Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony by Jewel Samad

Sports tourism is broadly described as travel away from one’s residence for the purpose of participating in sports activity, either for recreation or competition; observing a sporting event; or visiting a sports attraction such as a sports museum. Loose numbers indicate that this segment account for up to 25% of total revenues from tourism.


Sports tourists are those directly involved in a competitive sports event (athletes, sports officials, organizers, people providing media coverage); those who come to train, enjoy, or dabble in a particular sport (e.g., those learning to surf, dive, ride a horse, climb, ski or are engaging in these for recreational purposes or as a hobby); visitors of sites famous for specific events in sports history (iconic Olympic landmarks, sports museums, residences of sports personalities, etc.); or simply those watching major sports events. The event spectators and sports fans are the dominant type of sports tourists.

Sports tourists are those directly involved in a competitive sports event; those who come to train, enjoy, or dabble in a particular sport; visitors of sites famous for specific events in sports history; or simply those watching major sports events.

From sillyseason.com

For those contemplating to promote this segment of tourism in their community, their success will depend on how they are able to work around its market characteristics or peculiarities:

 Provider of sports tourism products must satisfy a complex of safety, physiological, and high level of enjoyment needs. This includes quality of accommodations, assurance of protection against bodily risks for the sports fans, presence of and ease of travel to high standard sports venues and facilities, promise of top-level competition participated by among the best in the sport discipline.
 The sports destination must be politically stable, have low crime incidence, and have low vulnerability from major natural disasters.
 The place must be one where the fans, learners, hobbyists, and practitioners of a particular sport are compelled to go despite products and activities related to the sport being available in their areas of residence.
 Sports tourism meets a comparatively higher-level need. The travelers mostly belong to higher income levels with more sophisticated and discriminating tastes. Its market growth is boosted by income growth.
 Hosts of major international events like the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup vary, which means the market shifts towards the direction of the host cities and areas.
 Annual sports events (e.g., professional basketball championships, high-profile marathon and other foot races, triathlon, surfing competitions) are held at certain times of the year, hence have seasonality.

About this Research
This article is not part of any commissioned research. It is a response to a request by a colleague to write on sports tourism. In preparing the write-up, the one thought that came to mind was the market study conducted by the author on cultural (“ethno-“ or “aboriginal”) tourism in the Philippines nearly 20 years ago. While probing the data on visitor arrivals in remote provinces, explosive growth was seen in Surigao del Norte, subsequently established to be the result of the rising popularity of surfing in Siargao. The first part of this article talks about the market peculiarities of sports tourism. The second part cites cases of sports tourism in the country, including Siargao.