1st Commonwealth Conference on Sport Tourism

This conference explores the issues associated with the development, management and legacies of sport tourism. Irrespective of the nature of sports, whether mega events such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, the Football World Cup, Formula 1 and other professional sports or smaller-scale events such as adventure sports, trekking or community-based sports, the existence of a suitable sport tourism environment, acknowledging such issues as sporting infrastructure, entrepreneurial systems, airlines, the mass media, private sponsorship, safety and security is critical for its success and legacies for the host destination.

The hosting of sporting events are often undertaken for varied reasons including the marketing of countries, regions and cities as tourist destinations; to attract business and investment; or the use of events for economic, environmental and social regeneration and revitalisation. There are also varied and complex issues associated with hosting sport tourism events including their usefulness for marketing and image building; the commercialisation and commoditisation of sport for business purposes; questions concerning who actually benefits from the hosting of these often expensive and publicly-funded events; issues concerning the politics associated with these events and local community issues and issues concerning the planning and management of these events to better maximise the benefits but also minimise the negative impacts for host destinations. It is essential that the key issues are understood so that the benefits of sport tourism may be maximised and the negative impacts minimised.

It is within this context that the 1st Commonwealth Conference on Sport Tourism with its overall theme of 'Sport Tourism and Sustainability: Inter-Relationships, Impacts and Issues' is being proposed. The aim by the Commonwealth conference on sport tourism is to provide a platform for discussion in order to identify and to create new approaches to sport tourism development, investment, sharing and exchanging of best practices in planning and management, bidding process, sourcing of private sponsorship and post-event management.

The Conference also aims to enhance the quality of the industrial and academic field of sports tourism, providing a means for capacity building, and to encourage further international conferences related to sports tourism as a catalyst for sustainable development. Through the discussion of current sport tourism issues, its economic benefits and challenges, it is hoped that the participants of this conference will gain enormous benefit, especially in light of the up-coming events such as the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, 2010, the Commonwealth Games in India, 2010 and the Olympic Games in London, 2012.

This Conference will provide an excellent opportunity in bringing together sports and tourism professionals from not only Commonwealth countries but from all over the world and other experts to share their experiences, exchange ideas and discuss ways to further enhance sport tourism for mutual benefits and sustainable development.