Sport&Tourism, back and forth Barcellona 2001

Oldie but goodie!

During the weekend I took advantage of the sunny and relaxing days on the Italian Wild West Riviera, also known as Riviera delle Palme, to read the conference proceedings of the first Sport&Tourism Conference.  Organized by the World Tourism Organization and the International Olympic Committee in Barcelona in 2001, the conference was a wrap up of the Barcelona and Sydney Olympic experiences, but there was much more than that. 

For those, like me, who are more interested in day-to-day relations between sport and tourism than in world events, the conference proceedings are highly recommendable, still today. Of course years passed and there won’t be much IT and –let’s say- mountain biking in there, but the quality of some papers is remarkable, and some reflections and definitions still topical. 

The executive summary analyses in details the relation between sport and tourism and defines both sports tourism and tourism sport and the targets of the two sub-sectors of tourism (and sport!), from top level athletes to spectators. The different groups are in short presented in their needs and expectations. The following topics – structure of supply, supply&demand, consumers’ profiling, the tourism product – enrich and leads the general discourse to engaging conclusions. 

Two stroke me in particular, because 17 years after the conference, when some destinations are already struggling with a real or perceived threat of sport overtourism, they sound very up-to-date, and urgent. 

I quote them:

“11. There is a need to encourage participation of local communities in the planning and

sustainable development of sport events and tourism, enhancing the local culture and

heritage as well as ensuring social and economic benefits from them.

 12. There is a need to protect the environment in tourism and sport through better planning,

structuring of demand and facilities, as well as training and education.”[1]

In many destinations tourism sport grew almost spontaneously, as a bottom-up process or as fragmented initiatives of local forerunners who promoted their territories. As a consequence, these recommendations remained often on paper. Local communities happen to be hostile to sportsmen who spend on the average less than other tourists, and are held responsible for the depletion of the natural beauty in a given territory. Sometimes blames without proof, by the way, which yet doesn’t smooth the local perceptions. 

The second point is also challenging: how many hiking/climbing/mountain biking trails had the fortune to be planned taking into consideration in advance the environmental evaluation, the ecological recovering ability and are funded enough to be regularly monitored?

A couple of challenges tabled in 2001 and still there. As are the reflections of Peter Keller, whose chapter ‘Tourism, Sport and the Environment’ sheds the light on issues as the intensification of tourism and sport-induced pollution and suggests best-practices.

Definitely worthy to be read!

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[1] WTO/IOC, 1st World Conference, Barcellona, Spain, 23-23 February 2001, Sport&Tourism, ISBN:92-844-0468-1, p. 48. Available at https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284404681 .