Sport tourism and feminism

Abstract

This chapter describes the development of scholarship in sport tourism from the 1990s. While some of the earliest scholars were women, the authors document the lack of a feminist analysis in sport tourism research. Much of the early work was devoted to defining sport tourism, with a general consensus that sport-related travel comprises both active (e.g., skiing, cycling, triathlons, etc.) and passive (spectating or visiting sports museums) forms. However, a review of the literature is used to show that as the body of knowledge became more substantive, despite well-established feminist analyses in sport studies and a growing gender-aware presence in Tourism Studies, as relevant sport tourism disciplines, until recently feminist perspectives have been largely absent. Suggestions for future research directions to remedy this are discussed.