In setting the foundation for this book, the unique qualities of sport as a tourist attraction are presented and discussed theoretically. It then addresses in six chapters central themes of sport tourism development.

Few forces in contemporary society influence the fortunes of tourism destinations more immediately than sport. From football fans to kayaking, Sports Tourism Destinations: issues, opportunities and analysis examines the planning, development and management of sport tourism destinations. With contributions from international experts, this book looks at the dramatic effects sports tourism has on the economy and future of tourism destinations. Divided into four parts, the book systematically covers: Sports tourism destination analysis: applies principles of destination resource analysis to the study of sport tourism destinations Destination planning and development: illustrates the mutually beneficial links between sport, tourism and destination planning. Destination marketing and management: explores theoretical and applied aspects of sport tourism destination marketing and management Sport tourism impacts and environments: identifies and discusses critical issues of sustainable development at sport tourism destinations Practical case studies in each chapter illustrate and highlight the links between sport tourism theory and practice, making this book a vital resource for lecturers and students alike.

Destinations include the places, landscapes and communities where sport tourism development takes place. Whether sport tourism development takes the form of sport events, active participation in sport, and/or sports nostalgia/heritage, it draws on local resources, forms part of the complex dynamic of daily life. As such, sports tourism has implications for residents, with destination communities in a position to benefit from, or absorb the costs of, the extent to which development is sustainable. Subsequently, this book features contributions that focus on sport tourism and destination sustainability. Issues covered include, though are not limited to, destination management, surf localism, the production of space, event sustainability in national parks, utilisation of sport heritage for destination promotion, enhancing the attractiveness of destinations through sport tourism, destination development and sport tourism, utilising sport to motivate travel to destinations and environmentally responsible behaviour in sports tourism destinations. The unique contribution of this edited volume is the multi-disciplinary approach applied to enhance conceptual understanding of issues surrounding sport tourism and destination sustainability. The chapters originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Sport & Tourism.

This book gathers the proceedings of the 7th International Conference, with the theme “Culture and Tourism in a Smart, Globalized and Sustainable World,” held on Hydra Island, Greece, on June 17–19, 2020, published with the support of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism. Highlighting the contributions made by numerous writers to the advancement of tourism research, this book presents a critical academic discourse on sustainable practices in the smart tourism context, improving readers’ understanding of, and stimulating future debates in, this critical area. In addition to the knowledge economy and the concept of smart destinations, the book addresses new modes of tourism management and development, as well as emerging technologies, including location-based services, the Internet of things, smart cities, mobile services, gamification, digital collections and the virtual visitor, social media, social networking, and augmented reality.

This book outlines the impacts of small scale sport tourism events on local sustainable development in different countries. Using half marathons organized in small and medium sized cities as an example, the chapters are robust case studies, applying a unified methodology in order to provide a clear overview of the sport tourism system in each country. The book begins with a description of the methodologies used and an overview of the countries studied. The country chapters focus on several dimensions of sport tourism in each city, including but not limited to the history of past sport tourism events in the municipality, the characteristics of the city hosting the event, the demographic profile of participants in the event, and the quantifiable economic, environmental, and sociocultural impacts of the event. Each chapter concludes with analysis and policy recommendations for holding future events that contribute to local sustainable development. The book concludes by summarizing and comparing the main results across different countries, and presenting main conclusions and overarching recommendations. Written by international experts in sports tourism, this book is geared towards academic researchers and students, interested in sport tourism, sports economics, management, and sustainable development, as well as policy makers and professionals tasked with bringing such events to their cities.

This book examines the economic, social and environmental impacts and issues associated with the development of sport tourism globally, including the lack of research and coordination between industry and government. The book suggests the need for a more balanced analysis of the impacts and issues associated with future sport tourism development.