The Relationship Between Sport and Tourism
The relationship between sport and tourism
In order to understand the meaning of sport tourism, firstly we need to understand the term sport and tourism. Generally, sport can be defined as “all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competitions at all levels” (Council Of Europe, 1992). Having said that, sport is actually a form of activity that is participated by people and it involves not only the participant but also other people. As for tourism, the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) (2000) defined it as “activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”. In this case, both sport and tourism is seen as a form of travel from one place to another. For instance, most sport nowadays involves a considerable amount of traveling to play and compete in different destinations and countries. Other than that, there are also people that travels for the purpose of visiting sports attraction such as stadiums, sports museum and also sports hall. Nowadays, sport and tourism can be seen as an inseparable phenomenon and sport tourism itself is considered to be the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry. However, the definition of sport tourism varies among people, until now, there still has not been a standardize definition for it. Over the years, there have been attempts to define it; for instance (Weed et al, 1997). As such, Standeven and De Knop (1999, p.12) defines sport tourism as, “All forms of active and passive involvement in sporting activity, participated in casually or in an organized way for non-commercial or business/commercial reasons, that necessitate travel away from home and work locality”. Therefore, it is known that sport and tourism relates to one another, as also stated by
In order to understand the meaning of sport tourism, firstly we need to understand the term sport and tourism. Generally, sport can be defined as “all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competitions at all levels” (Council Of Europe, 1992). Having said that, sport is actually a form of activity that is participated by people and it involves not only the participant but also other people. As for tourism, the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) (2000) defined it as “activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”. In this case, both sport and tourism is seen as a form of travel from one place to another. For instance, most sport nowadays involves a considerable amount of traveling to play and compete in different destinations and countries. Other than that, there are also people that travels for the purpose of visiting sports attraction such as stadiums, sports museum and also sports hall. Nowadays, sport and tourism can be seen as an inseparable phenomenon and sport tourism itself is considered to be the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry. However, the definition of sport tourism varies among people, until now, there still has not been a standardize definition for it. Over the years, there have been attempts to define it; for instance (Weed et al, 1997). As such, Standeven and De Knop (1999, p.12) defines sport tourism as, “All forms of active and passive involvement in sporting activity, participated in casually or in an organized way for non-commercial or business/commercial reasons, that necessitate travel away from home and work locality”. Therefore, it is known that sport and tourism relates to one another, as also stated by