Sport Tourism

Sport Tourism introduces students to the phenomenon of sports tourism--one of the fastest growing niche markets in the $500 billion tourism industry. Students will learn to define sport tourism and to apply fundamental marketing principles to competitive and recreational activities in which sport is the primary or secondary attraction. Sport Tourism covers participatory sport tourism (e.g. ski golf and tennis resorts; whitewater and wilderness trips; sports theme cruises; adventure tours and sport camps) and event-based sport tourism (e.g. the Olympic Games college football the Baseball Hall of Fame or the World Cup).

Sport Tourism guides students through the process of designing implementing and evaluating sport tourism operations by offering extensive industry examples and thought-provoking questions. The book investigates such key topics as feasibility studies niche marketing pricing sponsorships advertising media involvement recruitment of personnel and volunteers and evaluating customer satisfaction during and after participation. Throughout the authors stress the need for careful research and market planning and offer clear strategies and potential challenges to the sport tourism novice.

Douglas Michele Turco is Professor of Kinesiology and Recreation at Illinois State University. His primary research interests are in the areas of sport and tourism marketing, event economic impact assessment, and market research. He has made numerous national and international presentations, and is the author or co-author of articles that appear in Sport Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Tourism Studies, Journal of Travel Research, and Current Issues in Tourism. He co-authored the book, Sport and Event Marketing, as well as several other books, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He earned his academic degrees from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and the University of New Mexico.

Dr Roger Riley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Education and Recreation at Winona State University in Minnesota. He was born and raised in New Zealand prior to receiving degrees at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Texas A&M University. His research and writing encompasses a wide range of tourism related topics including: sports tourism, movie-induced tourism and "edge" tourism. In addition he has a continuing interest in qualitative research methods. Dr. Riley has also held academic positions at Illinois State University and Ithaca College.

Kamilla Swart serves as an Account Director for Octagon South Africa. In August 2000, she was appointed to manage the recently formed Durban Events Corporation. While enrolled in the doctoral program of Curriculum and Instruction at Illinois State University (ISU), she served as a Research Associate for the Bureau of Tourism and Recreation Research (BTRR) from 1998-1999. During December 1999 she fulfilled the coursework requirements of the doctoral program, and returned to her hometown, Cape Town, to complete her dissertation. She worked in the Sports and Facilities Directorate and her responsibilities included establishing and maintaining relationships with the national and international sport federations; the programming of events in consultation with the transport planners and the assessment and location of training venues. Kamilla also assisted in the organization of some of the sport events held in South Africa during the bid. She represented the Olympic Bid Company at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta and the 1997 World Athletic Championships in Athens. Kamilla’s research goal is to develop and deliver South Africa’s first post-secondary curricula devoted to sport tourism. During December 1998, Kamilla together with Doug Turco received a grant from the Extended University at ISU to develop HPR 381 Special Studies in Recreation, Tourism and Sport into an Internet-only course. Kamilla, in addition to co-authoring the first U.S. text on sport tourism, has been published in the Journal of Sport Tourism and Visions in Leisure and Business. Kamilla has also been chosen as one of the 10 Outstanding Persons in Sport Tourism in the 1990s by the Sport Tourism International Council. She has also been awarded the Tom and Ruth Rivers scholarship, an international scholarship granted by the World Leisure and Recreation Association to outstanding students in 1999. She was awarded the Ora Bretall Scholarship for outstanding contributions to the field of education in 2000.Kamilla has a rich sporting background and has participated in both swimming and volleyball on a provincial level in the previous non-racial SACOS and NSC affiliated leagues. She played a significant role in the development of volleyball at Rhodes University, particularly women’s volleyball. She was also selected to the first unified national tertiary volleyball team in 1993.