?he sports tourism is defined as a specific travel outside one’s unusual environment for the purpose of actively or passively participating in any sports event, the latter of which is the reason for the travelling. The sport, with the other tourism elements, increases the whole experience. In terms of sports marketing and sports administration, the sports tourism classifies into 2 widely-knows categories:
* Travelling for the purpose of participation in sport (the purpose of the travel is watching the sport, vacation, fitness, spa etc. ) Travelling for the purpose of observing the sport (the purpose of the travel is observing, vacation fitness spa etc. ) Due to its remarkable growth, the World Tourism Organization defines the sports tourism as a new emerging market. Truly, the interest towards the sports and especially towards the elite sports events has increased dramatically. The events of the sports tourism on international and regional level have double effect: * Direct effect – the attendance of the players and the audience * Indirect effect – the marketing of the destination, which further benefits the additional tourist flow.
This effect can be very big, depending on the expectation of the sports event. Today, the tourism is number 1 industry in the world, with the sports being number 1 industry in the entertaining sector. The sport is inseparable part of any culture and even though it is often looked as a separate industry, it is still part of the tourism industry. Sports can also be seen as an attraction. The sports tourism has established itself as a key factor for the tourism development. The main tourist destinations develop the idea of tourist products which can be compared to the entertaining sports.
These ideas allow their destinations to be compared and to compete with their rivals in the other sector of tourism in the international level. The sports tourism is a business for billions of dollars, one of the fastest developing businesses. It has grown internationally, attracting media and political interest. In 2012, the travels and the tourism are 15% of the world’s GDP. The economics of some cities, regions and even some countries of the world are highly dependent of the visits of sports fans. In some countries sport bring nearly 25% of the tourism incomes. In this way, sports tourism earned its reputation as a multimillion business.
The tendencies in the world tourism recently showed that sports tourism has become important segment for the global tourist industry. For the last ten years the Global tourism industry has witnessed many changes and innovations caused by many factors such as: spare time increase and spending it, appetite for spectacles and thrillers, new methods of distribution etc. This has influenced the travelling with sports purposes. Issues with the sport tourism: 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi – A lost chance for the Indian tourism. The 2010 Commonwealth Games were held in Delhi from 3 to 14 October, 2010.
The preparation for the games received widespread international media attention, with the criticism being pointed towards the organizers for its slow pace of work, as well as issues related to the hygiene and security. Criticism was also for the fact that over billions of dollars were spent over the event, despite of the fact that India has one of the world’s largest concentration of poor people. The Indian government had planned to use the Commonwealth games in Delhi to show the world what they did and give a boost to the Indian tourism the same way that China did with the Olympics in Beijing.
Despite this, for an unexpected turn of events, the Indian government was accused of inefficiency and corruption. The tourism industry is important part of the Indian GDP. The Commonwealth games were considered a good chance for the development of the tourism in the country and increasing the tourist flow towards the country and showing the beauty of the country to the world. The organizing of the event was extremely expensive for India as a total cost of 6 billion invested in a new infrastructure. The success of the Commonwealth games was critical for the marketing strategy.
The criticizing headlines and the embarrassing pictures, spread throughout the world was very difficult thing to overcome. The bad reputation from the games is something the country is still fighting, trying to restore its global image. Are mass sport events a golden jackpot? The Olympic Games, the FIFA World Cup and the Paralympics are all forms of sport tourism. Sports tourism is a multi-billion dollar business, one of the fastest growing areas of the global travel and tourism industry. It has become an international business attracting media coverage, investment, and political interest and travelling participants.
The question is: leads hosting a major sports event to a golden jackpot for a destination? Sports tourism is defined as a specific travel outside the usual environment for either passive or active involvement in competitive sport. Sports tourism can be divided into two broad categories of products; travel for the purpose of participating in sports activity or travel for the purpose of watching mass sports events. Since sport tourism is a very broad topic, attention is focused on the travel for the purpose of watching/experiencing mass sport events like the Olympics.
For athletes of the world these major sport events represent the highest point of achievement on the international sporting stage. With the eyes of the world watching athletes are given the opportunity to prove that they are among the best in the world. Like the athletes, host countries are also looking for their moment of fame. The chance to play host to a mass sport event is an exceptional opportunity to shape the future of the nation, especially its tourism sector. A lot of countries realize that is a great opportunity to expose their country to the world.
Also the World Tourism Organization (2010) recognizes the remarkable growth of sport tourism over the last twenty years. WTO considers sport tourism as an emerging niche market. Nowadays more and more tourism destinations are developing new tourism product concepts like sport events. The positive aspects of sports tourism are boundless. Mass sport events are held in many parts of the world, often deliberately staged to attract new customers and generate more income. Besides that the sport events can also contribute to the improvements of the infrastructure, increasing revenues, increasing employment and creating a destination image.
To illustrate this point, take a closer look at the FIFA World Cup 2010 which was hosted in South Africa. The aim of South Africa by hosting this world cup was to change the world’s opinion about South Africa and maximizing the long term benefits. The tourism in South Africa struggled for many years with the seasonality of the country. There was a huge gap between the summer and winter tourist arrivals. This soccer event took place during the winter period and despite of that it attracted a lot of international visitors. This major event contributed to the development of South Africa as a year-round destination.
Furthermore, according to South Africa’s Tourism minister, “The World Cup afforded us an once-in-a-lifetime chance to showcase the best we have as a tourism destination. ” Besides all the positive aspects of sport tourism it is also necessary to address the negative aspects of sport tourism. Many countries believe that hosting such an event is a guaranteed money making business for many years and will repay the investment. Hosting a major sports event may sound like hitting a jackpot, but there are also high risks. Unfortunately there are several examples of events where hosting an event wasn’t a success at all.
Take for example the Olympic Games of 1976 in Montreal, it was a financial disaster for the city and afterwards they were still faced with the financial debts. People might think the Olympic Games in Montreal were in 1976, but it is still happening nowadays. Another example to illustrate this point, are the Commonwealth Games 2010 in India. The Indian government aimed to make the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games an opportunity to show the world the progress it had made and also to boost the tourism. However, things looked different when the Indian government was accused of corruption.
Besides that the Mumbai terror attacks didn’t contribute to the event as well. The bad publicity surrounding the games and the safety issues have had a seriously negative impact on tourism to India. To conclude, hosting a major event can positively contribute to the development of the destination itself. This event will encourage international visitors to visit the destination, it will increase the local economy and employment and leads to the improvement of the infrastructure etc. There are a lot of benefits for hosting an event, but the major reason for the destinations it the worldwide exposure and competitive advantage.
But we also should consider the negative impacts of hosting an event. Since an event takes places in a social and political environment, there always will be some issues with citizens who are against this event like local citizens. Furthermore, it is very important to look at the long term consequences for the destination after the event takes place. Major events are short term events with long term consequences for the cities which hosted and in some cases these consequences are negative. For example a negative consequence for South Africa after the world cup, can be the new build accommodations.
During the event it was necessary to accommodate all tourists but afterwards the accommodations are useless. In order to minimize these consequences, a strategic planning process is necessary in order to develop a sustainable sport tourism destination. They should develop a destination that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Due a strategic plan they only build what is really necessary and what they also can use afterwards. Stadium Accidents:
Millions of people throughout the world attend sports events every year, sitting high in stadiums, which provide a great viewpoint from which to watch the show or the event. However, sometimes stadiums are dangerous for spectators, and stadium accidents can cause severe injuries or even death. If stadiums lack proper safety equipment to help preventing injuries, the owners must be held responsible for any injuries that can occur on their property during sport event. Thousands of people occupy stadiums at any given sports event, increasing the possibility of injury due to the multitude of people inside and enclosed space.
If stadiums are unsafe for occupants, serious injuries may occur. Some of them involve: * Falls from elevated heights * Lack of protective rails * Undercooked or contaminated food * Unstable steps or seating * Slips and falls due to liquid on the ground * Human stampede Any of these conditions may lead to serious injury in stadiums, and can be prevented if the stadium owner takes sufficient precautions. Probably one of the worst stadium accidents is the Hillsborough disaster. It occurred in 1989 at Hillsborough, a stadium in United Kingdom.
Due to police failure, thousands of fans entered a narrow tunnel at the rear of the terrace, creating a huge crush at the front. Hundreds of people were pressed by one-another against the fence by the weight of the crowd. It leads to the deaths of 96 people and around 800 being injured severely. 25 years later, it is still the worst stadium accident in the United Kingdom and one of the worst in the world. Violence in sports: Some sports, as part of their rules, require intense physical contact, which may cause pain, injuries or other harm. However, the violence in sport is different from the sport rules.
Violence in sport is a physical assault or other physical harmful actions by the player that takes place in the sport contest, which is intended to cause injury or physical pain to another person, where the harmful actions bear no direct relationship to the rules and the associated competitive goals of the sport. Some sports, like boxing, permit such aggressive behavior within their rules that can cause injury, trauma or incapacitation. There are several theories which can explain the causes of violence. * Biology – this theory suggests that human are inherently violent.
In this way, the sport offers a relatively safe way to discharge the aggression. * Psychology – violence is caused by frustration as one’s efforts to reach the goal fails. In sports, the frustration can be very high, caused by the sport, opponents, officials etc. * Social learning – Maybe the most logical explanation, violence in the sport is accepted method of playing the game. So, what is the solution? Core positive values of the sportsmanship must be supported, such as respect, fair play discipline etc. Also, other things can be done, such as: * Remove any rewards for violence Penalize unacceptable violence * Encourage players and their coaches to focus more on the skill and joy of winning rather than on the win itself. * Encouraging players to see their opponents as more of necessary collaborators, not as enemies which are to be conquered and destroyed. Conclusion: Sports tourism is one of the highest growing, profitable, and attracting tourists’ tourism. However, like everything else it has its issues. If precautions are made and we learn from the past mistakes, the sports tourism will be number one tourism in the future.
