ABSTRACT
Notwithstanding any reluctance among sport and tourism agencies to work together, developing policy to support the diverse nature of sports tourism is no simple task. That the development of such policy takes place against a general backdrop of indifference from many of the policy agencies that might reasonably be expected to be involved only
established and have developed entirely separately. This separate development is often compounded by a significantly different “culture” or “ethos” in the two sectors. There is often a tradition of public sector support, subsidy and/or intervention in the sports sector (the exception, perhaps, being the USA, where the United States Olympic Committee, although granted a role via legislation, receives no public sector funding), while the tourist sector is largely seen as a private sector concern, and agencies are often limited to a marketing or business support role. These factors are further complicated by the different levels at which responsibility for policy development lies. Organizations may exist at the national, regional and/or local levels, and in countries such as the USA or Australia that have federal systems of government, the significant rule of state governments also needs to be considered. The respective responsibilities of these agencies can mean that in some instances liaison would need to take place not only across sectors, but also between levels. The relative scarcity of such liaison is a testament to the range of problems that exist.
