Sports Tourism: Good or Bad for an Economy?

Introduction and Claim

Sports tourism may be defined in general terms as travelling from one part of the world to another art to take part or to watch any sports which may include the Olympic Games or sports world cup held. Sports tourism has not been as popular as it is today when people love to travel for taking part or watching the games. But nowadays people like adventure and love to travel to take part in their favorite sports and games in any part of the world being held. Countries that have been taking an active part in sports tourism are of the opinion that it may boost the economic situation of hosting country as well as comes with economic boost up and stability. Hereby, this essay aims to identify the positive and negative economic effects of sports tourism for the host country as well as to identify the dominant role played by sports tourism in economic situation of the country.

Background

Family members are being employed today and the technological changes are provided, the on job people with lots of leisure time along with their earning to take part in their favorite sports. They have been paid well so they are curious and excited always to watch or take part in their favorite sports or games anywhere held in the world to get some adventure too. This whole process not only possesses lots of money exchange between the host country and tourists but this currency exchange may also stabilize or boost up the host country currency to make its economic condition better. This is, however, is an acceptable positive phenomenon which is associated with money and foreign currency exchange with the economic stability of a host country. But this cannot always be the sequence of happening in every case of the host country. But sometimes the potential benefits of sports tourism may also be underestimated that the quality of life may negatively be affected at host country with other related socio-technological issues involved. (Ross, 2001).

Body

Many research have been done and the effect of sports tourism with the economic condition of host country has been understood, people are of the opinion that sports tourism come along with lots of economic benefits not only to host country but to global economy as well which may include the traveling expenses, residential expenses, hotels and restaurants’ expenses which comes in remuneration for the countries involved providing services to tourists. The sports tourism has found to contribute to economic condition but to social, technological and infrastructure system of host country too with positive development and currency appraisal too (Thorne).

The tourists coming from various global regions are not only interested in the sports event but also they are adventurous to visit other places too in their leisure time from the sports event. This may generate a lot of revenues and may benefit the local communities, region and the whole country. Sports tourism along with economic improvement also provides media coverage to not only to the sports event but also disseminate information about the various socio-cultural values and related sites of the host country globally which also opens new ways of tourism to the host country indirectly affecting its economic stability and position positively. The sports tourism also benefits the host country in its infrastructure development which also strengthens the economics position of the country globally (Rampersad).

If good is happening it does not mean that it cannot do bad. Similarly, sports tourism is not always good but it can be bad and negatively impacting the economic position of the host country in terms of expense and costs to organize the events. To organize any sports events, the host country has to spend a lot on their infrastructure development and maintenance to facilitate the tourists as well as active sports tourists. They have to build the stadiums and various arenas and other buildings to facilitate the sports people or athletes, and millions of money is spent on these sort of areas which can get more benefits if spend on other sectors like education and healthcare. The negative part comes if the estimated expenses are not matched to the budgeted Performa statements for the events and expenses still bigger than the remunerations and earning from these events, then host country will face an economic downturn instead of boost up (Elizaale).

Some countries have been solely dependent of their tourism sector for economic upbringing and various other direct economic conditions like employment associated with it. If such a country is a host country for sports tourism, then during the time there will be a lot of currency and money exchange and more and more people will be employed earning for their families which will improve their quality of life. But once the sports event came to an end, people will be unemployed again and there will be a bigger downturn for the economy of that host country (Archer).

Metropolitan regions have been investing in their infrastructure development including various historical places, sports related buildings, restaurants and hotels as well as roads and other transportation to provide their sports tourist a better place to live and enjoy their adventurous leisure time far out of their homes. The study has found that these regions have been benefitted a lot in economic terms from these sports tourism events and they are always preparing for the upcoming sports events to get more sports tourists every year. In case of these metropolitan regions, economic escalation has been proven success associated with sports tourism (Rosentraub and Mijin Joo).

Conclusion

Variety of regions has variety of experiences associated with sports tourism. Some experiences are downturn in economic stability with other factors giving negative impact and some experiences are boosting the economic condition and other factors improvement. Many research has been done which proves that sports tourism brought a lot of positive and benefits for a country but there are regions too that opposes the statement of sports tourism bringing positive changes to economics of host country. The true thing lies in the actual but more perfect and cost-effective solutions created by countries to take more advantages than the disadvantages of sports tourism.

Works Cited

Archer, Brian. “Importance of tourism for the economy of Bermuda.” Annals of tourism research 22.4 (1995): 918-930.

Elizaale. Positive and Negative Impacts of Sports Tourism Events on the Host Community. 13 January 2017. 30 April 2017 <https://thehuddleuon.wordpress.com/2017/01/13/positive-and-negative-impacts-of-sports-tourism-events-on-the-host-community/>.

Mathieson, Alister, and Geoffrey Wall. Tourism, economic, physical and social impacts. Longman, 1982.

Rampersad, Anand. Lots of economic benefits can come from sport tourism. 7 September 2015. 30 April 2017 <http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2015-09-07/lots-economic-benefits-can-come-sport-tourism>.

Rosentraub, Mark S., and Mijin Joo. “Tourism and economic development: Which investments produce gains for regions?.” Tourism management 30.5 (2009): 759-770.

Ross, Stephen D. “Developing sports tourism.” An eGuide for Destination Marketers and sports Events Planners, University of Illinois: National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce (2001).

Standeven, Joy, and P. de Knop. Sport tourism. Human Kinetics Publishers, 1998.