Sport and Tourism

Although sport in tourism is omnipresent in modern society, this phenomenon actually dates back to antiquity when the Olympic Games attracted competitors and spectators to Greece from all over the Mediterranean. Nowadays, whether it is festive and publicised events or leisure activities, it is widely accepted that sporting practices are changing to reflect the society in which they are developing: physical education, competitive activities, health-related practices, etc. (Defrance, 1976; Pociello, 1983; Loirand, 2006; Rennesson, 2006). This work explores the emergence and development of physical and sporting activities linked to the tourism sector.

The convergence of sport and tourism

Over the past forty years, sport has become a leisure activity. It has freed itself from educational and cultural authorities, traditional powers, and, in its playful form, has become a consumer product that is increasingly close to the tourism sector. In the early 2000s, this phenomenon gained ground to reach 11 million short stays (one to three days) and 8 million long stays (more than three days); representing a total of 20 million stays, namely 66 million overnight stays (Pigeassou, 2002). These figures are for France. This is in direct relation to holiday time, which now occupies an important place in people’s lives, where there is an emerging wish for added value sometimes linked to physical activity. The nature of tourist demand, previously associated with a certain idleness, appears to be changing into an expectation for a more “active” consumption offering.

Tourism, which is constantly seeking new markets, finds a natural extension in sport, which is economically beneficial and brings added value. Tourism managers appear to be using the opportunity of society’s “sportification” to develop, energise, or revitalise a sector that is seeking new market opportunities. Today, the overlapping of physical activities and tourism is referred to as sport tourism:

“sport tourism is a result of the expansion of sports into leisure activities and the need for tourism to develop complementary products to basic tourism services”

(Pigeassou, 2002).

It is a still somewhat undefined consumer demand that organisations endeavour to capture by using the social and health-related symbolism of sport, which incorporates an extensive range of tourism offerings.

The emerging term “sport tourism” may not be completely relevant in that tourists’ engagement does not necessarily mirror the intensity experienced by professional athletes. Its appearance is relatively recent and cannot truly lay claim to a tradition like that of sporting practices. In specialist literature, mainly in English, an article specifically addressing this subject was first published in the 1980s (Glyptis, 1982). However, it is worth noting that sport has long been closely linked to tourism. The development of tennis, yachting, polo, and winter sports in the Alps and on the Côte d’Azur followed the same trend as tourists (Maccario and Gastaud, 2020). But this form of tourism remains fragmented:

“Organisations offering sporting leisure activities to clients are not structured in networks, except occasionally in specific sectors for commercial reasons. Hence, it is not possible to refer to a sporting leisure universe in which a set of values are shared by organisers and participants”

(Chifflet, 2000).

Following Chifflet’s insights on sporting leisure activities, the concept of leisure sporting practices more accurately captures the reality of tourist activities, whereby physical engagement typically excludes institutional competition, with some exceptions, such as trail running or certain marathons that include both amateurs and professionals. Indeed, physical engagement in a tourist context does not require the same levels of concentration and intensity.

The development of different forms of sport-related tourism

Different definitions are used to present all the forms of tourism associated with sport. These reflect changes in research, which have attempted to link sport and tourism over the past two decades. While the general definition of the concept highlights “the relationship to forms of travel and participation” (Gibson, 2002), a typology has been developed to include all forms of tourism that allow for attendance at competitive events, participation in physical activities, and visits to sports heritage sites (Gibson, 2002).

An attempt at an initial presentation of the different forms of sports tourism can be made with the typology of the four main physical types of tourist (Coëfé et al., 2016):

• Tourism focused on relaxation and leisure appears to align closely with fun types of sport. This form of sport tourism targets the use of sporting attractions. Sport museums, sport symposiums, conferences, exhibitions, demonstrations, sport parks, water leisure parks and rafting, golf courses, ski slopes, stadiums, ice rinks, etc.
• Physical transformation tourism can be closely associated with tourism involving sport displays. This concerns the journeys required to attend competitive events. This form of tourism is mainly linked to elite sport in a national and international context.
• Engaged physical tourism which enables participation in risky and physically demanding activities. This category covers all forms of tourism trips that involve active participation: hiking, trekking, safari tours, marathons, cycling, climbing, excursions and expeditions.
• Co-presence tourism concerns collective practices. This includes stays at centres, resorts, or camps devoted to leisure or sports training. Activities can vary from fishing and hunting to skiing, tennis, and training camps for sports such as football, basketball, and volleyball. Participation in regional, national, or international events: everything concerning travel to attend sport events also falls within this category and forms part of the social interaction.

A second classification can be defined based on “the type of services provided and how these services are presented to consumers” (Pigeassou, 1997):

• All-inclusive offers which combine a full range of services within a single, or limited number of packages. This category includes travel agencies and tour operators that promote holidays (UCPA, Club Med, etc.), adventure tourism, and participation in sporting events.
• Associated offers provide captive clients with a more or less rich range of sporting services, which are personalised and offered as an addition to the basic services. These services are often internal to tourist structures and comprise independent organisations, sometimes grouped together within a specific area, that contribute to the local tourism dynamic.
• Diversification offers which are sporting services available within the same tourist area. These aim to promote the potential of an area and establish a fun, sporty image of conveyed by the various organisations in charge of local, departmental, or regional tourism promotion.

Finally, a third typology based on product lines. “The typology brings together products according to their generic line” (AFIT, 2000):

• A product line related to the sea: including beaches, swimming, sailing, water sports, and thalassotherapy.
• A product line related to outdoor nature activities: including white-water activities, hiking, equestrian tourism, road and off-road cycling, and climbing sports.
• A product line specific to snowy mountains: combining downhill and cross-country skiing with activities such as snow shoeing and dog sledging.
• A line of heterogeneous, residual products: relating to golf, aerial sports, amusement parks, and fitness activities.

The incomplete development of the tourism offering associated with sport

Many studies agree that while this offering forms part of the broader holiday context, its development is not completely in line with that of tourism as a whole. Sport activities often remain an accompanying and diversifying offering. Various reports highlight the role of the sport offering in a destination’s attractiveness.

“Sport may not represent a substantial market niche, but it is of strategic importance for certain tourism offerings that want to enhance their appeal and revitalise their traditional activity, such as destinations in high-altitude areas of the Côte d’Azur, which are embracing this trend by developing outdoor physical activities (white-water sports, via ferrata, etc.)”

(Origet du Cluzeau, 2002).

Consequently, this type of sport offering is part of a favourable context for its inclusion within the tourism market. The trend of an increase in the number of people going on holiday is beneficial for sport tourism, and the improvement in living standards also contributes to growth in this sector. While this information points to real opportunities for the development of leisure sport tourism, it is currently impacted by limited structuring and fragmented development.

A clear sporting dimension is emerging in the tourism offering, driven by the social development of a population increasingly interested in leisure activities that prioritise sociability, autonomy, aesthetics, and health and fitness concerns. But, while the combination of sport and tourism has existed for about two decades, the professional structuring of this sector is not all that apparent (Glyptis, 1982). While the number of people going on holiday in France has been close to 60% for the past twenty years (Daudey, 2016) and the number of people partaking in sport stands at 68% (Muller, 2023); this context, which, in principle, appears to be conducive to growth for sporting services, is only, in reality, moderately so (figure 1).

While an increasing number of small leisure sport providers are appearing, there are many shortcomings when it comes to service. The sector is mainly composed of very small enterprises that are technically under-equipped and show a deficiency in terms of client reception and service logistics. In France, the response to the demand for leisure sport consumption is  not truly structured. The professional dimension appears to be having difficulty establishing itself. Currently, there is a partial offering, limited to certain geographic areas, which is sometimes inconsistent and greatly lacking in commercial services. The sector appears to comprise an economic fabric of small businesses with management approaches that prioritise daily realities and on-the-ground constraints. These small structures tend to adopt a mindset based on what already exists and a short-term management focus (figure 2).

For professionals in this field, these challenges offer an opportunity for a new way of working, which involves identifying and analysing these issues and searching for solutions that can be integrated into the organisation’s operations. In practice, the implementation of the changes required to adapt to the current economic landscape is lacking. The organisational solutions in leisure tourism are not inspired by the extensive experience of the tourism industry. The strategy of the majority of leisure companies appears to focus on a limited number of improvements applied daily. This situation is echoed in conversations with industry professionals: The diving club acquires lighter tanks, the climbing centre installs new routes to diversify difficulty levels, and the ski school equips its instructors in more contemporary attire. These efforts are largely isolated initiatives. Management focuses mainly on larger organisations that develop with the help of strategies, projects and action plans. Smaller structures, condemned to set up ad hoc measures, miss out on opportunities for the professional development of their service offerings. Everyday operational concerns take precedence in these smaller organisations, resulting in an empirical approach that does not learn from experience or benefit from hindsight when it comes to day-to-day operations. In this context, and given the lessons learned from trends in the tourism sector, adopting a management approach that focuses on a certain standardisation of the quality of the work provided, systematic productivity enhancements, and project-based work appears to be somewhat counter-intuitive. The leisure sport industry operates in a market that is growing in  qualitative and quantitative terms, but it still appears to be missing out on genuine development opportunities.

Bernard MASSIERA

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