International Perspectives in Sport Tourism Management

This timely book critically explores the past, present, and future trends and needs of sport tourism development from a global perspective.

Sports have become a major demand generator for many countries around the world, and consequently, the growth and status of this phenomenon is a major aspect of sport tourism. The volume includes case studies from all over the world, including industrializing countries and the Global South. Sporting events and sport tourism are two fast-growing sectors of tourism, and this book provides a current view of the interconnectedness of sport and tourism from behavioral, historical, economic, management, marketing, environmental, and policy perspectives. In doing so, issues, trends, and topics such as commercial, e-sport, emotional well-being, health, and cultural aspects of sports travelers are explored in detail.

This significant and insightful volume will be of pivotal interest to academics, students, and professionals in the field of sport tourism, as well as related areas, such as development studies, psychology, sociology, and geography.

Miklos Banhidi is a Professor at the University of Physical Education and Sport Science in Budapest/Hungary. His teaching areas are the Theory and Practice of Leisure and Recreation, Geography of Sport, Tourism and Recreation and Project Development. His research interest is Community development to improve citizens’ quality of life, with focus on how to design and manage healthy environments and organizing powerful activities to achieve positive benefits. He has written numerous books and articles on Recreation, Geography of Sport, Health, and Tourism. He has served as a visiting Professor at the Karl Franzens University in Austria, at the University of Northern Iowa in the at US, and Zhejiang University in China. He has given numerous lectures at several foreign partner universities. Along with his partners, he initiated and managed several student and youth exchange projects supported by European Union. He served as the vice president of the United Games International, organizing festivals and workshops on peace and understanding worldwide. Currently, he is the president of the Sport Tourism Association within the Hungarian Sport Science Federation. Since 2009 he has been an elected member of the board of the World Leisure Organisation and its Executive Committee.

Farhad Moghimehfar is a Research Chair in Sustainable Rural Tourism and professor of Recreation and Tourism Management at Vancouver Island University, British Columbia, Canada. His research interests are framed within the context of sustainable tourism, rural tourism, and nature-based recreation, focusing on community tourism and studies of human behaviour, resilience of communities. Before joining Vancouver Island University, Farhad served as an instructor and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada, and as an Assistant Professor at University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. He has conducted research on community tourism and outdoor recreation and provided community and professional advisory services related to recreation, tourism, and park planning in Canada and internationally. He has served BC’s communities by providing different services ranging from advanced data analysis to designing a carrying capacity analysis systems. Farhad serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Ecotourism and has published in leading journals such as Tourism Management and Leisure Sciences.