ABSTRACT
The previous chapter, in tracing the increasing interest in sports tourism over time, has provided a useful historical backdrop for the contemporary overview of the links between sport and tourism given in this chapter. In fact, while the title of the book refers to sports tourism, it is perhaps useful in providing this overview to consider the broader concept of the sport-tourism link (see discussions in the Prologue) which, in addition to sports holidays, also embraces liaison between the two areas on issues such as resources and funding, policy and planning, and information and research (see Chapter 7 for more detail on these areas). However, much of the previous work on the links between sport and tourism has concentrated on the narrower area of sports tourism – holidays involving sport either as a spectator or as a participant. This is not surprising as this area is the most obvious area of the sport-tourism link. Jackson and Glyptis (1992) delineate two types of sports-related tourism: the first, where sport is consciously used by destinations seeking to develop their tourism profile, and the second, where tourism has emerged more or less spontaneously as a result of sports activity. As this chapter will highlight, sports tourism is a large area, not just of the sport-tourism link but of the tourism industry as a whole. Yet, taking this one-dimensional approach to the sport-tourism link indicates that the only benefits of such links are in 16the use of sport in the promotion of tourism and that there would be little that might interest the sports lobby in promoting greater collaboration. However, this is far from the case as worldwide evidence suggests that there are wide-ranging benefits for both the sport and tourism industries in encouraging greater links.
