Sport Management

Abstract

Sport tourism has become a key strategy for many countries in adding more value to their tourist destination during last decade. Sport tourism is widely categorized in three folds by scholars and practitioners: 1) active sport tourism 2) sport event tourism and 3) nostalgia sport tourism. First, active sport tourism is athletes travel to destination and actively participate or play sport by themselves such as marathon running, trail running, doing adventure sport, etc. Second, sport event tourism is individual travel to destination to be attendance or spectator of the events such professional sporting event or major elite sporting event. Third, nostalgia sport tourism is tourists who travel to destination for appreciate famous or iconic sporting venue or commemorate past experience. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more countries attempted to add value to tourism industry by using sporting events either major sporting events or active sport events. The benefit for organizing an annual sport tourism event in tourist destination can increase sport tourist retentions. In general, tourists normally look for new destinations to visit rather than return to the same place. Sport participation in that destination becomes an important reason for their revisits. The major benefit for sport tourism is to draw new money from sport tourists to local area. From economic impact assessment principle, three major impacts 1) direct impact 2) indirect impact and 3) induced impact are key components in motivating the city leader to run sport tourism activities. Direct impact includes direct spending by participants, spectators, event organizers on goods and services inside event venues (food and beverage, retail, and others) and outside venues (accommodation, food and beverage, retail, transport, entertainment, tours and other). Indirect impact typically measures the value of additional economic demands that sport organizer places on supplying industries in the region. When organizers hold a sporting event, they must make many direct purchases from suppliers in the area. Third, Induced impacts are the increased sales within the region from household spending of the income earned in sport tourism activity and supporting industries. Employees in sport tourism and supporting industries spend the income they earn from sport tourism on housing, utilities, groceries, and other consumer goods and services. Hosting sport tourism event not only bring economic impact in monetary benefit but also job creation during the event. However, there are a number of criticisms from the scholars that most jobs from sport tourism events are generally merely temporary jobs. The incomes for temporary workers are only increasing wage for the duration of event and event preparation. Economists also consider tax collected from organizers and local businesses is the impact from hosting sport tourism event. Media values are also another measurement for sport tourism event impact. However, active sport tourism and nostalgia sport tourism are not covered by mass media. Only the mega sport event tourism such as international games, World championships, or professional sport events can draw international visitors and international media. Recently, governments started to increase attention to social impact, environmental concern and also legacy to local community, for instance, local sport development. Although sport tourism can generate good effects to city and local community, the negative impact also come with benefits. Scholars also pointed out that cost benefit analysis (CBA) may be used alongside with economic impact assessment to justify reason for city to run sport tourism project.