II.3. Sport tourism, the sport of tourists

Sport tourism, that is sport-oriented leisure time activities, done at places other than one’s place of residence, includes very diverse activities from the discovery of nature’s beauty to doing sport activities in man-made environments.  The interrelatedness of sport and tourism is caused by spatial and temporary changes of societies, a fact, that is closely related to the quality of life, health, social intellectual and emotional conditions of individuals, who make up the given society.  Spendig one’s leisure time has become a more conscious activity, changes in recreation, the slogan ’do sports wherever and whenever you can’  have led to an increase concerning the number of sportspeople , and it had a tremendous effect on one type of sport, the so-called health sport. These features led to new services, new industries, wonderful business opportunities and created an enormous new consumer market.  (Turco et al. 2002, Hsu 2013). In general it can be stated that the exceptionally close link between sport and tourism is available for members of the middle and upper classes of developed societies.   (Gáldi 2011).

Sport tourism is a new trend, a new way of spending one’s leisure time in the modern age. It is an indicator of modern lifestyle, and an important factor of global development. (Giddens 2001) Sport tourism has an enormous potential for development. The international academic community devotes an increasing attention to the investigation of the relationship between sport and tourism. This trend is attested by the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as well as the WTO organized many conferences on this topic during the past two decades. (Hsu p. 475).

Sport tourism includes all those sport-oriented travels and activities, which are aimed at actively or passively participating in sport events. Active sport tourists are the participants of professional or amateur competitions, championships, training camps, sport recreational camps or hikes. The passive sport tourists are the accompanying persons (coach, medical staff, family), or they are reporters, or supporters. 

Consequently, sport tourism can be considered one branch of tourism in which sport has many different roles: adventure tourism, competitors’ tourism, supporters’ tourism, nature lovers’ tourism, sport educators’ tourism. (Delpy-Neirotti 2003). On the other hand, there are situations, when tourists travel for pleasure and in addition, they also enjoy one or another type of sport event. (Gammon, Robinson 1997). It is called the sport of tourists.