ABSTRACT
Modern studies of sport tourism are present-centred, their theory and methodology dominated by sports marketing and sports management disciplines, and focusing on a multitude of activities, destinations and site that reflect the economic importance of sport in contemporary society. In Britain, by the 1990s, sport accounted for approximately 2 per cent of all workers and contributed substantially to Britain’s G.D.P. 1 About 20 per cent of trips in Britain then related to sports participation and about 50 per cent had a sports component. 2 A globally popular mega-event like the 2012 Olympics is expected to generate substantial domestic and international tourism turnover. 3 Governments, tourist boards and private industry all now commercially exploit sports tourism, and there is much statistical data available to support researchers’ neat theoretical constructs. Definitions of ‘sports tourists’ vary but researchers largely use three categories: high performance individuals and teams, ‘committed’ sporting practitioners, and travelling spectators or fans, all visiting ‘modern’ sporting events. 4 Some studies further distinguish between day-trippers (‘sports excursionists’) and ‘sports tourists’ staying overnight. 5 There are other micro-definitional discriminations, between ‘sport as competition’ and ‘sport-as-play’, 6 and between trips with sport as the primary purpose and holidays with sport as a secondary or incidental purpose. 7
