Participatory Sports Events: Tourism Outcomes and Management Review

This essay critically reviews the role of Participatory Sports Events (PSE) in boosting tourism and economic development. It highlights that PSEs, unlike professional events, are community-based, open-entry events that prioritize participation over competitive outcomes. The essay discusses how these events, such as obstacle races, cycling events, and triathlons, contribute to sustainable tourism by utilizing existing infrastructure, involving local communities, and minimizing environmental impact. It also emphasizes the importance of event management and organizers in maximizing the benefits of PSEs for tourist destinations, noting that the success of these events relies on the scenic beauty, enthusiasm of organizers, and local community involvement, ultimately attracting tourists and enhancing the destination's appeal.

Running head: PARTICIPATORY SPORTS EVENTS
Participatory Sports Event Organizers with Tourism Outcome
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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Introduction
Sports events are considered to be the valuable catalysts for the purpose of economic
development and are subsequently integrated into the destination marketing strategies and
tourism of many world’s regions and cities. Majority of the research has been conducted on the
professional and elite events like the Football World Cup and Olympic Games. However,
recently the impacts and the management of the smaller participatory events have also attracted
the same level of attention. The Participatory Sports Events (PSE) are the open entry events that
are community based that promote the engagement and participation instead of the significance
of the outcome of the sporting event. The examples of PSE are the different types of obstacle
races, adventure races, swimming events, recreational cycling events, off-road running events,
Triathlons. This study will be based on the critical review of the article “we have never measured
it but it brings a lot in business”.
Literature Review
The Participatory Sports Events have the characteristics of disparate nature which is of
participatory and open in nature. The Participatory Sports Events are generally non-competitive
in nature with the mass start events that challenges the participants based on the distance, time
and terrain. Authors worldwide have acclaimed the rising popularity of PSE in several countries.
Kennelly (2017), it has been seen that the professional and large scale sporting events might
result into negative outcomes for the host destinations. This includes draining of the public
money in order to finance the infrastructure and the prices of the services used along with the
environmental damages caused by such sport activities. Whereas the smaller events tend to use
the less amount of resources and at the same time do not cause and the similar degree of financial
risk for the host community. Whereas it has been argued by Gursoy, Kim & Uysal (2004) has

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mentioned that special events and festivals play a major role in the lives of the communities
because such events provide vital activities, spending outlets for the visitors and the locals the
boost the image of the local communities. The events rely entirely on the scenic beauty of the
rather than the physical developments. Furthermore, the success of the events depends entirely
on the enthusiasm of the event organizers and the local communities rather than the built
attractions and the natural attractions. It is also important to note that the majority of the small
events take advantage of the existing infrastructure and at the same time also require less capital
development. These small events are locally controlled and thus volunteer intensive. However,
such small events have the potential of returning and generating a big amount of return that are
based on the smaller financial investment. It has also been highlighted by Kennelly (2017) that
the small scale events are in consistence with the infrastructure of the community that require
temporary or low infrastructure. The cultural and the human capital ca become a viable form of
the sustainable tourism development. One of the best ways of engaging people to experience a
place is to bring people into adventure and sporting activities. Several events will provide the
participants with the opportunity to move through the terrain in unique ways. Similarly, it has
been highlighted by Gibson, Kaplanidou & Kang (2012), that the vital part of the sustainable
tourism is the emphasis on the tourists because the sustainable tourism is entirely focussed
environmentally on the host population. Whereas tourist satisfaction is also a major factors or
part in the sustainable tourism. Visitation numbers of the tourists must grow with the increase in
time ad visitation to a particular destination. Thus, the tourism demand must be taken into
account when developing a place in to a tourism destination. The motivation and the preferences
of the tourists continue to change depending on the various external changes encountered by the
tourist destination. The external changes can be economic recession, terrorism, natural disasters.

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Thus to have a sustainable tourist destination, the destination needs to take into account of the
cultural and natural resources and there is a need to understand the tourist need as an important
dimension of the sustainable tourism (Higham, 1999).
The sustainable tourism was entirely focussed on the tourists and their demands and
tastes. It has been highlighted by Buning & Gibson (2015), that physical activity among the
citizens of United States has declined and due to this several individual have taken up a sort of
lifestyle where they can get engaged into activities during their leisure time. The individuals
often get engaged into activities which they can relate with their interests. Such individuals often
travel to the tourist destinations where the PSE is carried out and the tourist spot has
establishments of the sports tourism. Similarly, the participation of such individuals in the sport
of cycling has increased and it has grown to become the third most popular outdoor activity. It
has been mentioned by Getz & Page (2016), that the field of the event studies have depicted the
importance of the event management and it is expanding. The field is contributed exclusively by
social science with provisions for the higher education. Within the purview of tourism and the
tourism system, the events comprise a vital space and it includes both the origin as well as the
destination area. Events can be considered to be a major animator and one that plays a role in
attracting tourists to the destination. The increasing competition in the global market in attracting
the visitors to the tourist destination involve a special contribution of the event management.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the participatory sports events require
the incorporation of the event management and the event organizers. The PSE serves to naturally
increase the importance of a tourist destination by naturally incorporating the tourists in to the

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tourist destinations. The event managers and the event organizer play a major role in promoting a
tourist place.

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Reference
Buning, R. J., & Gibson, H. (2015). The evolution of active-sport-event travel careers. Journal
of Sport Management, 29(5), 555-569.
Getz, D., & Page, S. J. (2016). Progress and prospects for event tourism research. Tourism
Management, 52, 593-631.
Gibson, H. J., Kaplanidou, K., & Kang, S. J. (2012). Small-scale event sport tourism: A case
study in sustainable tourism. Sport management review, 15(2), 160-170.
Gursoy, D., Kim, K., & Uysal, M. (2004). Perceived impacts of festivals and special events by
organizers: an extension and validation. Tourism management, 25(2), 171-181.
Higham, J. (1999). Commentary-sport as an avenue of tourism development: An analysis of the
positive and negative impacts of sport tourism. Current issues in Tourism, 2(1), 82-90.
Kennelly, M. (2017). “We’ve never measured it, but it brings in a lot of business” Participatory
sport events and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 29(3), 883-899.