sport tourism essays

What is sports tourism and why it is so big?

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Sports tourism is BIG business. We all know that sport tourism involves sporting activity, that much is pretty obvious, but there is much more than a game of sport involved in the multi million Dollar global industry. In this article I will explain what sports tourism is, I will tell you about the different types of sports tourism and I will discuss the benefits of sports tourism.

What is sports tourism?

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Sports tourism is the act of travelling from one locality to another, with the intention of being in some way involved with a sporting activity or event .

Many people believe that sports tourism relates only to watching a sporting event. However, this is not correct. The sports industry is much more than this.

Sports tourism encompasses travelling for your own sporting purposes, such as a yoga teacher training course, a badminton competition or to learn to surf. Sports tourism includes attending sporting events such as a Formula One race or a Premiership football match. Sports tourism includes nostalgic visits to places of historical importance, such as the Olympic stadium in Barcelona or to see memorabilia related to your favourite sporting hero, such as the museum at the Maracana football stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

There are, in fact, four main types of sport tourism. These types are known as:

• Sport Event Tourism
• Active Sport Tourism
• Nostalgia Sport Tourism

Passive sports tourism

While sports tourism has not always been extremely popular, during the recent decade the amount of people attending out of area sporting events has drastically increased. People are now traveling far and wide just to attend their favorite events, and it is no wonder as to what has encouraged the sudden spike in popularity.

Sport tourism is a relatively new concept, although it has been around for a long time.

There are many academic studies which delve into the concept of sports tourism, particularly sports tourism that involves large sporting events, such as the football World Cup or the Olympic Games. Some scholars and sports tourism stakeholders have attempted to define the term sports tourism.

According to Neirotti (2003), sports tourism can be broadly described as;

‘Including travel away from one’s primary residence to participate in sports activity, for recreation or competition purposes, travel to observe sport at grassroots or elite level, and travel to visit a sports attraction such as a sports museum, for instance’.

Weed and Bull (2004), provide a conceptualisation of the sports tourism phenomenon as;

‘A social, economic and cultural phenomenon arising from the unique interaction of activity, people and place’’.

Gammon and Robinson (2003) state that sports and tourism is;

‘Not just about the management and operation of mega events; it also concerns offering consumer-specific sports and tourism-related services and experiences to the sports tourist.’

Read also: Sustainable tourism- everything you need to know

Gammon and Robinson (2003) further argue that the sports tourism industry cannot be defined easily and that there should be different definitions according to the type of sports tourism that is being discussed. They visualise this in the model below.

Today, sport is regarded as the world’s largest social phenomenon. And, tourism is predicted to become the world’s biggest industry early in the next century. So it doesn’t take a genius to work out that sports tourism is pretty big business!

The sports tourism industry has grown considerably in recent years. In 2016 the sports tourism industry was worth $1.41 trillion and this figure is expected to increase to approximately $5.72 trillion by 2021. This is a whopping 41% growth in only four years!

**Studying sports tourism? I recommend- Sports Tourism: Participants, Policy and Providers **

The sports tourism industry makes up a significant part off the overall tourism industry. Some people claim that this figure is as high as 25%, meaning that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports related!

The importance of sports tourism is further emphasised by the media statements from the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which in 2004, announced their commitment to reinforce their partnerships on collaboration in the sports and tourism domain. They stated that; 

‘Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary… both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurant-projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.

This demonstrates that sports tourism has a wider economic and social impact than simply the sporting occasion itself. It provides social and economic opportunities for the local population , as well as visitors to the area.

The different types of sport tourism

Sport tourism can be segregated into four main types: sport event tourism, nostalgia sports tourism, active sports tourism and passive sports tourism. Below I have provided a short explanation of what each type of tourism is, along with some examples.

Sport event tourism

Sports event tourism is tourism which centres around a sporting event. Sporting events can be of any size and importance, however it tends to be the major sporting events which gain the most gravitas.

Hallmark events, such as the Olympics or football World Cup, are important centres for sport event tourism, bringing millions of tourists to the host destination.

Smaller events, such as the Henley Regatta in the United Kingdom or a national tennis competition also clarify as sport event tourism.

An often overlooked example of sport event tourism are amateur sporting events. Events such as regional school competitions, youth sporting leagues and non-profit community based sport events are just a few examples.

Wimbledon, also known as ‘The Championships’ is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. A prestigious sporting event, Wimbledon is often associated with the upper class, where spectators sip sparkling wine and Pimms whilst dressed in their best frocks.

Knowing very little about tennis, I attending Wimbledon a couple of years ago just to experience this famous event, which is an integral part off British heritage!

Dating back to 1877, Wimbledon has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, on the outskirts of London, each year. The tennis is played on outdoor grass courts, which is unlike tennis matches played in many other parts of the world.

Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open.

The tournament takes place in late June/early July each year.

The football World Cup, known officially as the FIFA World Cup, is an international football tournament held every four years.

The  Fédération Internationale de Football Association  (FIFA) is the sport’s global governing body. The football consists of mens only teams and boats the most skilled footballers in the world.

Teams must first pass the qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years. After this, 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete in the tournament. The World Cup tournament generally lasts about one month.

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition that takes place. It involves what are considered to be the six best nations in terms of rugby in Europe The six nations are:

The Six Nations tournament begins on the first weekend in February each year and finishes with ‘Super Saturday’ on the second or third Saturday in March.

Each team is required to play every other team once (making a total of 15 matches). Each team will play one match at home and one match away from home.

I attended a six nations match once and whilst I’m really not into rugby (surprise!), I really enjoyed the sophisticated and supportive atmosphere at the venue.

Inspired by the ancient Greeks, the modern Olympic Games have been running since 1896. But, in fact, the games have been played in some form or another since long before this date.

The Olympics is perhaps the most famous and the most popular international sporting event. It features both summer and winter sports competitions which take place every four years. Like many other major sporting events, the Olympics are held in a different location each time.

Read also: Slow tourism: Everything you need to know

The Olympics involves thousands of athletes from around the world who compete in a range of different sports, from trampolining to running. Over 200 nations participate in the event.

The Super Bowl is the annual championship of the National Football League (NFL). Based in the Unites States of America, this is the most popular sport tourism event of the year.

Some interesting facts include The Super Bowl being the second-largest day for food consumption in the USA (after Thanksgiving) and the Super Bowl being the most-watched American television broadcast of the year.

Nostalgia sports tourism

Nostalgia sport tourism involves travelling to famous sport-related tourist attractions.

Nostalgia sports tourism may celebrate sports of the past or the present. It may include visiting museums or exhibitions, visiting sporting hall of fames or visiting sporting venues.

The nostalgia sports tourist does not need to be actively participating in sport or to be spectating. They may simply want to learn more or to reminisce.

Here are some examples of popular nostalgia sport tourism attractions.

We visited Calgary Olympic Park on travels through Canada with a baby and loved it!

WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park (COP), (formerly known as Paskapoo Ski Hill) was one of the venues used in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Nowadays, it is open to the general public and iw well known for its ski jumping, bobsleigh and luge.

Whilst we did learn a little bit about the Olympics on our visit here, we actually sent more time on the luge ride than anything else because it was so much fun!

The Maracana is a famous football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is rich in history and was once the largest stadium in the world.

The stadium was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup. The venue has seen attendances of 150,000 or more at 26 occasions. Over time terraces were replaced with seating, and after the renovation for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Maracana’s original capacity was reduced to 78,838.

Nowadays, it is popular to take a tour to visit the Maracana stadium, like I did when I travelled to Buenos Aires with my friend who is football mad!

The Olympic Village, known in Spanish as La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou is an area in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona, Spain.

The Barcelona Olympic Village was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Barcelona.

Nowadays, visiting the Barcelona Olympic Village is a popular sports tourism activity undertaken by many tourists visiting Barcelona.

Active sports tourism

Active sports tourism is when a person travels to actively participate in their chosen sport, or when they travel for other reasons, but taking part in sport is an important part of their tourism experience.

Active sports tourists can be segregated into three classifications: The amateur sports tourist; the hobbyist sports tourist and the professional sports tourist.

I would say that I would generally come under the first category. I am an amateur (at best!) at every sport I try my hand at. But, I still like to give it a go! I’ve attempted skiing in Argentina, kayaking in Vietnam and surfing in Costa Rica, to name but a few.

Read also: Business tourism: Everything you need to know

My husband, on the other hand, is usually either a hobbyist sports tourist or a professional sports tourist. He plays for badminton and football teams and loves playing a large number of sports in his free time. He is also a former athlete, having competed for Britain as a trampoline gymnast. As part of this role he travelled around the workload for professional sporting competitions. This qualified him as a professional sports tourist.

There are a large number of active sports that a tourist may choose to get involved with around the world. Here are a few that I have experienced on my travels. But there are sooo many other sports that you can get involved in as a sports tourist!

• Diving in the Galapagos
• Swimming at the Great Barrier Reef
• Playing tennis in Morocco
• Learning archery in Spain
• Going running in France
• Cycling in Amsterdam
• Taking yoga classes in Bali
• Learning tai chi in China
• Kayaking in Vietnam
• Sailing in Australia
• Skiing in Argentina
• Surfing in Costa Rica
• Playing baseball in Boston
• Hand gliding in Rio de Janeiro
• Fishing in The Gambia
• Climbing in Thailand
• Horse riding in Equador
• Walking in Jeju

Here are a few active sports tourism examples:

Did I ever tell you that I completed a Tough Mudder Race? This was a BIG achievement!

Tough Mudder is an endurance event. It is a an obstacle course, originally designed for army training. It is a test of the mind and body.

The race is usually between 10-12 miles in length. It includes a number of obstacles, many of which involve mud! The obstacles often play on common human fears, such as fire, water , electricity and heights.

**Buy now: Sport and Tourism – a recommended textbook for sports studies students!**

Common obstacles include:

• Arctic Enema – Participants plunge into a tank filled with ice water, where they must swim under the water and past an obstacle to the other side.
• Electroshock Therapy – This is where participants will run through a pit of mud where electric wires sway in the air. Participants will often get small electric shocks.
• Funky Monkey – Monkey bars over a pit of cold water. The bars are covered with a mixture of butter and mud.
• The birthing canal- A small, confined space that the participant must crawl through. The upper layer is filled with water so it feels like you are being compressed as you crawl through the tunnel.

Of course, you will need to travel to a Tough Mudder venue to be classified a sports tourism, but many people do!

Many people choose to travel to South Korea for martial arts holidays and Taekwondo-themed events. These might be amateur sports tourists, hobbyist sports tourists or professional sports tourists, depending on the level of involvement and activity type.

Portugal is a popular destination for surf holidays. You can go it alone, if you have the skills and ‘know-how’, or you can book a tour. There are a number of tour operator who offer specialised surfing holidays for all levels of sports tourists, ranging from beginner to advanced.

There are several golfing hotspots around the world. One of the most popular places to travel to for a golfing holiday is Florida . With its year-round pleasant weather and large open spaces, Florida welcomes golf tourists from all over the world to play on their first-class golf courses.

There are many parts of Asia that are known for the popularity of yoga. However, done attracts so many tourists as Bali. Bali is famous the world over for offering top quality yoga retreats and yoga teacher training courses.

Lastly, it is important to recognise that whilst sport is inherently active , not all those who participate or who are involved with the sport are themselves active. In fact, passive tourists can actually contribute more to the sport than those who are active!

A passive sports tourist is a person who is not actively participating in the sport. They are spectators or fans. Passive sports tourism involves tourists watching sport being played. This could take place at a major sporting event (qualifying this also as sports event tourism), or they could simply be supporting a family member of friend. Most passive sports tourists are fans.

Football, or soccer, is arguably the most well-known and popular sports in the world.

Manchester United is a particularly famous football club. It is estimated by the BBC that Manchester United has a whopping 659million football fans!

I always find is fascinating when I travel to a country that is so different and so far removed from my own, yet the locals are also quick to ask me about Manchester United!

Many sports tourists will follow Manchester United, or which ever football team is their favourite, around the world to watch their games.

Anthony Joshua is a British professional boxer. He has many millions of followers, both from the UK and abroad.

Anthony is a two-time unified heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles since December 2019, and previously between 2016 and June 2019. At regional level, he held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from 2014 to 2016.

Anthony Joshua participates in fights around the world and is often accompanies by his passive sports tourism supporters.

The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for any of the Home Nations – the national teams of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. 

If rugby is your thing and your from Britain or Ireland, then this is a pretty big deal.

The Lions have many thousands of passive sports tourism supporters who cheat them on each match.

Cricket is pretty big in Australia. So big, in fact, that the Australian cricket team has an estimated 24million supporters! Many of these supporters travel with the team around the world as passive sports tourists.

As with any type of tourism , there are a range of benefits and advantages of sports tourism. Whilst the most obvious is perhaps the economic advantage of tourism , there are also positive social impacts as well as environmental impacts . Below I provide some examples:

• Sports encourages tourists to visit the area
• Sports tourism creates economic growth through tourists booking hotel rooms, eating in restaurants and opening money in local shops
• Sports tourism helps to create exposure and enhances a positive image for the local community
• Many sports tourism infrastructures and facilities can also be used by members of the host community
• The development of sports tourism helps to build a sense of community
• Sports tourism has the potential to attract high-yield visitors and repeat visitors
• It can provide opportunity to develop new infrastructure in the area
• The media can help to promote the destination
• Sports tourism can improve overall tourist numbers
• Money made from sports tourism can be reinvested into the local economy
• Sports tourism creates jobs for local people
• Sports tourism which relies on the natural environment may result in better environmental management and preservation

Whilst there are many positive impacts of sports tourism, however, it is also important that there are a number of negative impacts too. Aspects such as environmental degradation when gold courses, employing foreign rather than local people for major sporting events and locals who feel that their cultural norms are being overlooked (such as not covering your shoulders in the Middle East, for example), are just a few example of negative impacts of sports tourism.

It is clear that sports tourism is big business. Whether its events sports tourism, active sports tourism, nostalgic sports tourism or passive sports tourism, there is a huge market for tourists worldwide. However, as with any type of tourism, sports tourism must be carefully managed to ensure that it is sustainable .

For more information on sports tourism, I recommend the texts below;

• Sports Tourism: Participants, Policy and Providers – explains sports tourism as a social, economic and cultural phenomenon that stems from the unique interaction of activity, people and place.
• Sport Tourism Development – a text book covering the growth and development of sport tourism.
• Sport Tourism Destinations: Issues and Analysis – with contributions from international experts, this book looks at the dramatic effects sports tourism has on the economy and future of tourism destinations. 
• Sport and Tourism – This book proposes a groundbreaking theoretical model which explores globalization, mobility and authenticity providing insight into the unique interrelationship that exists in a sport tourism context between activity, people and place.

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Home — Essay Samples — Geography & Travel — Tourism — Sport Tourism

Sport Tourism

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Words: 569 |

Published: Sep 20, 2018

Words: 569 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

What is economic impact of sport tourism?

• subjective estimates, relying on primarily on expert judgment;
• aggregate secondary data, involving adjusting comparable estimates;
• disaggregate secondary data, allowing more in- depth adjustments to better suit the study focus; and
• primary data- typically visitor surveys and formal economic models. However the key factor in determining the most appropriate step for economic impact calculation is primary and secondary data.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, sport tourism: a perspective article.

Tourism Review

ISSN : 1660-5373

Article publication date: 22 April 2020

Issue publication date: 26 February 2021

The purpose of this paper is to review the past 75 years of sports tourism and explore the potential of the next 75 years.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a personal perspective paper that reflects upon the emergence and development of the field of sport tourism, contemporary challenges and future pathways.

Research must extend to wider manifestations of sport, and sport-related tourism, in response to the growth of participation and pleasure sports and the increasingly important roles of those sports in addressing the growing social and environmental challenges of contemporary life.

Originality/value

This paper offers insights into the future of sports tourism.

• Sport tourism
• Future perspectives
• Lifestyle sports
• Participation and pleasure sports
• Power and performance sports

Higham, J. (2021), "Sport tourism: a perspective article", Tourism Review , Vol. 76 No. 1, pp. 64-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-10-2019-0424

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19 Sport, Tourism, and Social Impacts

Heather J. Gibson is a professor of tourism at the University of Florida. Her work cuts across the fields of leisure, tourism, and sport, with a focus on understanding behavioral choices in the context of gender, life span, and well-being. She authored some of the seminal papers in sport tourism and incorporated her focus on women and mid- and later life into the study of active sport tourism. She is a former managing editor of Leisure Studies and is an associate editor for the Annals of Tourism Research and the Journal of Sport & Tourism, among others.

Sheranne Fairley is an associate professor in the School of Business at the University of Queensland. Fairley’s research focuses on three major streams: sport and event tourism, volunteerism, and the globalization of sport. Her books include Rebranding and Positioning Australian Rules Football in the American Market (2009) and Renegotiating the Shanghai Formula One Event (2009, with K. D’Elia). She is editor-in-chief of the research journal Sport Management Review .

• Published: 21 September 2022
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Scholarship in sport tourism began to gather speed in the late 1990s. Initially attention was on defining sport tourism and the economic impact of sport events. Calls to move scholarship from largely descriptive case studies to a theoretically informed body of work manifested in various ways. This chapter chronicles some of the developments in sport tourism scholarship over the past 20 years, with a focus on legacy and leveraging, social impacts, and small-scale events. In so doing, topics such as event portfolios, social capital, youth sport, and the impact of COVID-19 are discussed. The growth of event management as a discipline is examined in terms of its impact on sport tourism going forward. The authors note the touristic dimension in sport event research has often been missing or downplayed in recent studies, which raises questions about the long-term viability of sport tourism as an area of study.

As tourism became increasingly specialized in the 1990s, there was a growing recognition about travel associated with sport. Initially, when a group of scholars began to focus on sport tourism as an area of study, there was much debate around the definition of “sport tourism” (e.g., Gibson, 1998b ; Higham & Hinch, 2002 ; Weed & Bull, 2004 ). Through the years we have reached somewhat of a consensus that sport tourism breaks down into three main types: (1) travel to actively participate in sport, (2) travel to spectate at a sport event, and (3) travel related to nostalgia. The third form of sport tourism has always received less attention and has also been the most contested (e.g., Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005 ). Yet a quick review of the literature shows that there is an active group of scholars who have coalesced around this nostalgia/heritage sport tourism focus (e.g., Cho, Ramshaw, & Norman, 2014 ; Fairley, 2003 ; Ramshaw, 2020 ; Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005 ).

The first decade of sport tourism–related scholarship gave rise to two issues which are relevant to this chapter. The first was a focus on economic impact, primarily of sport tourism events (e.g., Daniels & Norman, 2003 ; Turco, 1998 ). This focus was not surprising, as communities were starting to use sport tourism as an economic development tool in the late 1990s, and many of these studies were commissioned by tourism agencies and emerging sports commissions. The second issue was a critique about the overly descriptive, atheoretical nature of early work (e.g., Gibson, 2004 ; Weed, 2006 ). However, the focus on description at this stage was not unexpected since the state of knowledge necessitated delimiting the area of study and conceptualizing and describing what comprised sport tourism. However, if, as sport tourism scholars, we were to move forward in developing this emerging area of study located at the intersection of sport management, tourism management, and leisure studies (this was the home to some of the early publications and themed conferences; cf. Gammon & Kurtzman, 2002 ), we needed to move into the next phase of knowledge development: understanding the how and the why ( Gibson, 2004 ).

At this stage we had not actively incorporated event management scholarship into this intersection. While Getz (1998) had written a paper on sport tourism in the event management context, event management had not penetrated sport and tourism management to the extent it has today. In fact, as we noted earlier, while our spectator sport tourists were called “event sport tourists” ( Gibson, 1998b ) in our early work, and while we were often researching sport tourism in event-related contexts (e.g., Higham & Hinch, 2002 , 2001 ; Ryan & Lockyer, 2002 ), the event was not the main focus. Today we have seen a definite shift in the prominence of the event context. This shift has been so extensive that the focus on sport tourism has been somewhat subsumed by the focus on sport events ( Gibson, 2017 ). Indeed, some may question the viability of this area of study going forward. Yet, at the same time, we can point to a resurgence of interest from practitioners and the industry, particularly in niche areas of sport tourism such as youth sports. Also evident is a growing interest among academics throughout Asia, particularly in China and Japan ( Dong, 2020 ; Hinch & Ito, 2018 ). As authors of this chapter, in reflecting back as well as projecting into the future, we are provided with an opportunity to examine some of the most significant developments in sport tourism research which helped to counter the early critiques of being atheoretical.

Responses to the critiques about lack of theory and being overly descriptive, as well as the focus on economic impacts, led us in two directions. First was the identification of appropriate concepts and theories that might enhance the explanatory power of sport tourism–related work to help us build a body of work that was sequential and could push our understanding forward. Weed (2006) , drawing upon Forscher’s (1963) classic treatise on “chaos in the brickyard,” challenged us to move beyond the individual case study approach to work toward building a cohesive body of knowledge about sport tourism. Gibson’s (2006) edited book, Sport Tourism Concepts and Theories, provided a compendium of potential theories that might be used to frame our work. Certainly, in the research on the active sport tourist there is evidence that scholars did heed the call to frame their work in appropriate theories. For example, Kaplanidou and Vogt (2007) used the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand participants in a cycling event. The concepts of involvement and enduring involvement, which have a long history in leisure studies, were applied to understand participation in Master’s Games ( Ryan & Lockyer, 2002 ) and travel to take part in running events ( McGehee, Yoon, & Cardenas, 2003 ), and were combined with a benefits-sought framework to investigate cycle tourists ( Gibson & Chang, 2012 ). A constraints framework, again from leisure studies, has been a popular approach to understanding participation patterns in snow sports ( Hudson, 2000 ; Williams & Fidgeon, 2000 ) and surfing tourism among women ( Fendt & Wilson, 2012 ), as has using serious leisure (Stebbins, 1982) to examine commitment and experiences in active sport tourism contexts (e.g., Shipway & Jones, 2007 ). Lamont, Kennelly, and Wilson (2012) added the idea that active sport tourists not only negotiate but prioritize constraints on their participation; they examined this within the event travel career framework proposed by Getz (2008) . Getz combined serious leisure (Stebbins, 1982) , Pearce’s (1998) travel career, and Unruh’s (1979) social worlds to develop the event travel career framework, which has spawned a series of studies on running ( Getz & Anderson, 2010 ) and mountain biking ( Getz & McConnell, 2011 ). Buning and Gibson (2015) proposed some further developments to what they called the active sport event travel career in their study of cycling within a U.S. context by providing more detail on career development and how this intersected with the events in which these cyclists chose to participate. Recently, Aicher, Buning, and Newland (2020) put more focus on the social worlds aspect of the active sport event travel career among runners and found that degree of immersion in the running social world shapes not only event participation but also related tourism behaviors.

These are only some of the conceptual approaches that have been used by researchers on active sport tourism; the application of these various frameworks has provided some unique insights into how and why active sport tourists participate in their various sports. More important, we have seen a shift in focus to understand the meanings and benefits that such participation has for these individuals, notably with a recent focus on the well-being associated with participation in active sport tourism ( Mirehie & Gibson, 2020 ). However, some notable gaps remain, particularly in that much of the focus on active sport tourism has not interrogated the sociostructural issues associated with participation, such as gender, race, and class ( Gibson & Mirehie, 2018 ). Active sport tourism is still mainly experienced by white, middle-class, and predominantly male participants, as was evident over 20 years ago, when some of the first papers were written ( Bordelon & Ferreira, 2019 ; Gibson, 1998a ). Another issue of importance is that there are few current researchers focusing on active sport tourism. This was evident in editing a special issue of the Journal of Sport & Tourism, where it took several rounds of the call for papers to attract a sufficient number of submissions ( Gibson, Lamont, Kennelly, & Buning, 2018 ). Of course, some of this can be attributed to researchers being pushed to publish in higher-impact journals, but the sister special issue “Sport Tourism and Sustainable Destinations” ( Hinch, Higham, & Moyle, 2016 ), for example, attracted enough papers for two issues. In delving more deeply into this topic, it is evident from the recent literature that there are an increasing number of studies on sport participation and also a growing focus on understanding the whys and hows of participation and links to health and well-being (e.g., Mirehie & Gibson, 2020 ). However, more troubling for sport tourism, is that many of these projects have ignored the touristic aspects of participation (e.g., Raggiotto & Scarpi, 2020 ), when we know that the very act of traveling not only contributes to well-being (e.g., Smith & Diekmann, 2017 ) but is part of the reason people take part in these events. So perhaps one pressing issue is that participation in event contexts may not be conceptualized and understood to its full extent without a focus on the touristic components of the experience.

As we reflect back on the original event sport tourism category, where the focus was on the hosting of events and spectators traveling to them, we can see that much research about the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games acted as a catalyst for the expansion of different disciplinary approaches to study sport tourism and events. The work of the Cooperative Research Center for Sustainable Tourism’s Sydney Olympics Tourism Impacts Study is a source of much of the work that we see today on leveraging and flow-on tourism (see Faulkner et al., 2001 ). The application of concepts from marketing and the call to reconceptualize our thinking away from impact to leveraging ( Chalip, 2004 ; Faulkner et al., 2001 ) were significant shifts in the way we think about events, and will be explored in more depth below. Additionally, in a project funded by the Australian Research Council, Green (2001) applied concepts from anthropology and proposed a sociocultural approach to understanding volunteering associated with Sydney 2000, at a time when much of the existing work was focused on volunteer motivation (e.g., Farrell, Johnston, & Twynam, 1998 ). Following the long tradition of focusing on resident responses to tourism, Waitt’s (2003) study on the sociological and social-psychological impacts of hosting the Olympics on Sydney residents reflected not only the growing focus on the social impacts of event hosting that were beginning to emerge at the time but also growing concerns from sociologists and others about the legacy of hosting these sport mega-events (e.g., Cashman, 2003 ; Preuss, 2007 ).

Within research on nostalgia sport tourism, the big issue has always been the legitimacy of this form of sport tourism ( Ramshaw & Gammon, 2005 ; Weed & Bull, 2004 ). The original conception of nostalgia sport tourism emanated out of Redmond’s (1991) work and was used to describe sport-related travel associated with visiting museums, sport halls of fame, stadium tours, and other sport-themed tourism ( Gibson, 1998b ). Fairley (2003) broadened this definition and noted that the nostalgia around sport tourism could be based on social experience rather than event or sport memory. Ramshaw and Gammon (2005) have suggested that nostalgia sport tourism is a form of heritage tourism and should be conceptualized as such. While this debate is not settled, scholars continue to work in this area and produce theoretically informed work pushing the boundaries of our knowledge on nostalgia. One such trend is to move beyond a focus on nostalgia relating to famous stadia or sports halls of fame to consider intangible forms of nostalgia such as the social experiences among longtime fans of a particular team or memories of significant sporting triumphs or losses as social nostalgia ( Fairley, 2003 ; Fairley, Gibson, & Lamont, 2018 ). Several key papers explore the idea that nostalgia is multidimensional, and we can see that, for the participants of these studies, nostalgia is linked to multiple attachments, such as family and identity ( Cho et al., 2014 ; Fairley et al., 2018 ). Indeed, as nostalgia gained prominence in the COVID-19 era, Gammon and Ramshaw (2020) suggested that nostalgia might be a coping mechanism people use to deal with changes in everyday life, such as stay-at-home orders enacted by many countries during spring 2020. Closer still to sport tourism, Weed (2020) mentions nostalgia as one of the key concepts in understanding the effects on and potentially the reshaping of sport and tourism in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With much of the contemporary focus on sport tourism residing largely within event contexts, we will devote this part of our chapter to a more in-depth focus on the conceptual approaches that have predominated in the sport-event tourism domain: (1) legacy versus leverage, (2) social impacts and social legacies, and (3) small-scale sport tourism events.

Legacy or Leverage?

Events are believed to provide benefits to destinations; however, research has suggested that these benefits do not occur as a matter of course ( Brown, Chalip, Jago, & Mules, 2002 ; Chalip, 2004 , 2006 ; Chalip & Leyns, 2002 ; O’Brien & Chalip, 2007 ). Economic impact studies provide mixed results ( Gratton, Dobson, & Shibli, 2000 ; Mules, 1998 ). Given the significant public investment in events like the Olympic Games, and rising questions about whether such events actually produce the touted benefits ( Maennig, 2007 ), scholars turned to event legacy. Event legacy focuses on long-term impacts from events ( Preuss, 2007 ). Specifically, Preuss defined legacy as “all planned and unplanned, positive and negative, tangible and intangible structures created for and by a sport event that remain longer than the event itself” (p. 211). Many potential types of legacies have been identified, including infrastructure, knowledge, policy, networks, sport, social capital, and environmental impacts ( Dickson, Benson, & Blackman, 2011 ; Preuss, 2015 ; Swart & Bob, 2012 ). Legacy assessments have been mixed; for example, Swart and Bob listed 33 positive and 39 negative legacies.

The International Olympic Committee included legacy in its charter in 2003, and since then potential host cities must detail a legacy plan in their bid documents ( Leopkey & Parent, 2012 ). Leopkey and Parent noted that while the first mention of legacy was found in the bid documents for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, the 2000s saw a significant increased focus on legacy effects among candidate cities. However, as Chalip and Heere (2013) suggest, host governments and event owners often use a narrative of legacy to legitimate significant public expenditures on sport events with little attention given to measurement and accountability. Indeed, basic questions arise about how and when one should assess whether a legacy has occurred. Further, many questions about who should be held accountable for legacy benefits remain unanswered. Most typically, public funds are spent before and during the event. Most committees formed to host events disband at their conclusion, and the stakeholders in the community responsible for making claims about the impacts and legacies of the events have often moved on to different roles by the time legacy is discussed and examined. As a consequence, legacy is often criticized as being mere rhetoric ( Tomlinson, 2014 ). In contrast, Chalip (2004) advocates for the use of an ex ante approach known as event leveraging, rather than the ex post approach that is legacy. Event leveraging focuses on strategic planning, views the event as the “seed capital,” and asks what a destination can do with an event to generate desired benefits ( O’Brien & Chalip, 2007 ). Chalip (2017 , p. 29) makes a good case that leveraging is of more use than legacy “because it focuses on strategic processes, rather than categories of outcome, and can thereby be applied across disparate contexts.”

Chalip’s (2004) original event leveraging model suggests that destination stakeholders can capitalize on the hosting of an event by strategically planning to capitalize immediate benefits from event visitors and trade, to entice visitor spending, lengthen visitor stays, and enhance business relationships. Further, destinations can use the opportunity to generate long-term benefits by utilizing the event-related media to showcase the destination and enhance its image. The leveraging framework includes identifying a leverageable resource, identifying the opportunities, creating strategic objectives from the opportunity, and developing means to achieve the objectives ( Chalip, 2004 ). Research on event leveraging has highlighted the need to consider culture, attitudes and beliefs, and systems and structures ( Chalip, Green, Taks, & Misener, 2017 ). Constraints and barriers to destinations leveraging events should also be considered; for example, host city contracts that involve commitments to global suppliers may prevent local businesses and tourism organizations from maximizing the value of the event to the local population ( Kelly, Fairley, & O’Brien, 2019 ).

Alternatively, an event portfolio approach, which is itself a leveraging strategy, changes the focus from singular events to a holistic and synergistic view of events at a destination ( Chalip, 2004 ; Getz, 2008 ; Ziakas, 2010 ). Specifically, event portfolios are based on “a series of interrelated events in terms of resources, theming, and markets which are strategically patterned on the basis of their operation and thematic readiness” ( Ziakas, 2014 , p. 329). The event portfolio facilitates the sharing of resources, collaborations, and cross-leveraging opportunities to achieve tourism outcomes ( Ziakas & Costa, 2011 ), while often considering the diversity of events, seasonality, and timing in selecting events ( Clark & Misener, 2015 ; Kelly & Fairley, 2018a ). The portfolio approach provides a balanced approach and opportunities for smaller events that may otherwise be overlooked ( Getz, 2008 ). Some destinations, however, may be dominated by one genre of event, such as sport events, as is the case of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Benefits from event portfolios are maximized only when strategic leveraging takes place ( Kelly & Fairley, 2018a ). The Sunshine Coast has one of the most recognized examples of this approach. As part of their strategic approach to leveraging their event portfolio, the Sunshine Coast has an established Events Board (with tourism, events, and government organizations represented) and an event strategy that outlines clear strategic goals. Guided by their event strategy, the Events Board provides advice to tourism and government organizations that direct funding for events. Additionally, long-term funding contracts and the provision of human resources to manage each transaction are used to establish long-term relationships between events and the destination.

Social Impacts and Social Legacies

Questions about legacies from sport mega-events generated a related line of research with a focus on social legacies. Chalip’s (2006) treatise on social leveraging and Misener and Mason’s (2006) work on building community networks and social capital were part of a “turning of the tide” from a focus on economic impact to more intangible outcomes from hosting events. The timing on this change of focus occurred when London had been awarded the 2012 Olympic Games and South Africa was getting ready to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and conversations were on legacy (for London 2012) and nation-building for South Africa. In the tourism journals, following the resident-impact line of inquiry, a body of knowledge about social impacts had emerged ( Fredline, 2005 ). For example, Gursoy and Kendall (2006) found that hosting mega-events, in this case the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, resulted in positive social outcomes such as increased pride, self-esteem, and community spirit. Enhanced pride and community spirit were again identified in South Korea’s hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup ( Kim, Gursoy, & Lee, 2006 ). Similarly, Ohmann, Jones and Wilkes (2006) found that Germany’s hosting of the 2006 FIFA World Cup instilled a sense of unity and national pride among its citizenry. Burgan and Mules (1992) had already invoked the concept of “psychic income” to describe this enhanced sense of pride, patriotism, and excitement, as expressed by residents of Brisbane in their hosting of the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Psychic income appeared to explain, at least during the event, why many of the negative impacts associated with hosting were forgotten as residents got caught up in the excitement and euphoria induced by the sporting competition. Similarly, as South Africa was getting ready for FIFA 2010, scholars reflected back on the 1995 Rugby World Cup and how President Nelson Mandela, as depicted in the movie Invictus , tried to establish a sense of collective spirit in the Rainbow Nation through rugby and advanced several treatises on nation-building through the hosting of such mega-events in the South African context (e.g., Labuschagne, 2008 ; Van Der Merwe, 2007 ). However, criticism associated with the 1995 Rugby World Cup pointed out that the collective spirit boost soon faded as the memory of winning the Cup diminished and the long history of challenges in that multiethnic nation was too complex to be solved by a sport event ( Van Der Merwe, 2007 ). Nonetheless, with the impetus shifting to a focus on legacy, in particular among politicians and event owners such as the IOC and FIFA, some scholars shifted their attention to the intangible outcomes of hosting under the umbrella term of “social impacts” or “social legacy” (e.g., Fredline, 2005 ; Minnaert, 2012 ; Prayag, Hosany, Nunkoo, & Alders, 2013 ; Schulenkorf, 2009 ).

This shift away from economic impacts, a focus often described as “disappointing” by residents (e.g., Kim, Gursoy, & Lee, 2006 ), pointed to needs for research to be sensitive to the more complex social and political micro-contexts of many hosting countries. Since the 1990s, sociologists, in particular, had been writing about the breakdown of community and social networks ( Putnam, 1995 ). There were also growing concerns about the increasing sociostructural divide and resulting increases in social inequality and the breakdown of social capital (e.g., Gould & Hijzen, 2016 ). Perhaps it is not surprising that governments started conceptualizing their mega-event hosting strategies in terms of building or rebuilding social cohesion. Waitt (2003) noted this with respect to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and Cornelissen, Bob, and Swart (2011) focused attention on South Africa’s nation-building goals in hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As stated earlier, the idea of building social capital through sport and events had already been raised (e.g., Misener & Mason, 2006 ). Several empirical studies emerged, evaluating the degree to which event hosting was linked to psychic income as the immediate emotional response but also to longer-term outcomes such as social capital (e.g., Gibson et al., 2014 ), building national identity among peoples with different ethnic identities ( Heere et al., 2014 ), happiness ( Hallman, Breuer, & Kuhnreich, 2013 ), and national well-being ( Kavetsos & Szymanski, 2010 ). While the research showed that the psychological response associated with hosting (psychic income) was indeed present, the longer-term goals of building social unity were often not met (e.g., Gibson et al., 2014 ). The missing part of these initiatives appeared to stem from the relative lack of social leveraging that was associated with the pursuit of these longer-term goals ( Chalip, 2006 ).

So while research on the social benefits of event hosting has grown and moved into the realm of sport for development (e.g., Schulenkorf, Thomson, & Schlenker, 2011 ) or has been used to examine volunteer legacies (e.g., Downward & Ralston, 2006 ), critiques over hosting these sport mega-events have escalated, so much so that the pool of potential host cities has considerably declined ( Sidhant, 2020 ). Critique levied at these sport mega-events is nothing new; in the sociology of sport, such a skeptical posture has a long tradition (e.g., Whitson & McIntosh, 1993 ). However, in the work in sport tourism in the late 1990s, some of these concerns became more central to inquiry in the emerging area of study focused on how tourism was associated with hosting these events. Higham (1999) , in a commentary paper, used this tradition of critiquing these mega-events as a point of departure to suggest focusing on another avenue of study in sport tourism events, that of small-scale event tourism.

Small-Scale Sport Tourism Events

As we said, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as communities began to invest in sport as a tourism development strategy, many of the early studies on these small-scale events were focused on economics ( Daniels & Norman, 2003 ; Turco, 1998 ). The tourism-event funding model at local levels is often based on investing public monies (tourist taxes generated from commercial lodging) into tourist ventures (e.g., hosting small-scale sport events) that generate economic activity for the community (i.e., return on investment). It is common for these event organizers to track hotel room nights and expenditure data from local businesses to demonstrate that these public monies have been used effectively. However, when leveraging strategies use grants to entice event managers to adopt a strategy designed to generate tourism, it may result in “mission drift” by shifting the event managers’ attention from their core purpose of staging the event ( Kelly & Fairley, 2018b ). When the focus of event managers shifts to tourism, they spend less time on the staging of their own event, leading to a product of lesser quality.

At the level of small-scale events in those early days, sports commissions, convention and visitors bureaus, as well as parks and recreation departments were encouraged to host sport events that would attract visitor spending from outside the community while making use of existing facilities and leveraging existing sport events ( Daniels & Norman, 2003 ; Higham, 1999 ). In the United States, calls were made to recognize the tourism value of college sports ( Gibson, Willming, & Holdnak, 2003 ); in New Zealand, Super 12 rugby was positioned as a way of counteracting seasonality in tourism ( Higham & Hinch, 2002 ); and motor sports were used to diversify tourism on the Gold Coast in Australia (e.g., Fredline & Faulkner, 1998 ). While each of these initiatives focused upon economic impacts, they also measured social impacts, such as the effects of event hosting on local communities ( Fredline, 2005 ) and understanding how sport tourists might be encouraged to engage in non-sport-related activities while visiting a destination, known as flow-on tourism ( Gibson et al., 2003 ).

By about 2010, hosting small-scale sport events for many communities had become a major part of their tourism strategies. Indeed, Gibson, Kaplanidou, and Kang (2012) argued that, for communities with sport facilities and a sport-centric culture, small-scale event sport tourism was a form of sustainable tourism development. We also saw a shift at this time in how event sport tourism was being conceptualized. Contrary to the earlier focus on spectators, the growth in travel for participatory sport events was a noticeable development ( Kaplanidou & Gibson, 2010 ). As we noted earlier, this gave rise to a line of research on sport-event participation experiences (e.g., Lamont et al., 2012 ; Shipway & Jones, 2007 ). Another development occurred at the community level as more communities recognized the economic potential associated with hosting small-scale sport events, particularly those featuring youth sport.

In 2019, it is estimated that sport tourists spent US $45.1 billion, including expenditures by venues and event organizers ( Sports ETA, 2019 ). Also in 2019, Wintergreen Research, Inc. reported that youth sport travel spending alone was estimated at U.S.$15 billion per year. In the meantime, some communities had invested heavily in new facilities to host these sport events, using both public monies as well as commercial investment. This resulted in a proliferation of “mega-complexes,” where sports facilities are combined with hotels and other guest services that specifically target traveling youth sport families ( Drape, 2018 ). While the youth sport industry understands the economic significance of this form of small-scale sport tourism and the local sports commissions and other agencies involved in hosting recognize that tourism is economically beneficial to their communities (a fact that was made abundantly clear when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted these contests [ Drape & Chen, 2020 ]), there has been little interest from academics on examining the tourism associated with youth sport for these families ( Garst, Gagnon, & Stone, 2019 ; Mirehie, Gibson, Kang, & Bell, 2019 ; Scott & Turco, 2007 ). Taks, Chalip, Green, Kesenne, and Martyn (2009) examined the flow-on tourism behaviors that take place as a result of some of the bigger youth sport tournaments. Still, the majority of research on youth sport participation has largely omitted consideration of tourism impacts. Indeed, costs associated with mandated travel have increased the time, money, and resources needed to participate in youth sport, disproportionally affecting those who lack the finances to participate (e.g., Knight & Holt, 2013 ).

Despite some of the growing concerns over the “big money” in youth sport, we still suggest that small-scale sport events have more positive potential for both communities and participants. As Higham (1999) suggested over 20 years ago, such events can bypass many of the negatives associated with hosting sport mega-events. Not surprisingly, research on sport-event participation has grown in tandem with more communities finding benefits in hosting participatory sport events. However, as noted, when considering active sport tourism, the focus on participation has come with reduced focus on understanding the touristic nature of small-scale sport events (e.g., Raggiotto & Scarpi, 2020 ). Further, returning to our earlier discussion on leveraging, Kennelly (2017) finds few event organizers understand how to effectively leverage their events to maximize both tourism benefits and participation experience. Much remains for future inquiry into this dynamic.

Our narrative shows that, over 20 years after study on the topic began, there is a body of theoretically informed work on various aspects of sport tourism, some of which has been accomplished in partnership with relevant agencies. However, the biggest debate today appears to be over the continued relevance of sport tourism in Western academic communities, particularly in light of the ascendance of event management in relation to both tourism management and sport management. Where is the focus on tourism in much of the contemporary research on events in general, and sport events in particular? We even have diverging opinions on this ourselves. It may be that our assessments stem from our different geographical contexts. While Australia is a more strategic leader in cohesive planning of sport events and event tourism, in the United States the importance of tourism in events varies widely depending on whom you are talking to, and event management and planning is largely dispersed among small independent agencies. In Australia, tourism and events often sit together within one organization; for example, Tourism and Events Queensland is a state statutory body in charge of events and tourism in Queensland.

One notable development since the mid- to late 1990s, when we saw the first coalescence around sport tourism, has been the rising prominence of events, both as an industry sector and an academic area of study. As a field, events and event management is claimed by hospitality, tourism, sport management, recreation, and event management in and of itself. The discipline housing degree programs or the events sector you work in will shape how you view tourism’s role in events. Not surprisingly, tourism academics tend to think of events as “just tourism.” Often they cannot understand why, over the past 10 years in university settings, students have been gravitating to event management degrees in such numbers that concerns have grown over the decrease in student enrollment in tourism programs. In fact, many of these event management students have no interest in tourism, as they do not see it as relevant to their future jobs as event planners.

In sport management degree programs, where there has been an appreciation of sport tourism for over 20 years, we have also seen a move away from the tourism aspects of sport events. Thus, while sport event management has grown in emphasis, both as an academic degree component and an area of research, we risk losing tourism, and by extension sport tourism, as an area of academic focus in parts of the world that were first associated with this area of study. A significant exception is continued growing interest in sport tourism from governments and scholars in the East, most notably in Asia. However, while it is encouraging to see scholars from a broader range of countries focusing on sport tourism, some of the earlier critiques about overly descriptive and atheoretical work remain. We hope, as was the case with our work in the late 1990s, that this turn of interest will fuel a new phase of research. There is promise for new ideas and approaches that can push the boundaries of our understanding about sport tourism in these countries, rather than emulating studies published in Western contexts over the past 20 years. Of course, we hope that this emergent stimulus of interest will be helpful in reframing and bringing culture-specific considerations more forward on the research agenda.

Another resilient area of debate surrounds the notion of leveraging, and the extent to which both academics and practitioners understand what it entails. As Kennelly (2017) found in her study of participatory events in the United Kingdom, few event organizers understood the need to leverage their events. This mirrors Chalip and Leyns’s (2002) conclusion almost 20 years ago in their studies about leveraging sport events on the Gold Coast in Australia. As journal reviewers and editors, we know that it is not uncommon to see manuscripts that claim to have a focus on leveraging, but in reality the focus remains on questions of impact rather than on how event-related actors devise and implement strategies to leverage outcomes from an event.

A new twist in discussions of sport mega-events that lead us to the legacy and leveraging debate is concern over the costs and resources devoted to hosting these events. In particular, there is growing concern that countries from the developing world are bidding for and hosting large-scale events; some observers suggest that it is irresponsible to burden such countries (or any country) with unnecessary debts given unrealistic expectations of benefits ( Dowse & Fletcher, 2018 ). Indeed, these bids are often motivated by unproven claims about economic benefits ( Whitson & Horne, 2006 ), with limited mention that the major beneficiaries of such events are most typically the elites, while everyday taxpayers are left with sometimes considerable burdens (e.g., Tomlinson, 2014 ).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on sport, tourism, and sport tourism. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have been postponed, and many other international and domestic sport events have been postponed or canceled. Just how sport tourism will recover remains unknown. Some professional sports have received special dispensation from governments to continue play despite state and national restrictions on social distancing and travel. For example, the National Rugby League and the Australian Football League have resumed playing in Australia, with some teams being forced to relocate to another state in order to continue playing, and strict protocols around social contact with others. Likewise, in the United States, the National Basketball Association has created a “bubble” at the ESPN Disney Wide World of Sports to finish a season that was interrupted by the sudden stay-at-home orders in spring 2020.

In tourism, the economic fallout from the pandemic has been particularly acute, as many countries have created tourism-centric economies since the previous global disruptions on tourism flows in the early to mid-2000s. Since 2014, international tourism had resumed exponential growth each year and in some parts of the world had reached a crisis point of too many visitors, a condition referred to as “overtourism” ( Weber, 2017 ). The almost complete shutdown of international tourism in April and May 2020 showed residents of these tourism-receiving communities what local life is like without hordes of visitors ( Haywood, 2020 ). Some have suggested that tourism in these communities could be reenvisioned ( Haywood, 2020 ), although the economic realities of having little to no tourism have also become apparent. Will the economic imperatives win out?

Similar discussions have been occurring in the youth sport world, led by the Aspen Institute’s (2015) Project Play ( Farrey, 2020 ). Without organized sport, physical activity during the early days of the pandemic-related lockdowns increased in outdoor venues such as parks and empty streets, and people of all ages rediscovered cycling and walking ( Ding, del Pozo Cruz, & Green, 2020 ; Venter, Barton, Gundersen, Figari, & Nowell, 2020 ). The number of youth in organized sport has been declining over the past decade (e.g., Aspen Institute, 2015 ); will the pandemic exacerbate this downward trend? Many U.S. youth sport tournaments were held despite public health concerns ( Allentuck, 2020 ).

In bringing this chapter to a close, it is time to think about the future of inquiry of sport tourism by reflecting on our dual critiques of early work in sport tourism for being too focused on economics and for being too often atheoretical. First, we should make clear that we still believe there is a role for economic-focused work. In the post-COVID-19 era, using a cost-benefit analysis to examine the economic returns from sport tourism initiatives for communities will be imperative ( Mules & Dwyer, 2005 ). For associated industries and communities, accurate estimates of economic impact will be needed to guide policy and engender support from government and residents alike. However, one lesson from research on sport events over the past 20 years is that economic benefit cannot be assumed. This is most particularly the case for the larger events involving major infrastructure development and the multilevel disruption of life for host communities.

As our discussion in this chapter has shown, there has been a two-pronged approach, centered on legacy and leveraging, to event-related research. While our knowledge had advanced in these two areas, Chalip and Fairley (2019) argued in the introduction to their special issue of the Journal of Sport & Tourism that there is still a need for a strategic approach to leveraging. Understanding the principles of leveraging and building partnerships remains limited as event organizers are understandably preoccupied with planning and executing the event itself. Thus, going forward, we suggest that there is still much work to be done in untangling the principles of leveraging and how best to apply them in sport tourism and event management. If we are to continue to stage sport mega-events in the face of increased opposition from potential host cities, a shift from legacy to leveraging is warranted. Citizens deserve accountability and return on investment from their backing of these events. The need to revisit the ethics of hosting is in line with the growing call for attention to sustainability in sport and tourism generally, and in event hosting in particular.

This returns us to a discussion about the size and scale of events for communities. Proponents of small-scale events have demonstrated that while they are not perfect, their strategic use offers the prospect of a balanced event portfolio ( Ziakas, 2014 ), whereby communities can host events that complement their image as a destination ( Chalip & Leyns, 2002 ) and use existing facilities and infrastructure ( Gibson et al., 2012 ). Such strategies may offer the best way forward for many communities.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the first events communities returned to were for youth. Because of this, the larger events industry has come to recognize that the pandemic has opened the door to the need to think differently about events and how they might be staged. For example, eSports, one of the new genres in the sport industry before the pandemic, held in-person competitions with live audiences. During the pandemic, the integration of new technologies into people’s lives during spring/summer 2020 has raised questions about the changing expectations of hosting and attending events. For example, does the next eSports event need to be held in person at a convention center, or can it be held virtually?

On another technology-driven front, the integration of AI generally in tourism has gathered speed during the pandemic. While we are not suggesting that in-person participation in sports (for spectators and athletes) or traveling will disappear, accepted ways of doing things changed drastically in January 2020. As in the work of Project Play ( Farrey, 2020 ) and in youth sport after COVID-19, the wider tourism and events industries have also been reenvisioning the future (e.g., UN World Tourism Organization, 2020 ).

While we do not envision that people will stop traveling, attending sport events, and participating in sport tourism in person, we have seen glimpses of new ways of participation, such as virtual marathons. However, we have also seen more people cycling and (re)discovering participating in physical activities outside ( Venter et al., 2020 ). To what extent will this continue and reshape the sport tourism opportunities that are offered? Over the past few years, the IOC has sanctioned the inclusion of skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing in the Olympic Games as a way of reaching the younger generations, some of whom have turned away from traditional (Olympic) sports ( Farrey, 2020 ). At the recreational level, the growing popularity of ultramarathons, adventure racing, and mud runs and the rise in interest in cycling and running may continue to reshape sport tourism offerings as more people seek to compete and socialize with other participants in greater numbers. It is possible that as some of those individuals who became engaged in physical activity during the pandemic enter higher levels of commitment, they may be encouraged to seek participation in sport tourism opportunities (e.g., Buning & Gibson, 2015 ; Getz & McConnell, 2011 ).

We think there has definitely been some progress in the theoretical development of work in sport tourism, both deductively and inductively. Here, new theoretical suppositions have been proposed, such as the event travel career ( Getz, 2008 ), and there has been some refinement advanced through grounded theory applications, such as the active sport event travel career ( Buning & Gibson, 2015 ). Further, we have seen promising refined approaches to leveraging in small-scale sport settings ( Kelly & Fairley, 2018b ; Kelly et al., 2019 ) and explorations of the multidimensional nature of nostalgia ( Cho et al., 2014 ) in sport tourism. However, as Chalip and Fairley (2019 , p. 157) note about the tendency for a focus on sport events beginning to dominate the sport tourism knowledge base, “Although we have learned a great deal in recent years about ways to enhance the policy utility of sport events, the field remains undertheorized and overly general.” We concur, but we also revert to an essential question we raised earlier: Will research on sport events continue to subsume sport tourism, or will sport event researchers rediscover the integral role that tourism plays in these events, both on the demand and supply sides of event experiences?

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tourism & city branding

Sport tourism: an ever-growing sector with high potential for cities.

Jul 3, 2021

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By Young Hoon Kim, Ph.D, Professor, Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management University of North Texas, USA, and John Nauright, Ph.D Dean, Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business Mount St. Mary’s University, Maryland, USA

Definition of sport tourism

As defined by Gibson (1998, p. 49), sport tourism is a “leisurebased travel that takes individuals temporarily outside of their home communities to participate and/or watch physical activities or to venerate attractions associated with physical activities”. Human beings are born to travel to fulfil their motivational needs and sports can be one of the reasons and tourism will be one of the ways to satisfy those leisure activities (e.g., trail with family or attending sport events). In theory, it is a naturally generated social phenomenon to satisfy human’s physical and psychological desire through travel or vice versa. Each domain (i.e., sports and tourism) is one of the most significant areas which impact our life from many perspectives, such as social, economy, political, and many more. In particular, Zauhar emphasised (2004, p.13), “the points of contact between sport and tourism have increased dramatically – the mutual benefits for both are quite perceptible and the relationships very compatible. In fact, the term ‘sports tourism’ has been coined to better understand the use of sport as a touristic endeavour”.

The impact of COVID-19 on the sport tourism industry

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has significantly impacted both sport and tourism industries. Since its original break in Wuhan, China on 21 December 2019, it led to the world pandemic declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March 2020. There was no way to stop this disaster and its global spread across every continent. Although our life has been getting better after vaccine and some medical treatment, it is still a question to get back to our “new” normal. The impact on global sports tourism and income from events has run into billions of dollars of lost revenue. The impact has been particularly hard for smaller scale events and lower-level leagues that do not have protection from significant television, streaming and advertising revenues. It is the key solution for major sport cities to get back to the “new” normal by recovering from the down-turn stage after being negatively impacted by COVID-19. However, it is a great opportunity for specific sport tourism sectors, such as e-sports and golf industry.

Role of cities in sport tourism

As Kim et al. (2018) pointed out in their research, “a destination brand with strong equity leads to greater commitment in the form of loyalty and willingness to revisit the destination” (p. 1196). Not only for its image developed by sports tourists but also it is critical to prepare the destinations (i.e., cities) for sustainable growth. While sport tourists select and look for a city (i.e., destination) to experience “unique” sport tourism components (e.g., physical activities or sport events), most cities are not primarily designed for sport tourism except some cases (Settimi, 2020). In addition, it is strongly recommended to partnership with educational institutions to maximise the outcomes as well as sustainable development for cities (i.e., destination) (Kim et al., 2018). The specific following suggestions can be emphasised for sport cities:

• Accessibility (e.g., transportation and highway access)

• Basic sports facilities

• Hotel and lodging facilities

• Local government (city) involvement

Sport tourism trends

Hosting of major events (spectators) is still a successful way for cities to develop their sport tourism strategy.

Sport tourism strategy will lead sport cities to the next level by approaching destination as a travel package or products which eventually increase the brand equity of destination. Thus, systematic recovery strategies are keenly needed to prevent from unexpected health-related disasters in the future (e.g., pandemic). In addition, foreseeing framework and business structure will help cities to prepare for next stage.

The development of active sport tourism should be looked at closely

Probably, the 2020 Olympics in Japan will be the best case for cities or city cluster to examine the critical cases how to react and follow up. The given lists below will be considered and discussed:

• Organise a special committee under the IOC to monitor,

• Require pre-examination systems to evaluate the current condition,

• Establish disaster-related control centre,

• Provide the stages and steps to react the outbreaks,

• Follow-up strategies to minimise the damages,

• Assess the post-Olympics, and

• Report and share the results to the public.

While global sport tourism has been damaged in the short term by the COVID-19 pandemic, immediate return of spectators and plans for new events and seasons suggests the upward trends of the latter 2010s will continue by 2022 and into 2023 and beyond. Regional events could become more important, as spectators do not travel as far. Cities and municipalities should consider the appropriate mix of major events and more local and recurrent events.

Kim, Y. H., Li, H., & Nauright, J. (2018). A destination development by building a brand image and sport event tourism: a case of Sport City USA. Sport in Society, 21(8), 1196-1203. Gibson, H. J. (1998). Sport tourism: A critical analysis of research. Sport Management Review, 1, 45-76. Settimi, C. 2020, July 17). America’s best sports cities 2020. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasettimi/2020/07/17/ americas-best-sports-cities-2020/?sh=6c36d2bedaef Zauhar, J. (2004). Historical perspectives of sports tourism. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 9(1), 5-101.

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young hoon kim

john nauright

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Tourism: Eco, Sports, Culture, Space Essay

When tourism is mentioned, many people have the notion that one has to go to a foreign country for a couple of weeks to relax and enjoy the scenery. To some extent that is true, but one can have equal fun by just visiting the rural areas or going to watch a football match in a stadium. Tourism comes in many forms, there is the normal visit to a national park, or somewhere nature is in its most pure form. Other tourists might prefer to go to the ends of the world just to see and experience the different kinds of lifestyles experienced by other people.

Others find no better way of spending their free time other than watching their favorite soccer team play in the stadium. For the few billionaires in this world, they might want to brag by visiting a space station and taking a space walk. Finally, for those who love to stay indoors, they can do so in a museum or a cultural center where they can watch plays. Tourism has spread in almost every corner of the earth, this means that one does not need to travel to faraway lands (Pacific Asia Tourism, 2010).

In this day and age, tourism is among the biggest and vibrant developing sectors of a nation’s economic activity. Tourism is present in almost every part of the earth, including remote areas and even unexplored territories (Pacific Asia Tourism, 2010). As a result, there has been a significant investment in ensuring existence of tourism by developing relevant infrastructure, educating citizens on tourism and maintaining culture. This paper will examine various categories of tourism and their economic impact.

Of all types of tourism, ecotourism remains the most memorable to many. If you are an American or a European, chances are that the largest animal you have ever seen is a rabbit, and if you are more outgoing; a turkey. That is not the case if you happen to be a Kenyan Maasai probably living in or around a national park.

Most westerners coming to Kenya usually envision country roads, unfamiliar languages, probably hostile people and wild animals roaming everywhere. In fact, foreigners think they will be welcomed by an elephant at the airport. That is not entirely true, many people there speak English and are very friendly, plus the food is fantastic. They call roasted meat ‘nyama choma’ and from the way they prepare it’s quite a delicacy (United Nations Environment Programme, 2008).

Ecotourism, also known as nature tourism, is where tourists visit areas which are still natural and unaffected by human activities. Tourists get a chance to see how animals and plants thrive in the natural world. Of all known types of tourism, ecotourism attracts the most number of people, thereby becoming the largest generator of revenue in the tourism industry. Tourists entering in selected areas of nature attractions, such as national parks, have to pay an entrance fee which contributes to a nation’s revenue (Pacific Asia Tourism, 2010).

In the parks, there are guides who have been employed to direct and guide tourists. In the parks or in the surrounding areas, hotels and recreational facilities have been built; consequently employing a number of individuals. Other ways in which ecotourism improves the economy of a region, is that it ensures the development of infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, bridges and so on.

The Tsavo National park is huge and hosts a variety of wild animals. During mid-day at a pond, the small herbivores like antelopes are the first to arrive, followed by zebras and wild beasts. From the way they share water, you would think they had signed a peace treaty, they drink water calmly and the adults ensure that their young ones do not get lost among other animals. From a distance lions and lioness lay down watching. It may seem like they are selecting what they will have for lunch or maybe they have nothing else better to look at.

After a short while they start approaching the pond together. Surprisingly, the other herbivores do not jump up in frenzy but cautiously walk away from the pond. Sadly though, the lions this time do not provide an action of hunting like what is seen in National Geographic channel, instead they just go to drink water. It is true what they say; a lion is indeed the king of the jungle. The grass is green and that makes deer hope up in joy once in a while (United Nations Environment Programme, 2008).

The type of accommodation provided in Tsavo is of world class quality, from the beds to the drinking water and food. The lounges are built mostly from wood and they provide a feeling of being in a jungle. The balcony gives tourists a chance to view one of the most spectacular sites during sunset, the giraffes, elephants and trees form the most unbelievable sites (WTTC, 2010).

In Europe, especially England, people practically worship soccer. People talk about soccer all the time such that among the first words a child learns is a name of a club like Manchester united or Arsenal.

Soccer fans do not regard themselves as tourist, but they fit the category of sports tourism since they spent money to go and watch soccer matches in stadiums. In these large soccer stadiums, there are shops and almost all kinds of snacks and juices are sold. Alcohol is not allowed since the reaction of a drunken fun whose team has lost is unpredictable and most likely, catastrophic.

During the match, one realizes why people spend a lot of money to come to the stadium rather than watch the game on television. The feeling in which fans instill themselves is the very reason why they come to the stadium. Fans come wearing their respective team’s jersey and other team associated merchandise. During the game fans hold each other sing and shout all in support of their team.

Sometimes fights usually occur out of apparent no reason but luckily there are security guards who ensure that peace is maintained among the fans and players. Professional players make millions of dollars by participating in these games in fantastic stadiums. These stadiums are designed in ways which they can accommodate different sports and also host events, making them multi-purpose structure (WTTC, 2010).

Sports tourism arises when people travel from different regions to one location where a sport event is taking place. A good example was the influx of people in South Africa during the 2010 world cup finals. In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the building of sporting amenities. It is projected that by investing in sports, the economy will be improved through sales of tickets, employment and generation of revenues through tax.

Major sports actions in USA such as baseball and super bowl have become multibillion dollar industries. Professional players make millions of dollars by participating in these games in fantastic stadiums. Sports stadiums are designed in ways which can accommodate different sports and also host events, making them a multi-purpose structure (WTTC, 2010).

One of the best ways to explore cultures and learn a little bit of history is by visiting a museum. One good example of such a museum is the Houston Museum of Natural Science. As its name suggests, this museum offers a chance to explore how the ancient world of dinosaurs was like. Inside the museum there are numerous displays of objects from the Paleozoic era to yesterdays. There is an exhibition of Tyrannosaurus Rex, which is believed to be the biggest flesh eating predator to have ever lived on the planet.

It is scary to look at and the children are usually afraid to go near its exhibition. There is also a spectacular display of the Dipocus, which apparently had really weak jaws. It is evident that the Dipocus must have been a vegetarian because of its weak jaws and it was 77ft long and 11ft tall and weighed close to 14 tons. To understand the timeline of these pre-historic animals, the museum has a graph depicting their names and age (World Tourism Organisation , 2009).

The culture tourism arises from the fact that humans from different regions of the world have differing ways of lifestyle. Culture tourists are fascinated by how people can have such different types of lifestyles. Culture tourism also includes arts and film industry and visiting historical and rural areas. It is estimated that in United States 10% of its labor is employed directly or indirectly by culture tourism. This type of tourism earns the country a substantial amount of foreign income, at the same time boosting tourism infrastructure.

Since this type of tourism is present even in marginal areas, it brings employment to the people in rural areas and improves associated travel sectors such as accommodation and transport (World Tourism Organisation , 2009). Local airlines and shipping sectors are kept in business and continue to grow. It also provides awareness on the type of culture that has existed in different parts of the world.

Only a handful of people have ever had the chance to visit the space as tourist. It costs around 25 million US dollars for a single trip, so chances of you getting there are close to none. The best one can do is visit the space center in Florida. In the center there are many displays of space gismos.

Samples of materials believed to have come from space are displayed for the public to see, sadly though they are all rocks and that does not make a major difference to people since there are numerous rocks on earth. The Orion space vehicle and Ares launch vehicle look fantastic and by just looking at them one would think they are capable of doing the most sophisticated thing a vehicle can do (World Tourism Organisation , 2009).

Lately investors have cut money on space research and exploration, even the dreams of returning a man to the moon have diminished. The united states then has become like russia; operating on borrowed money.

What has been left in space exploration will paharps be taken over by the chineese. Many americans who have visited this space center, do not leave with a sense of pride. Space exploration is one area that the Americans have always been advanced in, and now it seems nobody really cares about it anymore (Ecotourism Society, 2006).

In conclusion, the impact of tourism on the local residents has been negative and positive whether analyzed economically or socially. Every region has a potential of being a tourist attraction, and the effects will be positive as long as a certain limit is not surpassed (Ecotourism Society, 2006).

If a region is capable of handling say 500 tourists, this limit should not be exceeded. If it is exceeded, the effects would be negative since the facilities would not accommodate any more and will leave the area polluted and the infrastructure quality will deteriorate (Ecotourism Society, 2006).

Ecotourism Society. (2006). The International Ecotourism Society – Uniting Conservation . Web.

Pacific Asia Tourism. (2010). International development via sustainable tourism . Pacific Asia Tourism. Web.

United Nations Environment Programme. (2008). Impacts of tourism and recreation in Africa . The Encyclopedia of Earth. Web.

World Tourism Organisation. (2009). Developing Countries’ Share of the International Tourism Market . Propoor Tourism. Web.

WTTC. (2010). Tourism Recovery . World Travel and Tourism Council. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2024, February 29). Tourism: Eco, Sports, Culture, Space. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tourism-eco-sports-culture-space/

"Tourism: Eco, Sports, Culture, Space." IvyPanda , 29 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/tourism-eco-sports-culture-space/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Tourism: Eco, Sports, Culture, Space'. 29 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Tourism: Eco, Sports, Culture, Space." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tourism-eco-sports-culture-space/.

1. IvyPanda . "Tourism: Eco, Sports, Culture, Space." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tourism-eco-sports-culture-space/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Tourism: Eco, Sports, Culture, Space." February 29, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/tourism-eco-sports-culture-space/.

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Sport Tourism Essay Example

• Pages: 8 (1978 words)
• Published: April 5, 2017
• Type: Essay

The term sport tourism has become increasingly common in the tourism industry over the past five years; it is a lucrative segment of the tourism business. Lavalle (1997) estimated that sport tourism is a 845 billion industry. Sport-oriented vacations, however, are really nothing new. After all, the Romans and Greeks traveled to and participated in numerous sports events. Today's sport tourism is merely a new adaptation on an old theme. The growth in the popularity of sport-oriented leisure travel can be viewed daily. Cars laden with bicycles, skis, and canoes are a frequent sight on our highways.

Likewise, the number of vacation destinations offering sporting facilities has grown tremendously. The profusion of golfers and new golf courses is a perfect example of the interest in sport-oriented travel. Waters (1990) reported that the shortage of go

lf courses in certain areas has prompted many travelers to spend their vacations at resorts that provide the opportunity to play their favorite games. Cruise ships, Walt Disney World, hotels, and communities all use sports as a marketing weapon in the battle for the tourism dollar.

Town and cities contend with one another for the rights to host sporting events -- from the hallmark events such as the Olympic Games to the championship series of various amateur sports. Why has sport tourism become so prominent in recent years? Exactly what is sport tourism and what does it mean for communities and municipal park and recreation departments? What is Sport Tourism? Over the past 10 years, there has been a growing debate in the academic community over the definition of sport tourism.

Some of this stems from an ongoing discussion as to whether or no

sport should refer only to competitive, formally organized physical activities (Loy, 1968). Should sport also encompass physical activities that are not governed by rules and time, and where competition may be minimal (Coakley, 1991)? Another debate surrounds tourism. Exactly who is a tourist? How far do you have to travel to be labeled a tourist? Is there a difference between a day-tripper and a person who stays at least one night away from home (IUOTO, 1963)?

Why does it matter? If we are to effectively gauge the economic and social impacts on our communities, we need to be able to identity the sport tourist. Also, to effectively market and prepare events and facilities for the sport tourist, we need to be able to recognize this group. Thus, I would propose a working definition of sport tourism as, "Leisure-based travel that takes individuals temporarily outside of their home communities to play, watch physical activities, or venerate attractions associated with these activities. Specifically, I suggest: three major types of sport tourism: active sport tourism, event sport tourism, and nostalgia sport tourism (Gibson, 1998). Active Sport Tourism Active sport tourism refers to participation in sports away from the home community. Despite the pervasiveness of sport in American culture, and the so-called "fitness boom," actual participation in sport declined for most segments of the population during the eighties and nineties. The Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity (1996) found that less than 20 percent of the U. S. population is physically active on a regular basis.

Nonetheless, despite the number of people who regularly participate in sport, these individuals are active participants. Howard (1992) found that two percent of the population

accounts for 75 percent of the participation rates in physical activities. In a survey commissioned by Marriott International (Elrick & Lavidge, Inc, 1994), 22 percent of respondents considered opportunities to participate in sport important when planning a vacation. De Knop (1995) writes of the duplication effect, in which active sport tourists are those individuals who are physically active in their leisure at home.

Thus, while il would be incorrect to overemphasize the attraction of active sport tourism for the majority of the American population, there is a sizable minority that selects a vacation destination based on its sporting facilities. These travelers tend to be college educated, relatively affluent, and willing to roam in search of the ultimate sport experience (Delpy, 1998; Gibson et al. , 1998). Resorts and other segments of the hospitality industry have become increasingly aware of the need to provide top-of-the-line facilities for the active sport tourist.

Resorts have become meccas for the active sport tourist. Championship golf courses; challenging, well-groomed alpine ski runs; high-quality tennis courts; a wide range of water sports; and ultra-modern fitness facilities lure the discerning active sport tourist. Urban business hotels have also recognized the importance of providing sports and fitness facilities. Hotel health clubs, jogging trails, guest privileges at nearby fitness facilities, and golf-course access have become the norm at most large urban hotels. Cruise lines have not missed out on this trend, either.

Passengers aboard the Legend of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) can play golf on an 18-hole miniature-golf course after enjoying a fully equipped gym, spa, and sauna. Carnival Cruise Lines offers "Spa and Sport Talks. " while Royal Caribbean encourages participation in its fitness programs by

offering passengers "shipshape dollars" as incentives. Many of the old health spas have also been rejuvenated to cater to the specific interests of fitness-minded women. The Safety Harbor Resort and Spa in Florida boasts 35 fitness classes a day, and the Peaks Resort and Spa in Colorado provides "the ultimate fitness for body and mind" (The Spa Finder, 1996).

Event Sport Tourism Not all sport tourists travel to take part in sport; some travel to watch sporting events. And some do both. Events such as the. Olympic Games or FIFA World Cup are examples of sporting occasions that have become major tourist attractions. World Cup '94 in the United States and the Olympic Games in Atlanta were actively promoted as tourist attractions. Sports events on a somewhat smaller scale, such as the U. S. Open tennis tournament and the Super Bowl, are part of the spectator-centered sector of sport tourism.

Likewise, tourism associated with professional, college, and amateur sports is also part of tiffs form of sport tourism. Walt Disney World's Wide World of Sports venue can host 32 different sports including tennis, beach volleyball, and field hockey. Research on the impact s of hosting sport events is extensive. Ritchie (1984) discussed a number of positive and negative impacts --physical, socio-cultural, and economic -- felt by a community hosting major sport event s. A study by Barry University estimated that hosting the 1995 Super Bowl generated $204. million for the south Florida economy (Davis, 1995). However, Matzielli (1989) cautions that the impacts of hosting such events vary considerably and are often dependent on the indicators used to measure the effects. Nonetheless, for many communities in the United

States, hosting sports events -- from the Super Bowl to the state youth-football championships -- has become a priority. Indeed, as Collins (1991) suggests, "Sports events can provide a tourist focus when nature has failed to do so, or can spread the use of accommodation into off-peak periods or stimulate accommodation provision" (p. 199).

Target-specific travel agents, such as Sport Tours, a Massachusetts-based tour company specializing in package trips to major-league baseball games and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, have emerged, catering to travelers who want to attend major sports events. Nostalgia Sport Tourism Visiting sports halls of fame such as the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts; sports museums such as the NASCAR Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina; and famous sporting venues such as the Olympic arenas in Atlanta or Los Angeles, or Yankee Stadium in New York has become an increasingly popular touristic pursuit.

Redmond (1990) suggests that museums and halls of fame enable sport to be included in the heritage interpretation movement, which is gaining more importance around the world. Writing about sports facilities as tourist attractions, Bale (1988) suggests that some sports edifices "can develop over time, a sufficient mystique to become tourist attractions in their own fight" (p. 120). Wrigley Field in Chicago, the Toronto SkyDorne, and even sites of future Olympic Games are on the list of such tourism venues. Even famous sports re, tail stores are tourist attractions.

The Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World is one of Missouri's top tourist attractions, and "you don't have to be a fisherman or a hunter to enjoy the visit" (Carlton, 1993, p. 30). Another trend in this category

of sport tourism has emerged in recent years: meeting famous sports personalities. The cruise industry has been very adept in this area. Theme cruises such as Norwegian Cruise Lines' "Pro-Am Golf Cruise" or the "NBA Basketball Cruise" allow passengers to meet sports personalities on the ship. Little research exists regarding this nostalgia-based sport tourism.

Lewis and Redmond (1974) and Redmond (1981) documented the growth of sports museums around the world (cited in Redmond, 1990, p. 166). Zelkovitz (1996) conducted participant observation in sports halls of fame and sports museums in Sweden, Canada, and the United States, analyzing the cultural and social differences of the tourists in each of these countries. This is an area with a wide range of opportunities for research. Who is a nostalgia sport tourist? Why do people engage in this sort of sport tourism? Unfortunately, these questions remain unanswered.

If You Build It... Of course, not every community in the United States is located near a five-star resort with a championship golf course or an 85,000-seat stadium. However, the realization that sport, whether active-, spectator-, or nostalgia-based, attracts visitors is important for communities wishing to stimulate their tourism industry. Leisure researchers in the United Kingdom have been aware of the potential of public sport facilities since the early 1980s (Glyptis, 1982). In 1988, the Sports Council (a U. K.

Government Agency) suggested that tourist-area swimming pools and "leisure centres" (indoor sports facilities) be designed with the needs of the tourist in mind. Glyptis (1991) suggests, however, that sport and tourism, while intricately linked in the minds of the participants, have traditionally been treated as separate spheres by practitioners, government agencies, and academics. Thus, while

the individual tourist has long been engaged in sport tourism, sport and tourism providers have been slow to recognize this market segment.

Communities in the United States have gradually begun to recognize the potential for attracting different types of sport tourists. Many communities now have sport commissions whose role is to attract sports events to their towns and cities. Indeed, the National Association of Sports Commissions is an organization that holds workshops for its members on marketing sports events, liability issues associated with sports events, and the economic impact of sports events. Convention and visitors bureaus have also begun to realize the potential.

Whether they are involved in coordinating the accommodations for sports events in their communities or acting as a resource by providing literature, these groups are becoming involved in promoting sport tourism, making their presence felt at conventions such as George Washington University's Teaming for Success: A Forum on Sport Tourism, and the Sports Tourism Marketing Conference, which is hosted by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism and Illinois State University. As yet, however, there has only been minimal evidence that park and recreation departments have recognized their potential to attract sports tourists to their communities.

Many annual events and facilities staged and operated by municipal park and recreation departments are tailor-made for sports tourists. Municipal swimming, golf, and tennis facilities; organized races; bicycle races; and regattas are all potential attractions for the sport tourist. As with all community efforts, the task is partnering. While some community agencies may already be attracting sport tourists, they may only be thinking of one type of sport tourist: the event spectator.

Marketing municipal sports facilities and events to tourists may attract

the active sport tourist to a community. Some communities may even have attractions -- such as famous stadiums, sports museums, or sports halls of fame -- to draw nostalgia sport tourists. Glyptis (1991) suggests that local governments should take the lead in coordinating the roles of potential sport tourism providers. As sport tourism becomes more prominent, sports commissions, municipal park and recreation departments, convention and visitors bureaus, and other interested groups need to coordinate their efforts.

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Essays about: "sports tourism"

Showing result 1 - 5 of 18 essays containing the words sports tourism .

1. Winter tourism in the European Alps, a balance between environment and society. : A case study about Obertauern in the face of climate change.

Author : Amrei Aubrunner ; [2023] Keywords : Climate change ; winter-based tourism ; ski areas ; adaptation ; mitigation ; sustainable development ; key stakeholders ; Sustainable Development Goals ;

Abstract : Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects various industries worldwide. One of the most affected industries is the snow-based industry, which includes skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, winter sports, and related tourism and hospitality sectors. READ MORE

2. Mitigating overtourism by distributing visitor flows to nature-based destinations: the case of Prague

Author : Carl Jason ; [2022] Keywords : Overtourism ; Prague ; Sustainability ; nature based tourism ;

Abstract : This studys main goal is to find an answer to the question of what the potential is for mitigating overtourism to nature based sports tourism. The studys objective is to explore the phenomenon of overtourism and how this has affected the tourism industry. READ MORE

3. Digitalization: An alternative method of tourism in order to reduce transportation

Author : Georgios Skarpetis ; Johan Persson ; [2021-06-11] Keywords : Tourism ; digital tourism ; virtual tourism ; tourism emissions ; types of tourism ;

Abstract : This thesis deals with the topic of digitalization within the tourism sector. The main focus was on researching if a digitized approach had the possibility to satisfy travellers while reducing physical traveling. The importance of finding alternative ways of traveling stems from the unsustainable increase of emissions that traveling entails. READ MORE

4. ‘Hot Planet, Cool Athletes’: A Case Study of Protect Our Winters and the Role of Ski Activism in Combating Climate Change

Author : Ioana Mihala ; [2019] Keywords : Sustainable Development ; New Social Movement ; Ski Activism ; Climate Change ; Winter Tourism ; POW ; Lifestyle Sports ;

Abstract : Despite the high vulnerability of alpine environments to climate change, adaptation and mitigation within the winter sport industry have only recently received consideration. However, the focus has been mainly on the adaptation measures of the ski resort operators (supply side), not taking into consideration other actors (demand side) or attempts aiming for a sustainable form of winter tourism. READ MORE

5. Tourism in Football: Exploring Motivational Factors and Typologies of Groundhoppers : An example of a German Groundhopper Online Community

Author : Christian Bauer ; [2018] Keywords : Groundhopping ; Serious Leisure ; Sport Tourism ; Tourist Motivation ; Football. ;

Abstract : This thesis aims to examine the motivational factors and to explore possible typologies of groundhoppers. Groundhopping as a special form of sports tourism which has grown rapidly over the last couple of decades. READ MORE

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Alabama holds its first ever U.S. Olympic trial for a sport that's little-known there

Rolando Arrieta

Evy Leibfarth navigates a slalom course at Montgomery Whitewater Park in Alabama. She won an Olympic trial there and punched her ticket to the Paris games this summer. Montgomery Whitewater Park hide caption

Evy Leibfarth navigates a slalom course at Montgomery Whitewater Park in Alabama. She won an Olympic trial there and punched her ticket to the Paris games this summer.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Tammy Sterling had plans to go out of town this past weekend. Instead, she stayed home to attend an athletic event she'd never seen before.

"I am actually watching the Olympic trials, and I'm going to see somebody that I watched today at the Paris Olympics in 2024. It's just amazing. I love it," Sterling said.

The U.S. Olympic Team trials for canoe and kayak slalom were held Saturday and Sunday at Montgomery Whitewater, a new artificial watersports complex near downtown Montgomery. Hundreds of curious Alabamians turned out for the event.

Cindy Riggins was intrigued by the caliber of athletes who had traveled to her hometown for this competition.

"It looks like a fun sport. Looks very tiring — you have to definitely be in shape," she said.

In canoe and kayak slalom, athletes race against the clock navigating through a series of red and green gates hanging above raging rapids. Points are deducted if they touch or miss any of the gates. Coaches, teammates, friends and parents ran alongside the course, encouraging and cheering the racer down to the finish line.

"They chant: up up up!" said kayaker Nik Nijhawan. "That's because the red gates are also called up gates so it's our own variation of, go go go," Nijhawan said.

Nijhawan, 16, is from Colorado and said he does not expect to make the Olympic team this year — "but sometime in the next 10 years it would be amazing."

At the U.S. Olympic trials in Montgomery, Evy Leibfarth wins a spot to represent USA in women's canoe slalom for the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer. Rolando Arrieta/NPR hide caption

At the U.S. Olympic trials in Montgomery, Evy Leibfarth wins a spot to represent USA in women's canoe slalom for the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer.

Evy Leibfarth, 20, from Bryson City, N.C., had the fastest time in both kayak and canoe slalom events and was the only athlete among the nearly 70 who competed in Montgomery to secure an Olympic spot in the women's canoe slalom. The remaining spots for Team USA will be determined in Oklahoma City in two weeks.

"This weekend has been amazing for me. I'm really proud of my racing this weekend. Overall it's been great, emotional and so much fun." said Leibfarth, who'll be competing in her second Olympics after finishing outside the top 10 in two events in Tokyo in 2020.

World Athletics will pay $50,000 to Olympic gold medalists in track and field events

"It's been a dream of mine to go to Paris for a really long time and I'm really stoked to make that a reality," Leibfarth added.

Boosting the city's athletic profile

Local leaders hope an Olympic-sanctioned event like this will help the Montgomery economy and put the city on the map as a sports tourism destination.

Mayor Steven L. Reed said that hosting the U.S. Olympic trials speaks to "a pivot we want to make, to make sure that sports tourism is also a big part of what's happening here."

I'm Really Into

Whitewater kayaking might not be for the faint of heart, but rapids are my sanctuary.

He said he sees a kayaking and canoeing competition of this level as a way to break down racial, economic and social barriers, particularly among kids. "Maybe they can be the first one from Montgomery or maybe one of the first ones from Alabama to bring home a medal" in these events, the mayor said.

Montgomery Whitewater was built by the county for about $90 million and opened in July. It's the third artificial whitewater park in U.S. cities, joining facilities in Oklahoma City and Charlotte. It's part of a broader shift in the sport, with almost all high-level competitions now held on artificial courses.

Three-time kayak slalom Olympian Scott Shipley, who is now a mechanical engineer, designed all three whitewater parks.

"It was something I wanted to bring to America," Shipley said. "It's a whole recreational thing where it's not just that 1%, but also church groups and school groups and family and friends coming out to enjoy whitewater where they are."

Fans watch Evy Leibfarth compete in Olympic trials at Montgomery Whitewater Park. This is the Alabama facility's first year in operation. Montgomery Whitewater Park hide caption

Fans watch Evy Leibfarth compete in Olympic trials at Montgomery Whitewater Park. This is the Alabama facility's first year in operation.

Bringing broader visibility to paddle sports

Jedediah Hinkley, competition director for the American Canoe Association, made a half-dozen trips to the venue to make sure it was ready for the Olympic trials. He said his group and Montgomery share a goal of "creating access to a sport that a lot of people around here have not historically had access to."

Even with the new venue, not everyone in Montgomery is ready to pick up a paddle. Nick Riggins, who watched the events with his sister Cindy, said that when he first heard about the city investing in a whitewater park near downtown he "thought it was a hoax."

" It's interesting to watch to see how they maneuver with the kayaks and all that other kind of stuff, but not anything that I would want to do," Riggins said. "There's a lot of water moving real fast and I don't want to do that."

Still, he said, he was glad the facility was open.

Clarification April 18, 2024

An earlier version of this story said there were three artificial whitewater courses in the United States. There are three in urban settings. A fourth, built near a mountaintop resort in Maryland, has been closed but is expected to reopen Memorial Day weekend.

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• Essay on Sports

The Faces Of The Modern Sport Tourism Literature Review

Type of paper: Literature Review

Topic: Sports , Tourism , Events , Study , Instance , Growth , Industry , Marketing

Words: 2000

Published: 02/20/2023

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Introduction

Sports tourism entails traveling for the purpose of observing or participating in a sporting event away from your daily environment and routine engagements (Mclean, Hurd and Rogers 2008). More particularly, the sports event tourism solely encompasses visiting a city or a foreign country to watch sports event. For instance, the two most popular sports events in the world are the Olympics and the FIFA World based on their attendance (Egger and Maurer 2014). However, since the two-sport events occur once in every four years in different countries, it would take many years to host these events twice in a certain country. Consequently, some nations have devised plans to tap the benefits that result from sports tourism by holding sports events annually within their borders. For instance, the United States holds National Football League annually in different cities among other popular sports in the country. Similarly, several countries in Europe such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy among others are continually hosting football events in their respective countries. The sports activities have evolved overtime, and the stakeholders have turned sports events to profitable businesses and marketing avenues. Nonetheless, sports tourism has received negative criticism owing to the decadence of the social values in the event’s destination. More specifically, it has been associated with prostitution and drug use while some celebrated sports persons engage in doping activities to increase their performance. Despite the vices, reliable statistics show that this form of tourism is growing at a high rate due to the increased sport marketing and public investments, although there exist an unexploited potential. Therefore, The Face of the Modern Sports Tourism is an ideal theme to foster comprehensive analysis of the benefits and the consequential impacts of sports tourism on culture, environment, traditions and ultimately on the entire economy. Additionally, the review will draw conclusions and recommendations particularly about future studies to advance the frontiers of the sports tourism. 2.0 Literature review 2.1 Discussion Sports tourism has become a very attractive venture and a constructive way to spend time as well tour the world while enjoying one’s favorite sports events. Thereby, it has attracted many scholars into investigating the field in an effort to fill the gaps of knowledge with case studies in different parts where sports events have taken place all over the world. Agreeably, there are many ways to approach t sports tourism since it is a multi-industry concept. For instance, numerous scholars from varied fields such as marketing, designers, business analysts as well as psychologists have widely written on this subject. In other instances, studies show that the governments and local authorities are taking active roles regarding providing guidelines and allocating resources to facilitate sport events. For instance, there are sports ministers and committees that specifically deal with sports events to ensure their smooth running by upgrading the facilities, review of policies as well as ensuring safety and health of both the participants the fans in many countries (Ritchie and Adair 2004). More particularly, the governments around the globe are working toward the integration of sports and tourism by involving the consultants from the two sectors on workable policies. Thus, there is policy review trend by the stakeholders in the sport and recreation industries to maximize on the benefits of sports event tourism (Hums and Maclean 2013). A case in point is the merger of the B.A.T and E.T.C that formed Visit Britain, which has been quite successful in boosting sports tourism (Ritchie 2004). The government spending on sport related activities such as facilities and other supporting industries such as transport and accommodations has a positive effect on the growth of sports event tourism. Factually, all forms of tourism require these facilities, which catalyze the growth of the sector. Additionally, technology is also playing a major role through the digital sports marketing that is creating awareness on sports tourism globally. Based on the activities in taking place in the sector, growth potential is paramount. Therefore, investors should tap the demand created by the global millionaire, particularly, on golf sports tourism (Diniz 2014). The other indicator of potential growth in the sector is the growing number of spectators, the media personality and the specialists such as the medical personnel as well as the sports management who have continually increased in the sports events (Nauright and Parrish 2012). Furthermore, the emergent of sports to suit the needs of communities and nations such as sport for peace and development, as well as the continued efforts to fuse sports with the culture, will lead to more growth. Besides, international organizations have renewed their commitment to sports events due to the potential job opportunities available in the sector (Masteralexis, Barr and Hums 2015). All these activities will ultimately fuel significant growth in sports tourism. 2.3 Factors influencing the sport tourism It is important to evaluate the factors influencing sport events consumers’ behavior to maximize on the constraints and optimally tap the benefits. Consequently, it would help the stakeholders in making the relevant plans as well as decisions, especially the sport event marketers who aim to increase the attendance of the foreign and local sports tourists. For instance, many studies agree that demographic patterns are core in determining the fans’ motivation (Shilbury, Westerbeek, Quick, Funk and Karg 2014). Precisely, research has indicated that males are more attracted to sports events in comparison their female counterparts. Thereby, the sports marketers should concentrate on targeting male audiences to maximize on the resources while at the same time investigate on ways to induce female fans to consume more on sports travels and events. Secondly, studies note that travel constraint is a significant factor in the sports tourism. Presumably, sport events’ consumers are a rational being, thus, they take into account the costs incurred in attending the events, leisure alternatives as well as interpersonal limitations in the sports event's destination. For instance, the consumers would have to compare the costs of traveling to Olympic Games in China to the cost of available alternatives. Moreover, other interpersonal limitations such as language barrier would also come to play in inducing a fan to take a sports event travel. In other studies, studies postulate that travelers look into the available physical facilities in the destination (Riddick and Russell 2013). Therefore, tourists will maximize on the utility by seeking aesthetic benefits during their tour, thus, if the sporting event takes place in a city where there are sites and other major attractions, the numbers of tourist would be higher. Furthermore, positive destination image acts as a marketing icon to the prospective sport event tourists. Finally, the travelers' perception of a certain destination will have a significant effect on their motivation (Information Resources Management Association USA 2015). For instance, the consumers will prefer destinations with high security and elaborate human rights among other factors. 2.4 Impacts of sport tourism While sports tourism is seasonal phenomena, studies confirm that its impacts are expansive and far reaching in equal measures with other forms of tourists. Agreeably, the impacts on society and culture are quite huge considering that there will be both multicultural and multilingual diversities. There is also behavior purchase in the sports tourism, and some may have adverse effects on the society. For instance, researches have postulated that increase in the level of prostitution, alcohol drinking and drug use as well as high crime rates (Ritchie and Adair 2004). Besides, the cities will experience traffic congestion due to a large number of visitors that lead to air pollution due to emissions. Further, large numbers of people produce more waste materials such as plastic cans that end up polluting the environment. Nevertheless, studies are quick to point that the benefits outweigh the social and environment costs. Notably, the locals act as the ambassadors of the cultures and traditions of countries where these events occur. Consequently, these culture and traditions attract the travelers who may frequent the country long after the sports events. Primarily, there is optimization of locals’ and the travelers’ welfare as they watch their favorite sports, which increase their productivity in other spheres of life. Besides, the country builds a national identity as well as the unity of their citizens by holding sports events (Hinch and Higham 2011). While the city will experience congestions, the level of spending and consumption of local products and services drive the economic activity by meeting the demands of the visitors (Zhou 2011). Ultimately, there will be job creation due to the creation of new industries in the entertainment industry as well as optimal utilization of the existing resources such as hotel and restaurants facilities. 3.0Conclusion The analysis of the review leads to several important conclusions. Firstly, it indicates that there is widely shared a consensus on the consequential benefits and growth potential of the sports tourism in the future based on the current activities. For instance, due to the high investment by the stakeholders and the integration of other industries such as marketing and culture fuel economic growth. Secondly, instituting the relevant policies will aid management of the sports events and the sports tourism by ensuring there are no conflicts of interests. The government has a major role in creating a successful sports tourism sector by investing in facilities that require huge capitals as well as providing the supporting public utilities such as transport means. Besides, the study has discovered that the field of sports tourism is not substantially covered; therefore, the investors are not aware of the available opportunities and the risks in the sector. Finally, the sports event employs a large number of people both directly and indirectly, which helps in growth and development of the economy. 4.0 Recommendation Based on the findings of the review, several recommendations would help the stakeholders in the management of the sports tourism more effectively. Firstly, the government should review and develop working policies to integrate the tourism, culture and sports sectors. Still, the government should create a friendly environment for the investors by giving tax rebates and accessibility to affordable loans to promote sports tourism industry. Finally, the states and other organizations should fund studies in the field of sports tourism to determine the benefits and limitations in the sector. Eventually, investments related to the sports tourism will increase, and the entire economy will enjoy the consequential benefits in long-term.

Reference List

Diniz, C. 2014. The luxury market in Brazil: market opportunities and potential. http://www.palgraveconnect.com/doifinder/10.1057/9781137432568. Egger, R., & Maurer, C. 2014. ISCONTOUR 2014 - Tourism Research Perspectives Proceedings of the International Student Conference in Tourism Research. Norderstedt, Books on Demand. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:101:1-2014062910690. Hinch, T., & Higham, J. E. S. 2011. Sports tourism development. Bristol, Channel View Publications Hums, M. A., & Maclean, J. 2013. Governance and policy in sports organizations. Information Resources Management Association USA. 2015. Hospitality, travel, and tourism': concept, methodology, tools, and applications. http://proquest.safaribooksonline.com/?fpi=9781466665439. Mclean, D. D., Hurd, A. R., & Rogers, N. B. 2008. Kraus' Recreation and leisure in modern society. Sudbury, Mass, Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Nauright, J., & Parrish, C. 2012. Sports around the world: history, culture, and practice. Santa Barbara, Calif, ABC-CLIO. Riddick, C. C., & Russell, R. V. 2013. Research in recreation, parks, sport & tourism. Ritchie, B. W. (2004). Sports tourism: interrelationships, impacts, and issues. Clevedon, Channel View Publ. Ritchie, B. W., & Adair, D. 2004. Sports tourism: interrelationships, impacts, and issues. Clevedon [England], Channel View Publications. Shilbury', D., Westerbeek, H., Quick, S., Funk', C., & Karg, A. 2014. Strategic sports marketing. Zhou, Qingyuan. 2011. Applied Economics, Business and Development International Symposium, Isaebd 2011, Dalian, China, August 6-7, 2011, Proceedings. Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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How to Write the Santa Clara University Essay 2023-2024

If you’re dreaming of attending Santa Clara University, you want to be confident your application will stand out. One of the best ways to improve your chances of acceptance during the admissions process is to submit thorough, creative essay responses.  In this post, we’ll share how to write a strong supplemental essay to improve your chances of acceptance at Santa Clara.

Read these Santa Clara essay examples from real students to inspire your writing.

Santa Clara University Supplemental Essay Prompt

At santa clara university, we value our diverse and inclusive community. our campus learning environment is enriched by the lived experiences of people from different backgrounds. what people, places, events, or circumstances have shaped the individual you are today and how you could contribute to our community (150-300 words).

This is a classic example of a Diversity prompt . Santa Clara University is using this prompt to get to know you and your background a little bit better, so this is a great opportunity to dig into some of your more unique experiences, or character traits that you feel are particularly important to who you are.

A common misconception is that a Diversity essay has to focus on an identity characteristic, but in reality, your answer can be almost anything that you feel has contributed to who you are. It’s not just picking an attribute, identity, or aspect of yourself that makes for a good essay; it’s also making a case for what your chosen subject says about you, and what you’ll bring to Santa Clara.

It’s also important to note that while the Supreme Court ended affirmative action this summer, colleges continue to consider racial diversity on an individual basis through information shared in essays.  If your racial or ethnic heritage has helped shape who you are, what you believe, and what you value, this could be a good time to write about that.

What should you choose if you don’t want to write about your racial ethnic background? Your options are broader than you might think. You might write about your religion, sexuality, gender identity, or socioeconomic status, but you could also write about hobbies, languages, or family structure. You could go a bit more abstract, and write about personality traits, talents, or values that set you apart from the crowd. Consider these examples of students who wrote unique diversity essays about uncommon traits they possess.

• One student wrote an essay about being the younger sister of identical twins, and how she navigated the expectations around how she and her twin sisters would relate to each other. 
• Another student wrote about his strong value for honesty, how he stuck to it, even in tough situations, and how though people didn’t always understand it, his real friends came to respect his beliefs. 
• An applicant wrote about collecting stamps from a young age, how it brought him into a world that was largely made up of older people, and what it was like to be in that space as a teenager. 
• A student wrote about her stutter, and how self-consciousness over how she talked eventually grew into confidence, resilience, and inner strength. 

All of these examples, while perhaps not anyone’s first thought when they hear the word diversity, give deep insight into these students’ lives and their individuality. You’ll want to do the same, by highlighting what makes you stand out from the crowd. If you have an identity or experience that most other people don’t, consider writing about that, rather than something that might be more stereotypically associated with diversity. You want your essay to paint a vivid picture of you, one that can’t be confused with any other applicant the Santa Clara admissions team might be reading about. 

Once you’ve picked your topic, think about using anecdotes to illustrate your point, and show, don’t tell, the important details. Consider two different openings to the story of the young stamp collector.

Since I was a kid, I’ve collected stamps, which is an unusual hobby for someone my age. Most other stamp collectors are older adults, which means I spend a lot of time with elderly people. I’ve learned some things from them, and they’ve definitely passed some interesting habits to me, in an unintentional intergenerational exchange that has enriched all of us. 

This is direct and informative, but not very exciting, and not very unique.

Some of my best friends have liver spots and firsthand memories of watching the moon landing on TV. It’s not through volunteering, or because I live with my grandparents; it’s because I’m a philatelist – a stamp collector who sees a slice of history in each carefully detailed sticker. My septuagenarian friends understand this better than most, and through the years, we’ve even come to understand each other through our shared passion. I have a subscription to Reader’s Digest, and some of the older stamp collectors are regular guests on my TikTok account, proving that all of us have something to learn from each other. 

This is a longer excerpt, and depending on what the student has left to say, he may want to trim some of this detail. Still, the paragraph automatically stands out as more dynamic and full of personality. The student is also indirectly giving us a glimpse into his open-minded attitude, willingness to learn from others, and unique insight into an older generation, alongside his passion for stamps, art, and history. Just a few sentences can pack quite a punch!

In concluding your essay, make sure to reflect on how this experience, trait, or identity has shaped who you are. Remember to show, not tell, and try to avoid the generic or cliche, like saying “X experience has made me stronger as a person.” Share specific examples or details about how you’ve developed or grown as a person. In our philatelist example, the student wrote about how communicating across generational divides has helped him develop patience, open-mindedness, and a respect for others’ experiences, even if he didn’t always agree with their opinions. Use this essay to tell the admissions committee at Santa Clara how your chosen subject has impacted you and your life, and end by showing them why that should make them want you at their school.

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Home » Travel Guides » United States » California (CA) » 15 Things to Do in Santa Clara (CA)

15 Things to Do in Santa Clara (CA)

Santa Clara is a city of nearly 125,000 residents that’s located in Santa Clara County, about 75 kilometers south of San Francisco .

The city was founded more than 200 years ago as a Spanish Mission. Now, it’s most well-known for its booming tech industry that’s commonly referred to around the world as Silicon Valley.

Though it’s common knowledge to most football fans, it’s a surprise to many to discover that the relatively small city is also the home of the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers.

Visitors to Santa Clara have abundant activity options at their fingertips without venturing outside city limits, so staying engaged and entertained shouldn’t be an issue.

1. Levi’s Stadium

With a capacity of nearly 70,000, Levi’s Stadium on Marie P. DeBartolo Way in Santa Clara is one of the country’s premier professional football stadiums.

The 49ers play their home games here, and during the off-season, the stadium hosts a variety of annual events, including concerts featuring big names in the music industry.

Taking a family to a football game isn’t the least expensive activity option in the area, but for those who’ve never taken in a pro game, it’s an exhilarating experience that may be worth the cost.

Guided tours are also regularly available, and the bars and restaurants around the stadium are fun to visit year-round.

2. Ulistac Natural Area

Despite its large population and the overall hustle and bustle, the Bay Area features plenty of urban parks and natural areas that are convenient options for those interested in enjoying the great outdoors.

The Ulistac Natural Area is located on Lick Mill Road in Santa Clara. It is comprised of more than 40 acres that include a variety of distinct environments.

The natural area straddles the Guadalupe River and is home to an array of plants and animals that are well-suited to its riparian habitat.

A particularly popular attraction for bird watchers, it features a number of well-marked nature trails dotted with interpretive signs.

3. Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival

Californians take their art and wine seriously, and there’s no better way to combine the two than by visiting the Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival.

The event is held in the city’s Central Park and features nearly 200 vendors from across the country selling fine art and crafts, gourmet food, and a vast selection of California’s best wines.

Proceeds are donated to worthwhile causes that benefit residents in need. It all takes place in the early fall when the central California weather is perfect for outdoor activities.

Other highlights include live entertainment and lots of art-related activities for kids.

4. The de Saisset Museum

Though he’s not exactly a household name for those who don’t typically travel in West Coast art circles, Ernest de Saisset was one of the Bay Area’s most prominent artists in the 19th century.

Saisset was a French immigrant who enrolled in Santa Clara University and studied painting as a young man.

The museum that now bears his name is located on the university’s campus. It includes a collection of more than 100 of his most impressive works.

It’s as much a historical attraction as it is an art one, and it also has other works from European and American artists dating back hundreds of years.

5. Intel Museum

Intel is one of the titans of the tech world. Over the years, it has been responsible for some of the most significant technological leaps forward in computer hardware.

The Intel Museum is located on the campus of the company’s world headquarters in Santa Clara, and it’s regularly open to the public.

Even for those who don’t fall into the tech-savvy category, it’s a fascinating place that’s definitely worth an hour or two of time.

Though it may sound dry to technophobes, it’s packed with interactive exhibits for visitors of all ages, so it’s great for kids with short attention spans too.

6. Santa Clara Farmers’ Market

There’s really no better way to rub elbows with locals, enjoy pleasant weather, and have access to tons of great products you won’t find elsewhere than by visiting a farmers’ market.

The Santa Clara Farmers’ Market is open year-round and features a little bit of everything – from seasonal produce and fresh baked goods to health and body products and prepared food items.

Held on Jackson Street near the downtown area, it’s common to find different items each time you go.

Spending a few bucks is a great way to support local farmers and entrepreneurs, and don’t be shy about asking them for suggestions for things to see and do while in town.

7. California’s Great America

There’s no shortage of theme parks in the Golden State, but there’s one clear choice for those visiting Santa Clara.

California’s Great America is located on Great America Parkway just outside of town. It features tons of rides, dining options, kid’s activities, and a water park that’s a huge draw during the hot summer months.

Though Great America can really draw a crowd during peak times when kids are enjoying their summer vacations, previous guests have noted that wait times for rides weren’t overly long.

Many families choose to spend an entire day on-site to avoid wasting valuable recreational time in the car.

8. Mission Santa Clara

Mission Santa Clara is one of the city’s premier historic sites, and it’s now conveniently located on the campus of Santa Clara University.

The mission was established by Franciscans in the 1770s to spread Christianity to the area’s Native American population.

Sadly, things didn’t go according to plan; due to several natural disasters, the mission was forced to move from its original site to where it is now.

Over the years, it was also run by the Jesuits. Though it’s no longer functioning in its original role, it now doubles as a museum and chapel that are open to visitors.

9. The Triton Museum of Art

Though guests tend to visit the Triton Museum of Art for the works in its collection, its stunning contemporary architecture usually makes a big impression as well.

The museum’s collection includes works from all over the country, but its emphasis is on pieces created by Bay Area artists using local people and scenery as inspiration.

The grounds also include a sprawling outdoor sculpture garden spread over nearly seven acres, and a home from the mid-1860s that’s among the most well-preserved examples of historic American architecture in the area.

The museum is located on Warburton Avenue, and most visitors spend a few hours on-site.

10. Santa Clara Players

The Santa Clara Players traces its roots all the way back to the early ‘60s, when a group of local performers began putting on small shows for the community.

Now nearly seven decades later, they’re still going strong. Their annual performances run the gamut from dramatic theater and mystery to satire and humor.

The players are part of a community theater group staffed by talented volunteers dedicated to providing high-quality, family-friendly entertainment at a reasonable cost.

They’re located on Don Avenue in Santa Clara and offer lots of volunteer opportunities for budding actors and stagehands.

11. Central Park

Featuring lots of wide-open spaces and massive swimming and community rec centers, Santa Clara’s Central Park is a go-to destination for activity minded visitors looking to make the most of their limited vacation time without traveling to more distant attractions.

The park is centrally located on Keily Boulevard, has ample parking, and features lots of outdoor amenities and recreational activity options.

From tennis and basketball to softball, lawn bowling, and a big playground, there’s really no excuse for getting bored while on-site. For those looking to spend a relaxing afternoon, there are a lake, built-in BBQs, and public restrooms.

12. The 49ers Museum

Even for those who won’t be in Santa Clara during the regular season, the 49ers stadium and museum are fun attractions worth visiting for sports-minded visitors.

The museum is located inside Levi’s Stadium and features nearly a dozen distinct galleries that are open to the public year-round.

It’s a fun and educational experience for visitors of all ages. In addition to football, its exhibits touch on science, technology, and art in a way that engages and entertains young and old minds alike.

Most guests check out the introductory video in the visitor’s center before showing themselves through the impressive collection of trophies, balls, and Super Bowl memorabilia on display.

13. The Santa Clara Fire Museum

The Santa Clara Fire Department’s roots run all the way back to the 1850s when it was founded.

The museum is now located on Walsh Avenue in an unused training center behind the city’s new fire station.

It sports an impressive collection of equipment and historical memorabilia that give visitors unique insights into the lives of fire and rescue personnel in years past.

The museum’s highlights include a fully restored Model-T fire truck that served for two decades, beginning in the 1920s.

The knowledgeable local volunteer staff also offer regular programs geared at educating the public about fire safety and prevention issues.

14. Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History

The Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History is run by a local historical society. It is housed in the depot of a now-defunct railroad on Railroad Avenue in Santa Clara.

Like many local historical attractions, the museum is staffed by local volunteers who love answering questions and showing first-time visitors around.

The museum’s exhibits include a variety of railroad equipment and memorabilia, including signals, safety equipment, and historical photographs dating back over 100 years.

The museum is regularly open to the public. It maintains an extensive library of books relating to railroad development and local history as well.

15. Voyager Coffee

Though it has only been around since 2016, Voyager Coffee’s owner and staff are dedicated to the noble pursuit of making their customers happy.

They do this largely by providing world-class coffee, but also by offering a comfortable space in which guests have opportunities to build relationships with like-minded customers.

Many of their coffees sport internationally influenced flavors, and they’re often infused with things like orange essence and cherry blossom water.

Don’t worry if you prefer your coffee straight-up, because they’ve got more traditional brews as well.

They offer fresh pastry and baked goods, tea, and other non-coffee drinks too.

15 Things to Do in Santa Clara (CA):

• Levi's Stadium
• Ulistac Natural Area
• Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival
• The de Saisset Museum
• Intel Museum
• Santa Clara Farmers’ Market
• California's Great America
• Mission Santa Clara
• The Triton Museum of Art
• Santa Clara Players
• Central Park
• The 49ers Museum
• The Santa Clara Fire Museum
• Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History
• Voyager Coffee

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