Sport Tourism Development (Aspects of Tourism): 84 - Hardcover

James Higham; Tom Hinch

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845416554 ISBN 13: 9781845416553

Publisher: Channel View Publications, 2018

Synopsis

This book critically explores sport-related tourism drawing on the fields of sport management, the sociology of sport, consumer behaviour, sports marketing, economic, urban and sports geography, and tourism studies. It presents multidisciplinary perspectives of sport tourism, as structured by the geographical concepts of space, place and environment. The volume offers a comprehensive update of the discussions presented in the two previous editions, recognising the significant growth in sub-elite participation sports and addresses spectator-based sport events, participation-based sport events, active sport, and sport heritage activities. It aims to advance theoretical thinking on the subject of sport tourism development and critical thinking on the interplay of local and global forces in sport and tourism development. It continues to be an important text for students and researchers in tourism studies, human geography, sports geography, sociology of sport, sports management, sports marketing and history of sport.

About this title

About the Author

James Higham is Professor at the University of Otago, New Zealand and Visiting Professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway. He is co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. Tom Hinch is Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, Canada and Distinguished University Professor, Wakayama University, Japan.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Sport Tourism Development

By James Higham, Tom Hinch

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2018 James Higham and Tom Hinch
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84541-655-3

Contents

Figures and Tables, vii, 
Case Study and Focus Point Contributors, ix, 
Acknowledgements, xi, 
Part 1: Introduction, 
1 Sport Tourism in Times of Change, 3, 
Part 2: Foundations of Sport Tourism Development, 
2 The Study of Sport Tourism, 19, 
3 Sport Tourism Markets, 38, 
4 Development Processes and Issues, 63, 
Part 3: Sport Tourism Development and Space, 
5 Space: Location and Travel Flows, 89, 
6 Place, Sport and Culture, 112, 
7 Environment: Landscape, Resources and Impacts, 132, 
Part 4: Sport Tourism Development and Time, 
8 Sport and the Tourist Experience, 155, 
9 Seasonality, Sport and Tourism, 179, 
10 Evolutionary Trends in Sport Tourism, 199, 
Part 5: Conclusions, 
11 Shifting Goal Posts and Moving Targets: The Ever-Evolving Worlds of Sport and Tourism, 227, 
References, 238, 
Index, 281, 

CHAPTER 1

Sport Tourism in Times of Change

In terms of popular participation, and in some aspects of practice, (sport and tourism) are inextricably linked ... and there are sound reasons for those links to strengthen.

Glyptis, 1989: 165

Introduction

In June 336 BC, Philip of Macedon (382–336 BC) made preparations for the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to King Alexander of Epirus. He intended, according to Green (1992), to make the wedding a lavish and ostentatious display of propaganda, in order to impress the Greeks into reimagining Philip as a 'civilised and generous statesman', rather than a military tyrant and autocrat. Philip gathered his Macedonian barons and invited all manner of distinguish Greek visitors. No expense was spared in hosting banquets and entertaining his visitors with musical performances and extravagant sacrifices to the Gods (Green, 1992). Interestingly, in the context of this book, public games and displays of competitive sporting excellence were other important elements of Philip's strategy, although the celebrations were cut short by his violent assassination.

Two years later, in 334 BC, Philip's son and successor, Alexander the Great (365–323 BC) hosted the 'so-called "Olympian Games", a nine day festival in honour of Zeus and the Muses held at Aegae or Dium' (Green, 1992: 163). His intentions were to dispel rumours of Macedonian financial ruin with splendid banquets hosted in enormous marquees set against the backdrop of Mount Olympus, and to impress and win the favour of his senior officers and Greek city state ambassadors on the eve of his great Persian campaign. But, above all, Alexander sought through hosting the 'Olympian Games' to impress upon all onlookers his (self)image as a golden demigod of Hellenism, beyond mortal scale. Clearly, hosting sport competitions, as well as royalty, politicians, ambassadors and dignitaries, all seeking some form of association with sports events, is historically longstanding (Green, 1992; Keller, 2001).

Sports, particularly large-scale sporting events dating back to the ancient Olympian Games, have long influenced travel (Keller, 2001). However, few definitions of sport adequately express its diverse and dynamic nature and its changing functions in different societies over time. While sports are as old as civilisation (Coakley, 2017), and the defining qualities of sports are well established, few definitions of sport capture the changing place of sports in societies. As Andrews (2006: 1) observes, 'although physically-based competitive activities are a feature of virtually all human civilisations, the popular myth of sport as a fixed and immutable category is little more than a pervasive, if compelling, fiction'. Instead, Andrews (2006) recommends interpretive approaches to understanding sports, whereby the study of sport and sport experiences are firmly anchored in an understanding of socio-historical context. Sports, then, are a reflection of their historical and social circumstances. This point is rooted in Bale's (1989) simple but useful notion that sport is defined by what features on a day-to-day basis in the sports section of local newspapers. The content of any daily newspaper will be a reflection of its historical and social context. If nothing else, scrutiny of the sports pages of local newspapers confirms the vast diversity of sports relative to their situation in place and time (Higham & Hinch, 2009), although the function of newspapers as a local voice has been diluted by the growth of online newsfeeds, blogs and social media that are far less spatially defined.

Alexander's use of the 'Olympian Games' as a display of personal godliness has, since 1896, thrown up many political and commercial parallels in the modern Olympic Games. It is also clear that the scale, complexity and potential of sport tourism, as well as the expanding mutual interests of the sport and tourism industries that have developed as a consequence, demand critical academic attention (UNWTO, 2017). This book is about sport tourism and its manifestations in space and time. It articulates the defining qualities of sport that explain its unique contribution to tourism. It then applies tourism development concepts and themes to the study of sport tourism. Three key questions structure our discussions of sport tourism development in this book: 'What makes sport unique as a tourist attraction or activity?', 'How is sport tourism manifest in space?' and 'How do these manifestations change over time?'

The chapters that comprise this book are organised into five parts. This chapter (Part 1: Introduction) introduces the purpose and structure of the book. It describes the development and growth of sport tourism, and then raises questions that are intended to demonstrate the relevance and challenge the assumptions that the reader may have on this subject. Part 2: Foundations of Sport Tourism Development comprises Chapters 2–4. This section is intended to provide the reader with fundamentals in the study of sport tourism, sport tourism markets and development processes and issues relating to sport tourism. Much progress has been made in the study of sport and tourism in recent years (e.g. Fyall & Jago, 2009; Gammon, 2015; Gammon et al., 2013; Gibson, 2005; Hallmann et al., 2015; Higham & Hinch, 2009; Lamont, 2014; Preuss, 2015; Taks, 2013; Taks et al., 2015; Weed, 2007; Weed & Bull, 2012; Weed et al., 2014). Chapters 2–4 provide an opportunity to review current insights into sport tourism as a basis for the discussions that follow.

Part 3: Sport Tourism Development and Space (Chapters 5–7) focuses on the spatial elements of sport tourism development. These chapters examine sport tourism development in relation to space, place and the environment. Each of these topics represents important geographical aspects of sport and tourism development. Part 4: Sport Tourism Development and Time (Chapters 8–10) examines sport tourism development in relation to time. The short-term, medium-term and long-term time horizons provide a temporal framework that frames our considerations of the immediate sport tourism experience; sport tourism and seasonality; and the dynamic interrelationship between sport and tourism within long-term evolutionary frameworks. Part 5: Conclusions (Chapter 11) concludes by reviewing the preceding discussions to serve as a platform from which to consider the future of sport and tourism, and sport tourism research. This structure provides a framework that raises questions relating to sport tourism development in space and time and to address these questions through the application of relevant theory.

Sport Tourism in Times of Change

The Football World Cup, hosted in recent years by Germany (2006), South Africa (2010) and Brazil (2014), is one of the world's truly mega sports events. It is a month-long showcase of football skill, and a stage upon which collective identities are forged and nationalisms are expressed (Giulianotti, 1995a, 1995b, 1996). Indeed, it is a stage that is shared by individual players and national teams, as well as politicians, civic leaders, multinational corporate actors, media corporations, spectators and tourists (Cornelissen, 2010). Events such as the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games represent the apex of elite competitive sport. However, they exist upon a superstructure of ever-expanding and diversifying participation in sport and recreational activity, and as one part of an ever-evolving global tourism industry. Once, sport-related international travel was the domain of elite athletes, representing their countries in international competition. With expanded personal mobilities in developed societies has come sport-related travel that extends across all spatial scales, levels of competition and competitive–participatory, serious–casual and active–passive dimensions of engagement (Higham & Hinch, 2009). Thus, the Football World Cup and mega sports events more generally, must be recognised as but one of the manifold diverse forms of sport-related tourism.

Democratisation, the process of opening access to previously restricted opportunities, applies to the development of sport and tourism in recent decades (Standeven & De Knop, 1999). Participation in some sports remains defined by factors such as social class; 'Irrespective of culture or historical period, people use sport to distinguish themselves and to reflect their status and prestige' (Booth & Loy, 1999: 1). The existence of post-class egalitarian consumer cultures in sport is balanced by the fact that similar status groups generally share lifestyle and consumption patterns (Booth & Loy, 1999). The links that exist between socio-demographic status, lifestyle and consumption patterns in sport and tourism heighten the value and utility of defining sport tourism markets in practice.

That said, the forces of globalisation (Bernstein, 2000; Milne & Ateljevic, 2004; Thibault, 2009) and democratisation (Standeven & De Knop, 1999) have had significant implications for the consumption of sport and development processes in sport tourism (Chapter 4). The modern development of sport tourism, then, stands at the cross section of a wide range of contemporary trends in sports participation and tourism development (Table 1.1).

These processes have been driven by neoliberal economic and global political forces (Collins, 1991; Cooper et al., 1993; Gibson, 1998a; Nauright, 1996), as well as changing social attitudes and values (Jackson et al., 2001; Redmond, 1991). They have also been facilitated by technological advances, such as satellite television broadcasting and internet live streaming that have influenced the 'sportification of society' (Halberstam, 1999; Standeven & De Knop, 1999), and the forces of globalisation, which have had fundamental implications for personal and collective identity (re)formation (Higham & Hinch, 2009). The political events of 2016, including the Brexit vote (23 June 2016) and the US presidential elections (8 November 2016), which signalled new directions in economic protectionism and the strengthening of international border processes for visitors and migrants, will have significant implications for sport-related tourism and mobilities over the coming years, particularly sport labour migration. The global sports arena may become less global (Bale & Maguire, 2013), as some demonstrate resistance to the forces of globalisation and show signs of becoming less global in outlook.

Nevertheless, it remains the case that 'the geographical extent and volume of sports related travel has grown exponentially' (Faulkner et al., 1998: 3). Glyptis (1989) was one of the earlier scholars to provide an indication of these trends. She notes in a study of western European countries that all had experienced strong growth in interest in recreational sport during the 1980s. Furthermore, participation was increasing in all social strata, most sports were receiving participants from an expanding social spectrum and all had recorded significant increases in youth holidays, short breaks and multiple annual holidays. The two and a half decades that have followed have served to strengthen these trends (Hall, 1992a, 1992b; International Olympic Committee & World Tourism Organisation, 2001; UNWTO, 2017). Much has continued to change in the study of sport and tourism. Intensifying commercial demands in elite sport, the development of hybrid and innovation of new sports and the growth of lifestyle sports (Gilchrist & Wheaton, 2016; Wheaton, 2004) among other things, have changed the relationship between sport and the environment, sport and place, sports fans and their teams, and sports participants and their constructions of identity (Higham & Hinch, 2009).

The Foundations of Sport Tourism Development

The growth of sport tourism justifies critical consideration of relevant development issues. This task requires that sport tourism is defined and conceptualised in ways that highlight rather than obscure the diversity of interests in sport and tourism. A number of definitions exist in this field, which afford the opportunity to study sport tourism from a variety of perspectives. For the purposes of this book, sport tourism is conceptualised by considering sport as a tourist attraction, and by highlighting the defining qualities of sport that collectively constitute a unique contribution to tourism (Chapter 2: The Study of Sport Tourism). This approach is intended to give prominence to the diverse, dynamic and complex nature of sport and tourism, thereby helping to clarify the parameters and scope of this book.

The diversity of sport tourism markets is explored in Chapter 3: Sport Tourism Markets, which highlights the rich diversity of motivations, and therefore the varied approaches to market segmentation that exist in sport tourism. Bale (1989: 9) notes that 'work-play, freedom-constraint, competition-recreation, and process-product are only some of the continua on which sports can be located'. Thus, the experiences of sport tourists are likely to vary considerably with the motivations that travellers hold towards their chosen sports. The motivations associated with sport tourism niche markets raise intriguing questions for sports event organisers and promoters, sports associations, managers of sporting venues, destination managers and tourism marketers (Higham & Hinch, 2009). To what extent, for example, are highly competitive professional athletes interested in tourist experiences at a sport destination, and how may the potential of this market be fully achieved? The promotional opportunities that derive from the association of high-profile athletes with specific tourist destinations are part of this potential (Chalip, 2004a). How does tourism based on professional sport differ from the tourism development opportunities associated with recreational sport? Tourist experiences relating to sport vary within and between niche market segments, which raises questions as to how these markets can be better understood by sport and tourism managers who seek to meet changing sport and travel preferences.

The logical extension of this market analysis is the consideration of development processes, sustainability and planning interventions. Development issues are of particular interest to sport and tourism practitioners. This is made most evident by the publication of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO, 2017) Global Report on Sport Tourism (Focus Point 1.1). This report was developed with the goal of providing timely and practical insights into such matters as infrastructure and facilities planning, collaboration between sport and tourism agencies, public–private partnerships (PPP) in sport tourism and new trends (and emerging markets) in sport and tourism. Other critical development issues in sport tourism relate to commodification/authenticity and global–local processes. Hitherto, little consideration has been given to the modification of sports competitions (e.g. through rule changes, length and timing of the competition season and the televising/streaming of live sport), or the development of new or hybrid sports, specifically in terms of the potential development opportunities for tourism destinations (Higham & Hinch, 2002a, 2002b). The implications for tourism destinations may include the emergence of new visitor markets, altered seasonal travel flows, elevated or altered perceptions of place, close alignment with the interests of local communities and new elements of destination imagery associated with sports. The relevance of these processes and issues are introduced to the reader, and explored in Chapter 4: Development Processes and Issues. These preliminary chapters provide a foundation upon which the subsequent chapters (Chapters 5–10) build.

Sport Tourism Development and Space

Chapters 5–8 consider how sport tourism is manifest in space and how these manifestations may be influenced. Chapter 5: Space: Location and Travel Flows explores the interrelationships linking sport tourism-generating areas and destinations, and the travel patterns associated with sport tourism markets. The basic concepts and themes for this chapter have their roots in economic geography. These concepts are drawn from the study of sports geography and the spatial analysis of sports (Bale, 1989, 1993), which inform, for example, the allocation of professional sport team franchises within a sports league or decisions on where to build, develop or enhance sport resources and facilities. The ways in which sports may influence the spatial travel patterns and itineraries of visitors travelling to and within a destination, whether sport functions as a primary, secondary or tertiary attraction, are also discussed. The rapidly expanding world of e-sports and virtual reality in sport experiences raises interesting questions regarding the relationship between sport and space.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Channel View Publications
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1845416554
• ISBN 13: 9781845416553
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 304