Sport Tourism Overview

Introduction to Sports Recreation and Tourism

• The presentation is about sports recreation and animation in tourism.
• The presenter is Professor Francisco José Cánovas Álvarez.
• Contact information is provided: [email protected]

What is Tourism?

• Tourism is the activities people do when traveling and staying in places other than their usual environment.
• This is for a period of less than one year, primarily for leisure, business, or other reasons.

What is Sport Tourism?

• Sport tourism involves actions aimed at two main objectives:
  • Developing communication and promoting social life and culture within tourist establishments.
  • Energizing and promoting the company's economy.
• The objective is to accompany the tourist in various ways to enjoy their free time.

Main Issues in Touristic Recreation

• Seasonality:
  • Requires adjusting the capacity of recreational services.
  • Adjusting supply and demand according to high or low demands.

Possible Solutions for Resource Management

• Adjusting supply and demand:
  • Increase service capacity or decrease demand when demand is higher than supply.
  • Increase demand or decrease service capacity when demand is lower than supply.

Touristic Animation Aims

• Building loyalty, increasing permanence, and fostering a positive brand image through an affective climate.
• Recognizing the importance of seasonality.

Characteristics of Recreational Services

• Intangibility:
  • Highly sensitive to demand and easily imitable.
  • Difficulty in fixing a price due to the nature of services.
  • Quality is assessed by the consumer after the experience.
• Heterogeneity:
  • Interservices: vary in nature across the market.
  • Intraservices: repeating the same service can lead to boredom and uncertainty.
• Development of services:
  • Simultaneous production and consumption.
  • The consumer is involved in the entire process.
  • Services are often decentralized.
• Expiration:
  • Perishable and cannot be stored, leading to supply-demand adjustments.

Examples of Recreational Services

• The presentation includes various links to YouTube videos.

Possible Solutions for Service Limitations

• Intangibility:
  • Associated issues: property transmission issues, lack of patents, difficulty in promotion and differentiation, storage constraints, and difficulty in pricing.
  • Possible strategies: make services visible, associate them with tangible products, differentiate the product by its quality, create personalized promotional media, and create a brand.
• Heterogeneity:
  • Associated issues: difficulty in standardization and quality control.
  • Possible strategies: industrializing services and implementing quality control strategies.
• Development of services:
  • Associated issues: consumer involvement in production, centralization difficulties, and problems with mass production.
  • Possible strategies: understanding consumer types, using alternative selling points, and investing in employee training.
• Expiration:
  • Associated issues: issues storing, making/keeping inventory, and transportation.
  • Possible strategies: directing demand to where services are available and directing supply to adapt to demand changes.

Offer of Tourism Animation in Murcia

• Information about tourism animation in Murcia is offered via a link to the website.

Tourist Demand

• Age: varied segments catered to (Jardiland (0-3 years), Mini club (3-5 years), Juniors (6-12 years), Teenagers (13-15 years), Adults (16+ years)
• Origin: Divided into domestic tourists and international tourists.
• Family unit: Singles, Couples, Families
• Group: Organized trips for majors, study trips, various other categories.
• Travel reasons: business, congress, stay, itinerant, rest & fun (in/out hotel), multi-ocio (in/out hotel).

Design of Recreation / Animation

• Focus on the features of the recreation facility/hotel.
• Including considerations for: typology, location, capacity, spaces inside the hotel, environments nearby, and seasonality.

Surroundings

• City hotels: business, congresses, and itinerant services.
• Mountain: stays and itinerant services.
• Beach, rivers, lakes: stays and itinerant services.

Surroundings & Seasonality

• River/Lake leisure, Rural leisure, White leisure, and Nautical leisure.

Infrastructure (Indoor)

• Multipurpose rooms, indoor sports spaces, spa area, racket sports tracks, game room, coffee/reading room, gym, and heated pools.

Infrastructure (Outdoor)

• Outdoor pools, beach access, areas for shows and entertainment, multisport courts, and baby play areas.

Available Materials

• Sport-specific, recreational, alternative materials, materials for free use, materials for supervised activities, and rentable materials.

Human Resources

• Staff who are trained, skilled, show good attitudes, are sport animators, and speak the necessary languages.

Types of Touristic Animation Programs

• Simple: one program to serve all needs; ensures each age group has at least two activities.
• Parallel: multiple programs cater to different user skill levels (novel vs experienced) and age groups.
• Timetable for each day is included, highlighting its variability.

Classification of Activities Based on Consumers

• Hedonists activities focus on sports (nautical, racket, open air, adventure).
• Routinary activities center around family activities, team building, and activities for children.
• Passive emphasizes slow, enjoyable, relaxing activities like yoga, tai chi, dance and health-related physical activities.
• Workaholics activities center on cultural experiences, such as guided tours, evening activities, shows, competitions, card games, and gambling.

Characteristics of a Hotel Animation Program

• The program should be recreational in nature, creatively designed, and utilize animation as a significant resource.
• The program should be well balanced, varied, and appropriate for the clientele.
• Activities should be spread throughout the day to appeal to various interests.
• The program should be engaging and offer flexibility.
• It should be respectful and avoid mandatory or rigid activities.

Closing

• Presenter asks for questions.

Test your knowledge on sport tourism with this quiz that covers key concepts such as seasonality, supply and demand in recreation management, and the economic impact of sport tourism. Challenge yourself to understand the main objectives and actions within this exciting field of tourism.