Australian Sport Tourism

Contestants in the now wildly popular regatta raced bottomless boats through the Todd River’s dry bed, and what started as a good-time local event, began to morph into a bigger affair. As word of the event spread and marketers generated major publicity, the regatta turned into an international lure, with competitors and media from around the world attending and the money flowing into Alice Springs.

Not bad for a town with no river, lake or ocean.

Dr. Laurence Chalip, a professor in The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education, studies what motivates people to travel to a destination in order to view, participate in or appreciate some aspect of sport. He also helps sport organizations like the Olympics and works with cities to strategically plan how to draw sport tourists and keep them coming back for more.

“A location that successfully markets itself to sport tourists can enjoy significant economic gains, ” says Chalip, a Department of Kinesiology and Health Education faculty member and one of the experts consulted when Australia drafted its sport tourism policy. “The problem that many potential sport tourism spots have is in focusing too narrowly and thinking only in terms of marketing the specific event or facility, whether it’s a national beach volleyball tournament or the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Perth and Fremantle in Western Australia are excellent examples of a region that had significant marks against it when it came to attracting sport tourism but that succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Where a strategic vision exists and planners understand the importance of leveraging all of an area’s assets, the results can be exceptional. The Australians are particularly good at this.”

Sport tourism is a fairly new niche, from a marketing perspective, and experts like Chalip are discovering the challenges that crop up when you aim to combine promotion of a sport event with promotion of a destination and want to enjoy economic gains that extend well past the event’s end.

Situated in the inhospitable Australian Outback, Alice Springs hasn’t let its physical environment prevent it from being a popular sport tourist destination. One major tourist draw is the annual Camel Cup, which includes market stalls and other entertainment in addition to the camel races themselves.

“A destination is a largely static factor, ” says Chalip. “If a town in a desert wants to become popular with sport tourists and see them return, the planners have to work with what’s there. You can’t pick the city up and move it 800 miles east where the temperatures are more moderate and there’s lush scenery. If there’s one hotel in the town and you want to create a three-day motocross rally, you probably aren’t going to build six or seven more hotels just for that purpose. Destinations have relatively permanent traits when you’re talking about natural as well as built features.