Mike Weed

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Sport, Tourism the Olympic GamesLeveragingSpo
rt Mega Events

• Mike Weed

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The link betweensport, tourism the Olympicsis
long established
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• The Ancient Games are often cited as earliest
  example of sport-related travel
• e.g. Standeven DeKnop, 1999
• Weed Bull, 2004

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• The association of the Winter Olympics with the
  Ski Industry almost led to its permanent
  cancellation in the 1960s 70s
• (Chappelet, 2002 Weed, 2008)

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• The Olympic Games combine the Worlds premier
  sporting event with the Worlds premier urban
  tourism destinations

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TODAY

• THE NATURE OF THE COMBINATION OF SPORT AND
  TOURISM
• UNDERSTANDING OLYMPIC TOURISM AND THE IMPORTANCE
  OF LEVERAGING
• OLYMPIC TOURISM FLOWS AND SPORTS TOURISM
  BEHAVIOURS
• LEVERAGING OLYMPIC MEDIA TO GENERATE TOURISM

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What is the natureof the combinationof sport
and tourism?
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Definitions

• Sport (Council of Europe)
• all forms of physical activity which, through
  casual or organised participation, aims at
  improving physical fitness and mental well-being,
  forming social relationships, or obtaining
  results in competition at all levels
• Tourism (British Tourist Authority)
• the temporary short-term movement of people to
  destinations outside the places where they
  normally live and work, and their activities
  during the stay at these destinations

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Defining Sports Tourism?

• All forms of active and passive involvement in
  sporting activity, participated in casually or in
  an organised way for
• non-commercial or business/commercial reasons
  that necessitate travel away from home and work
  locality
• (Standeven DeKnop, 1999)

SPORT DEFINITION
TOURISM DEFINITION
BUTthis definition is little more than a
combination of the definitions of sport and
tourism, and tells us little about the nature of
sports tourism
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Features of Sport of Tourism

• Tourism involves people
• Co-travellers
• Other travellers
• Hosts
• Areas constructed by others
• Tourism involves places outside of the usual
  environment
• Unusual destinations
• Unusual transit routes

• Sport involves activity
• Informal/formal
• Competitive/recreational
• Actively, passively or vicariously participated
  in
• Sport involves other people
• Competitors/co-participants
• Vicarious/passive participants
• Communities/sub-cultures

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A Conceptualisation

• Sports tourism is a social,
• economic and cultural phenomenon
• arising from the unique
• Interaction of activity,
• people and place
• (Weed Bull, 2004 37)

• This establishes sports tourism as

Related to, but more than the sum of, sport
and tourism
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Activity, People Placeand the Olympic Games

• Sport is an important tourism phenomenon
  providing PEOPLE with exciting and stimulating
  tourism experiences.
• Olympic hosts are leading world cities that are
  vibrant and often multicultural PLACES
• The Olympics is the Worlds premier sporting
  event providing travellers with varied active,
  passive and vicariously experienced ACTIVITIES

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Understanding Olympic Tourism and the Importance
of Leveraging
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Olympic Tourism

• Tourism behaviour motivated or
• generated by Olympic-related activities
• (Weed, 2008)
• May comprise
• Supplementary Sports Tourism
• Sports Participation Tourism
• Sports Training Tourism
• Event Sports Tourism
• Luxury Sports Tourism
• Generic Tourism

in the PRE-, DURING POST- Games periods
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Leveraging

• Unlike impact assessments, the study of
  leverage has a strategic and tactical focus. The
  objective is to identify strategies and tactics
  that can be implemented prior to and during an
  event in order to generate particular outcomes.
  Consequently, leveraging implies a much more
  pro-active approach to capitalising on
  opportunities, rather than impacts research which
  simply measures outcomes.
• (Chalip, 2004)

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Leveraging Olympic Tourism Flows

• Undoubtedly, there is a clear link between
  behaviours, impacts, policy and management in
  sports tourism, and it isleveraging that acts
  as a bridging concept. A leveraging approach
  assumes that policies and management strategies
  can be put in place derived from an understanding
  of behaviours to maximise positive impacts
• (Weed, 2008)

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A key lesson from Sydney 2000 was the need to
understand behaviours in order to capitalise on
leveraging opportunities
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Olympic Tourism Flows

• May have positive, negative or neutral effects
• Level of analysis (e.g., city, region, country)
  can change effect of flows

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Olympic Tourism Flows
REST OF THE WORLD
NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES
HOST COUNTRY
HOST CITY OR REGION
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Olympic Tourism Flows
Pre-Games
During-Games
Post-Games
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Olympic Tourism Flows

• May have positive, negative or neutral effects
• Level of analysis (e.g., city, region, country)
  can change effect of flows
• Understanding flows is crucial to effective
  Leveraging strategies
• Minimising negative flows can be as important as
  maximising positive flows.

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City to Country FlowsThe London 2012 Example

• Projected Macro-economic flows arising from
  London 2012

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Olympic Tourism Flows and Sports Tourism
Behaviours
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Classifying Sports Tourists?

• Distinctions have been made between
• SPORTS TOURISTS
• (for whom sport is the prime purpose)
• TOURISM SPORTISTS
• (for whom tourism is the prime purpose)
• (Gammon Robinson, 1997 Sofield, 2003 Robinson
  Gammon, 2004)

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Classifying Sports Tourists?
SPORTS TOURISTS / TOURISM SPORTISTS

• Problems with this approach
• 1) It assumes a view of sports tourism in
• which either sport or tourism is subordinate
• 2) It seeks to understand sports tourism at the
• broader level of trip purpose rather than as
• a trip behaviour

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A Multiple Motivational Position

• Most peoples holidays represent a compromise
  between their multiple motivators. Either one
  motivator becomes dominant, or a holiday is
  purchased which ensures all the motivators can at
  least be partly satisfied.
• (Swarbrooke Horner, 1999)

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Sports Tourism Behaviours

• Understanding impacts, developing
• policy strategy, and making
• provision for sports tourism
• MUST BE underpinned by an
• appreciation of behaviours
• (Weed, 2006)

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Sports Tourism BehavioursKey Questions

• Why do people travel for sports tourism
  activities?
• What do people want from sports tourism?
• Are sports tourism visits one-off occurrences
  or part of a broader profile of sports tourism
  behaviours?
• How do sports tourism behaviours relate to the
  rest of the trip?
• What role does sports tourism play in
• Trip decision making?
• (Post-decision) trip planning?
• (Spontaneous) trip behaviours?

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Sports Tourism Participation Model
Positive
(Weed Bull, 2009 - forthcoming)
Sports Tourism part of Trip Decision
IMPORTANCE AXIS
Participants
Intenders
Sports Tourism part of Post-Decision Trip Planning
Sports Tourism a Spontaneous Trip Behaviour
PARTICIPATION AXIS
High
Negative
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The Shape of the Model

• The Model on the previous slide is the generic
  shape for sports tourism participation as a
  whole.
• However, the shape of the Model may change for
  particular sports tourism products
• The next four slides show shapes for various
  sports tourism products, each of which might be
  part of Olympic Tourism
• Skiing (Winter Olympics)
• Elite Training Camps (Olympic preparation for
  athletes)
• Regular Events (which may be hosted in Olympic
  venues)
• One-off Events (the Games themselves, or
  warm-up events)

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Sports Tourism Participation Model
Positive
(Weed Bull, 2009, forthcoming)
SKIING
Sports Tourism part of Trip Decision
IMPORTANCE AXIS
Sports Tourism part of Post-Decision Trip Planning
Sports Tourism a Spontaneous Trip Behaviour
PARTICIPATION AXIS
High
Negative
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Sports Tourism Participation Model
Positive
(Weed Bull, 2009 - forthcoming)
ELITE TRAINING CAMPS
Sports Tourism part of Trip Decision
IMPORTANCE AXIS
Sports Tourism part of Post-Decision Trip Planning
Sports Tourism a Spontaneous Trip Behaviour
PARTICIPATION AXIS
High
Negative
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Sports Tourism Participation Model
Positive
(Weed Bull, 2009 - forthcoming)
REGULAR FIXTURES
Sports Tourism part of Trip Decision
IMPORTANCE AXIS
Sports Tourism part of Post-Decision Trip Planning
Sports Tourism a Spontaneous Trip Behaviour
PARTICIPATION AXIS
High
Negative
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Sports Tourism Participation Model
Positive
(Weed Bull, 2009 - forthcoming)
ONE-OFF EVENTS
Sports Tourism part of Trip Decision
IMPORTANCE AXIS
Sports Tourism part of Post-Decision Trip Planning
Sports Tourism a Spontaneous Trip Behaviour
PARTICIPATION AXIS
High
Negative
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Leveraging Olympic Media to Generate Tourism
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Media Exposure / Impact Background

• Media coverage is claimed to enhance the tourism
  image of a destination resulting in long-term
  positive effects of tourism on the economy
• Need to get a destination into consideration
  set of potential tourists
• Olympic Games research showed that Calgary
  Winter Olympics media coverage
• enhanced the saliency and attractiveness of
  Calgary as a destination (Ritchie, 1990)

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Media Exposure / Impact Issues

• Many events contain little coverage of host city
• City-related messages/images rarely targeted
• Broadcasters use of city related messages/images
  is often haphazard
• Iconographic images and place names most
  effective
• Iconographic experiences are very difficult to
  portray
• Urban backdrops can often be indistinct

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SUMMARY

• Olympic tourism is not just about travel to the
  Games
• Olympic tourism flows are not always positive
• The benefits of Olympic tourism must be leveraged
• Leveraging requires an understanding of
  behaviours and processes
• Media coverage can be leveraged to generate
  tourism

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Sport, Tourism the Olympic Games

• Mike Weed

mike.weed_at_canterbury.ac.uk