The role of sports events in developing tourism destinations: a systematized review and future research agenda

Abstract

The link between sports and tourism has been widely researched. In this context, many studies have focused on sports event (SEs), finding that SEs provide a multitude of opportunities but also face many challenges at a local level. Despite the academic interest in the sports event tourism field, there is still little synthesis and no overview of research directions. Therefore, we proposed answering three research questions (RQs): What do we know today about the tourism perspectives of sports events? (RQ1); What are the main tourism implications of a sports event? (RQ2); What are the most and least investigated streams of research in this specific field of study? (RQ3). To answer these questions we conducted a systematized literature analysis including worldwide literature published between June 2000 and October 2020. Based on the findings, we provided insights into six clusters and their characteristics and highlighted major avenues to describe how SEs provide unique assets for tourism host destinations. Finally, we drew attention to important implications for future research, particularly in the context of the role of events for tourism recovery in the post-COVID-19 time.