Sports tourism, regeneration and social impacts: New opportunities and directions for research, the case of Medulin, Croatia

Abstract

Regeneration is often regarded as the process of renewal, or the redevelopment of existing facilities and infrastructures. Scholars who study regeneration and tourism developments often focus on new infrastructures and economic impacts. However, there is a need for more case-specific focused research addressing social impacts of regeneration to better determine how developments create opportunities for residents and local communities. This chapter focuses specifically on sports tourism-led regeneration in Medulin, Croatia (on the Istrian Peninsula). The purpose of this research is to contribute insight and perspective on sport tourism by conceptually outlining an approach to measure and examine social impacts in future research. In Medulin, sports tourism training facilities have existed since the 1970s, but recent developments completed in 2014 aim to attract more tourists and amateur/professional level sports clubs to further sustain tourism during the winter months. To identify directions for future research, we discuss a number of conditions specific to sports tourism, social impacts and regeneration.