Exploring the potential of event sport tourism to achieve sustainable tourism development in the Maldives / Fathimath Ziyana

Abstract

The Maldivian economy is heavily dependent on leisure visitor tourism (resorts, hotels, guest houses, and safari vessels) (Ministry of Tourism, 2016). This makes the country vulnerable to fluctuations in the travel habits of visitors. The countrys reliance on the investment in resorts, hotels, guest houses, and safari vessels leaves various other touristic opportunities open (Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture, 2012). One such opportunity is event sport tourism. As an extension of the fundamental tourism products, event sport tourism is viewed as a socio economic force overlapping the fields of sport and tourism that has made increasing economic contributions via different sporting products, activities and services Standeven and De Knop (1999).
As identified by Standeven and De Knop (1999), event sport tourism is a unification of sporting events and travel where visitors travel for sport participation and sport spectating. The concept of sport and events play an important role in local identity building and inspires community participation thereby fostering social capital. The size of sport events ranges from local small scale competitions to large scale global events. Generally small scale events are considered as a more sustainable form of tourism compared to large scale events (Karadakis, 2012). Event sport tourism related to small scale sport events, therefore has acquired prominence in the academic field of research and has been considered as a prevalent tourism product. Although event sport tourism industry has expanded aggressively, sport event as a tourist attraction in Maldives has received little attention. Therefore, it is believed conducting a study to explore the sustainability of event sport tourism to in the Maldives is needed.
The purpose of the study is to explore the sustainability of event sport tourism in the Maldives and to identify the outcomes linked to the staging of sport events. The research aimed to examine, the role of internal stakeholders within the sport and tourism industry towards the promotion of tourism via the staging of sport events. It also endeavoured to examine the challenges obstructing the development of event sport tourism in the Maldives. The research is applied and discussed using an exploratory study analysis. In depth interviews were conducted with governing bodies of sport and tourism to collect data on the overall perception of leveraging sport events for sustainability. The results are deliberated autonomously within the context of the leverage framework developed by O Brien and Chalip (2008). Recommendation are made relying on critical understanding drawn from the literature. It has been focused leveraging the benefits of sport events to achieve sustainable tourism development.

Keywords: Event sport tourism, sport events, sustainability, tourism development, leveraging