golf
Bowls
Swimming
Tennis court hire
Rowing / Punting
Pool / snooker
Landal Green Parks
Centre Parcs
Halls of fame
Sports Cruises
Sport museums
Stadia Tours
Diagram 1: A consumer classification of sport and tourism (Robinson & Gammon 1997)
Sport or Sports Tourism?

Parks et al point out when discussing the differences
in Sport and Sports management:
 “Sports implies a collection of separate activities such
as golf, soccer, hockey, volleyball, softball, and
gymnastics - items in a series that can be counted.
Sport, however, is a collective noun that includes all
activities that meet the criteria, not just a few that may
be placed on a list” (Parks et al, 1990:6).
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Therefore Sports Tourism focuses upon
competitive sporting travel, whereas the term
Sport Tourism is a far broader concept which
embraces sport as being both recreational as well
as competitive; both institutionalised and
transitory.
(Gammon and Robinson 1999)
Academic perspective
 Journals
ESMQ,
Sport in Society
Journal of Vacation Marketing
 Journal of Sport Tourism

Serving the trade and academic community
1995 →2003 electronic, 2003-2005 hard copy
 Journal of Sport and Tourism
Renamed and repositioned - academic
Academic perspective
 Body
of knowledge
 Educational
 Training
 Sport
programmes
courses
Tourism International Council
THE TEN IMPORTANT WORLD
TOURISM ISSUES FOR 2008

Safety and Security in Tourism
 Best Practices for Managing Sustainable Tourism
 New Developments in e-commerce tools in Tourism
 Tourism Policy and Planning
 Tourism Education and Training
 Effect of Climate Change on Tourism
 Influence of the World’s Economy on Tourism
 Marketing Quality Tourism Products and Experiences
 Partnerships and Strategic Alliances in Tourism
 Impact of Natural Disasters and Health Concerns on
Tourism
Source: Edgell, D. 2008
Future Trends
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The increasing development of individual sports as
opposed to collective sport
Diversification of sport participation models
Exaggerated segmentation of sport disciplines
Adaptation of sports activities to the constraints of
urban life
Development of a mythology of adventure in a
natural environment
Political trends
Globalisation
Socio-demographic trends
Hinch and Higham 2004
New motivations for tourists
 According
to World Tourism Organization
(WTO), two significant travel trends will
dominate the tourism market in the next decade
2000-2010:
 Mass marketing is giving way to one-to-one
marketing with travel being tailored to the
interests of the individual consumer.
 A growing number of visitors are becoming
special interest travellers who rank SPORT
as one of the top 10 reasons for travelling.
Sydney, 23 September 2000. View of the
start of the women's mountain biking event
Changes in TOURIST interests
OLD TOURISTS
 Lie in the sun
 Get sunburnt
 Like attractions
 No special interests
 Eat in hotel dining
room
Poon 1993
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NEW TOURISTS
Get up and get active
Keep clothes on
Try out local food and
drinks
Like sports
Special interests
Old Tourists
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Sun
 Sand
 Sea
New Tourists
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Small scale
 Segmentation
 Satisfaction
 Sensitive
Future Tourists
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Emotion
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Education
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Entertainment
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Experience
What is an Experience?
“An experience occurs when a company
intentionally uses services as the stage,
and goods as props, to engage
individual customers in a way that
creates a memorable event”
Pine and Gilmore (1998)
Increasing sport event calendar
1970 – 55
 2004 – 35,000
 Bigger and more of them
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Active sport tourism market
Sport tourism Attractions
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Olympic Museum
Lausanne, Switzerland

Hall of Fame
Cooperstown, N.Y.
Sport as a secondary motivation
Kerst en Oud & Nieuw bij Landal
Nordic Walking arrangement
GVB (Golf) arrangement
Landal Green Parks
Assen Circuit new Attractions
a
hotel with conference facilities
 a retail business building
 a motor café with adjacent bowling centre
 a fun factory / game hall
 a flight simulator
 a go-cart centre with an adjacent sports car
assembly facility
 a motorcycle experience centre, including a
motorcycle museum
 a fitness aqua wellness and spa centre
 facilities that support the racetrack
Wimbledon Museum
The state of the art
museum features
exhibits and artefacts
never seen before, as
well as audio guides
in eight different
languages.
McEnroe's Ghost

a scene from
Wimbledon's past. In
a recreation of the
1980s Gentlemen's
Dressing Room, a
ghost-like image of
John McEnroe
appears and takes
you through a tour of
the normally off-limits
area
Virtual Sport Tourism
Emerging markets
CHINA
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Table tennis
Football
Badminton
Gymnastics
Diving
Summary
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Remarkable increase in opportunities in sport tourism
People focused profession
Specific knowledge and skills needed
Education and training programs are relatively rare
More research needed - profiling
Sector needs professionalism - linked to quality of experience
Recognition needed from academia / industry
Body of knowledge needs to be developed
Need to develop links between academic institutions and
industry to meet present and future targets for trained
professionals in sport and tourism.
The development of new courses to meet the needs of the
specialist sport tourist and develop a framework for the industry.
The next Olympic Sport? 
Space Sport Tourism

30 million US dollars
 Russian Space
Agency

When will space sport
tourism activity take
place?
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2020? 2050? 2100?
6th February 1971: Man plays golf on the Moon
Alan Shepard hit two balls just before lift-off, and drove
them, as he put it, "miles and miles and miles".