CC BY
34
UDK 004.02:004.5:004.9
Tohirova D.M. student
Samarkand state institute of foreign languages
Teshayeva F.Sh. student
Samarkand state institute of foreign languages
Tilloyeva N.S. student
Samarkand state institute of foreign languages
INTRODUCTION TO SPORT TOURISM AS AN EVER-INCREASING
TREND IN THE WORLD AND PROSPERITY OF IT IN THE
REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: The following article intends to present sport tourism as a fast-increasing trend in tourism. Furthermore, this article shows the ways to develop this type in a particular place using the facts, statistics and resources regarding sport tourism.
Keywords: sport, sporting activity, sporting hero, sport events, sport tourist, passive spor ttourism, active sport tourism, nostalgia sport tourism, hard sports tourism, soft sports tourism.
Sports tourism refers to travel which involves either observing or participating in a sporting event, while staying apart from the tourists' usual environment. Sport tourism is a fast-growing sector of the global travel industry and equates to $7.68 billion.[1,pp.2-10] Sport is probably as old as humanity itself. It has developed alongside the development and growth of mankind.[2, pp. 92]We canhardly overestimate the meaning of sport in our lives and day-to-day activities, because its main purpose is to bring up a harmoniouslydeveloped generation - a generation of strong andhealthy people. Sport makes our bodies strong, quickens ourreactions, and shapes the wits. It also prevents us from gettingtoo fat, gives us valuable practice in making our eyes, brains andmuscles work together and makes us more self-organized andbetter disciplined.
For some people there is nothing so exciting as traveling.However, Research around sport tourism is quite recent. Effective contributions only started around the mid-1990s. Since then attention has been increasingly given to sport tourism from both the sport and tourism industries as well as from academics. [3, pp. 39] More and more tourists are interested in sport activities during their trips whether sports are the main objective of travel or not. Sport events of various kinds and sizes attract tourists as participants or spectators and destinations try to add local flavors to them to distinguish themselves and provide authentic local
experiences. Mega sport events such as Olympics and World Cups can be a catalyst for tourism development if successfully leveraged in terms of destination branding, infrastructure development and other economic and social benefits.
Sports tourism is the act of travelling from one locality to another, with the intention of being actively or passively involved with a sporting activity or event. That is to say sport is itself product of sport tourism. [4, pp. 54-81] Many people believe that sports tourism relates only to watching a sporting event. However, this is not correct. The sports industry means more than this.Sports tourism encompasses travelling for travelers' own sporting purposes, such as a yoga teacher training course, a badminton competition or to learn to surf or to show the respect for their favorite brands judging from the work of Ferrand and Pages. They also pointed out the brand may also be considered in an equivalent way to a tangible product.[5, pp. 387-401]
Sports tourism includes attending sporting events such as a Formula One race or a Premiership football match or Wimbledon tennis competitionand nostalgic visits to places of historical importance, such as the Olympic stadium in Barcelona or to see memorabilia related to your favourite sporting hero, such as the museum at the Maracana football stadium in Rio de Janeiro.While sports tourism has not always been extremely popular, during the recent decade the amount of people attending out of area sporting events has dramatically increased. People are now traveling far and wide just to attend their favorite events, and it is no wonder as to what has encouraged the sudden spike in popularity. Sport tourism is a relatively new notion, although it has been around for a long time. There are many academic studies which delve into the concept of sports tourism, particularly sports tourism that involves large sporting events, such as the football World Cup or the Olympic Games. Several scholars and sports tourism stakeholders have attempted to define the term sports tourism. According to Neirotti (2003), sports tourism can be broadly described as; 'Including travel away from one's primary residence to participate in sports activity, for recreation or competition purposes, travel to observe sport at grassroots or elite level, and travel to visit a sports attraction such as a sports museum, for instance'. Weed and Bull (2004), provide a conceptualization of the sports tourism phenomenon as; 'A social, economic and cultural phenomenon arising from the unique interaction of activity, people and place''. Gammon and Robinson (2003) state that sports and tourism is; 'Not just about the management and operation of mega events; it also concerns offering consumer-specific sports and tourism-related services and experiences to the sports tourist. 'Today, sport is regarded as the world's largest social phenomenon. And, tourism is predicted to become the world's biggest industry early in the next century. The sports tourism industry has grown considerably in recent years. In 2016 the sports tourism industry was worth $1.41 trillion and this figure was expected to increase to approximately $5.72 trillion by 2021. the figures failed slightly to live up to expectations as a result of pandemic outbreak of Covid 19. But this hardly means that sport tourism stops from
boosting. The sports tourism industry makes up as high as 25%, meaning that a quarter of all tourism in the world is sports pertaining. The importance of sports tourism is further emphasized by the media statements from the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which in 2004, announced their commitment to reinforce in the sports and tourism domain. They stated that; 'Tourism and sport are interrelated and complementary... both are powerful forces for development, stimulating investment in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, stadiums, sporting complexes and restaurant-projects that can be enjoyed by the local population as well as tourists who come to use them.'
This proves that sports tourism has a wider economic and social impact than simply the sporting occasion itself. It provides social and economic opportunities for the local population, as well as visitors to the area.There are, in fact, four main types of sport tourism. These types are known as:
1 tourism 1 1 Active 1 tourism
1 Nostalgia 1 1 tourism 1 1 Passive 1 tourism
Figure 1: The main types of sport tourism
Sports event tourism is tourism which occurs around a sporting event. Sports event tourism refers to the visitors who visit a city to watch events.[6, pp. 141-158] Sporting events can be of any size and importance, however it tends to be the major sporting events which obtain the most gravitas.Hallmark events, such as the Olympics or football World Cup, are important centers for sport event tourism, bringing millions of tourists to the host destination.Smaller events, such as the Henley Regatta in the United Kingdom, UmidNihollariin our country or a national tennis competition also clarify as sport event tourism.An often overlooked example of sport event tourism are amateur sporting events. Events such as regional school competitions, youth sporting leagues and non-profit community based sport events are just a few salient examples.There are common manifestations of world sport events. Wimbledon, also known as 'The Championships' is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. A prestigious sporting event, Wimbledon is often associated with the upper class, where spectators sip sparkling wine and Pimms whilst dressed in their best frocks. The FIFA World Cup, is an international football tournament held every four
years.The Federationlnternationale de Football Association (FIFA) is the sport's global governing body. The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition that takes place.Inspired by the ancient Greeks, the modern Olympic Games have been running since 1896. But, in fact, the games have been played in some form or another since long before this date.The Olympics is perhaps the most famous and the most popular international sporting event. It features both summer and winter sports competitions which take place every four years. Like many other major sporting events, the Olympics are held in a different location each time.The Olympics involves thousands of athletes from around the world who compete in a range of different sports, from trampolining to running. Over 200 nations participate in the event every time when they are held.Furthermore, The Super Bowl is the annual championship of the National Football League (NFL)The major event for the National Football League is the Super Bowl, held at the end of the year in different city every year. the Super Bowl is being the most-watched American television broadcast recent years. Nostalgia sport tourism involves travelling to famous sport-related tourist attractions.Nostalgia sports tourism may celebrate sports of the past or the present. It may include visiting museums or exhibitions, visiting sporting hall of fames or visiting sporting venues to create the view of the past events.The nostalgia sports tourist does not need to be actively participating in sport or to be spectating. They may simply want to learn more or to reminisce. The popularity of nostalgia sport tourism can be justified with the following examples. WinSport's Canada Olympic Park (COP), (initially known as Paskapoo Ski Hill) was one of the venues used in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Nowadays, it is open to the general public and well known for its ski jumping, bobsleigh and luge. The Maracana is a famous football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is rich in history and was once the largest stadium in the world.The stadium was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup. The venue has seen attendances of 150,000 or more at 26 occasions. The Olympic Village is an area in the Saint Marti district of Barcelona, Spain.The Barcelona Olympic Village was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s in preparation for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Barcelona. Active sports tourism is when a person travels to actively participate in their chosen sport, or when they travel for other reasons, but taking part in sport is an important part of their travel.Active sports tourists can be segregated into three classifications: The amateur sports tourist; the hobbyist sports tourist and the professional sports tourist.There are a large number of active sports that a tourist may choose to get involved with around the world. Diving in the Galapagos, swimming at the Great Barrier Reef, playing tennis in Morocco, learning archery in Spain, going running in France, cycling in Amsterdam, taking yoga classes in Bali, learning tai chi in China, kayaking in Vietnam, sailing in Australia, skiing in Argentina, surfing in Costa Rica, playing baseball in Boston. hand gliding in Rio de Janeiro, fishing in The Gambia, climbing in Thailand, horse riding in Equador,walking in Jejuare the tops in itineraries of sport tourists. Lastly,
it is fair to recognize that whilst sport is inherently active, not all those who participate or who are involved with the sport are themselves active. As a matter of fact, passive tourists can actually contributemore to the sport than those who are active. A passive sports tourist is a person who is not actively participating in the sport. They are spectators or fans. Passive sports tourism involves tourists watching sport being played. This could take place at a major sporting event (qualifying this also as sports event tourism), or they could simply be supporting a family member of friend. Most passive sports tourists are fans.Football, or soccer, is arguably the most well-known and popular sports in the world.Manchester United is a particularly famous football club. It is estimated by the BBC that Manchester United has a whopping 659million football fans.Cricket is pretty big in Australia. So big, in fact, that the Australian cricket team has an estimated 24 million supporters. Many of these supporters travel with the team around the world as passive sports tourists.Apart from the above classification, Gammon and Robinson suggested that sports tourism can be categorized as Hard Sports Tourism or Soft Sports Tourism,[7, pp. 21-26],while Gibson suggested that there are three types of sports tourism: Sports Event Tourism, Celebrity and Nostalgia Sport Tourism and Active Sport Tourism. The "hard" definition of sport tourism refers to the quantity of people participating at a competitive sport events. Normally these kinds of events are the motivation that attract visitors to the events. Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, F1 Grand Prix and regional events such as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series could be described as hard sports tourism. The "soft" definition of sport tourism is when the tourist travels to participate in recreational sporting, or signing up for leisure interests. Hiking, skiing, runningand canoeing can be described as soft sports tourism. Perhaps the most common form of soft sports tourism involves golf in regards to destinations in Europe and the United States. A large number of people are interested in playing some of the world's greatest and highest ranked courses, and take great pride in checking those destinations off of their list of places to visit
As with any type of tourism, there are a range of benefits and advantages of sports tourism. Whilst the most obvious is perhaps the economic advantage of tourism, there are also positive social impacts as well as environmental impacts. Sports encourages tourists to visit the area, creates economic growth through tourists booking hotel rooms, eating in restaurants and opening money in local shops; helps to create exposure and enhances a positive image for the local community; helps to build a sense of community; provide opportunity to develop new infrastructure in the area, can improve overall tourist numbers, reinvest the local economy, creates jobs opportunities, result in better environmental management and preservation.
It is clear that sports tourism is big business. Whether its events sports tourism, active sports tourism, nostalgic sports tourism or passive sports tourism, there is a huge market and benefits for tourists worldwide, as 'A sound mind in a sound body'. [8, p.12] However, as with any type of tourism, sports tourism must
be carefully managed to ensure sustainability.If the National Tourism Organizations implement and promote programmes that influence positively the tourist trip experience, the consequence will be a positive word-of-mouth. Statistics prove that if a visitor has a bad experience, he will tell it to 22 friends, while a good experience will only be mentioned to 9. It is fair said that "Good news is no news". [9, p. 29]Sports tourism entered the 21 century as a relatively newbut steadily growing part of the economy, one that exerts a profoundinfluence on the socio-economic development of our country. Indigenous and international dimensions of sport exist side by side and are followed with equal passion by their fans in Uzbekistan. The most famous local sport is kurash, a form of wrestling which has a history that dates back to over millennia. International sports, such as football, basketball, ice hockey and gymnastics became popular in the twentieth century. International-style boxing and wrestling also attracted a considerable following, as did Asian martial arts such as judo, karate and taekwondo. Since Independence, impressive local and national teams have emerged in all the major branches of sport. Several Uzbek teams are now rated in international league cycles. Individual players, too, have established reputations outside our own country. Sport receives considerable official backing, as evidenced by the widespread provision of training facilities. There is also a good organizational infrastructure in our Republic, with special attention paid to youth activities. Participation in regional leagues and international competitions is supported. National federations and associations, affiliated to international bodies, have been formed for all the main sports. The National Olympic Committee was created in 1992, and in 1994 Uzbek national teams began to participate in the Olympic Games. Our sportsmen excel in contests of strength, especially boxing, wrestling and weightlifting. Football is the most popular sport in Uzbekistan. There are 16 professional teams in the Premier League. There are a number of Uzbek sporting personalities who have acquired international fame. One of the first was the professional road racing cyclist JamolidinMirgarifanovichAbdujaparov ('The Tashkent Terror'), one of the most remarkable athletes Oksana AleksandrovnaChusovitina, tennis champion Denis OlegovichIstomin, An upcoming young sportsman FazliddinHasanbaevichGaibnazarov (born 16 June 1991). Today Uzbekistan is a country held a very small share of the world tourism market. Cultural-historical and natural potential is much higher than that of sport. Consequently, Uzbek sport tourism industry is facing withthe problem of finding a method for building an effective managementsystem that would strengthen the market position of each sport organization dedicated to serving tourists, andthus contribute to developing the tourist trade as a whole and to integrating Uzbekistan into the world tourism industry. There are some considerations to work over to start investigation on developing sport tourism in Uzbekistan. "Excitement" measures should be taken. They include the feelings of tourists about the sporting event in terms of daring, exciting, trendy, spirited, cool and young. Furthermore, sporting excellence (is the quality of the organization, venue and players) unique
experience(is the sensation surrounding the sporting event and venue in terms of it uniqueness) shall be considered. Sporting event image measures are the overall perceptions of attributes, benefits and attitudes about the sporting event. "Transportation" measures are the perceptions in terms of quality of transportation and proximity to major attractions and points of interest. "Cultural differences" encompasses the perceptions by tourists that their experience is meeting or exciding their expectations and is measured through new cultural experiences, lifestyles and customs and standards of living. "Safety" is a composite measure of quality of services and the level of risk and safety. "Trust" is the perception of confidence and can rely on the destination. "Satisfaction" is the affective state resulting from their evaluation of destination preference and pleasure. "Loyalty" that is measured by word-of-mouth, recommendation, repurchase and resistance.
There are several requirements to foster sport tourism in Uzbekistan as well .State-of-the-art sports facilities and/or unique sports facilitiesthat generally house sporting events, such as stadiums,arenas and domes;- sports museums and hall/walls of fame dedicated tosports heritage and to honoring sports heroes and leaders;- sport theme parks including water parks, summer skijumps, bungee jumping;- hiking trails developed for exploring nature;- sports retail stores Overall, sports Tourism is characterized as a particular travel outside of the standard condition for either uninvolved or dynamic contribution in focused game where game is the prime persuasive purpose behind movement and the touristic or recreation component may act to fortify the general understanding. Sport tourism "is a growing market and many different cities and countries want to be involved,"[10, pp 343-354] It is absolutely urgent to work out workable plans to build foundations to make breakthroughs in the sphere of Uzbek tourism as well.
List of used literature:
1. https://www.sportscommissions.org/Portals/sportscommissions/Documents/ About/NASC%20Sports%20Travel%20Industry%20Whitepaper.pdf
2. Pol. J. Sport Tourism 2014, 21, 92-96 92 DOI: 10.2478/pjst-2014-0009. Sports tourismMarina Gozalova, Alexey Schiganov, AleksandrVernigor, Vardanbagdasariande gryuter open,(page 92)
3. DiagoFernandesTravassos, 2008, April. The impact of sport tourism in destination loyalty: The Estroil Coast (Portugal) promotion of recurrent major sporting events. ISCTE Business school.
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5. Ferrand, A. and M. Pages (1999), Image management in sport organizations: the creation of value, European Journal of Marketing, Vol 33(3/4), p. 387-401.
6. Weiler, Betty; Hall, Colin Michael, eds. (1992). Adventure, Sport and Health Tourism. Special Interest Tourism. London: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. pp. 14158. ISBN 978-0471947868. Retrieved 2015-01-08.
7. Sean Gammon and Tom Robinson (2003). Sport and tourism: A conceptual framework. Journal of sport and tourism, 8:1, 21-26, DOI: 10.1080/14775080306236, https://doi.org/10.108014775080306236
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9. DiagoFernandesTravassos, 2008, April. The impact of sport tourism in destination loyalty: The Estroil Coast (Portugal) promotion of recurrent major sporting events. ISCTE Business school.
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