hiking, runningskiing, cycling, tennis, football, surfing, sailing… Winter or summer, more and more people choose to travel to do their favorite activity and they run in sports tourism.
Nazareth has already been to several races in Spain and in April she wants to take part in the 50km course for the first time in the 9th edition of the African Race in Melilla. In her case, she is traveling with her mother and sister, and they are only doing so to attend the event. “The main thing is the race, if the legs allow, we’ll try to go on the tour at the weekend,” he tells us. They will spend around €350 between travel, hotel and check-in, and food.
Sports tourism is a modality based on “the motivation that the person has to move to the area and do his main sports activity“, as explained to RTVE.es Albert Balcells, CEO of Ocisport, a company that organizes cycling events and running in different parts of the country.
In fact, this way of managing tourism has been an important lever in the recovery of the sector in Spain, and for this reason it is one of the main sections of this year’s Fitur. In 2022, 2.4 million people came to the country to play sportswhich means a 3.5% of the total number of foreign touriststhe report says Sports year 2022 Strava – the global social network for athletes – is also linked to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Programme. Therefore, this option is gaining momentum in communities such as the Basque Country, Galicia, the Community of Valencia, Catalonia, the Balearics or the Canary Islands.
However, it is necessary distinguish it from active tourismmodality for those who decide try sports for the first time to see if they enjoy the experience. It can vary from a kayak for now bungee jumping and thus it is motivated more by recreation and entertainment than by a competitive element. “Our visitors repeat the experience, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be next year or in the same place,” explains Nayara Malave, director of the Association of Active, Sports and Adventure Tourism Companies of the Basque Country (Aktiba).
Both sports and active tourism take place in the fresh air and, as noted by both experts, they are closely related to the sustainability of the natural and social environment where it develops. Their activities can bring two benefits to the regions: make them famous and improve their local economy.
Sports tourism: Increasingly popular with families
“There was a brutal increase in national demand“, emphasizes the CEO of Ocisport, who emphasizes that it also introduces a new audience: “There are more and more entire families whose motivation is to discover territories through sports activities.” Although this is good data, they are trying to restore an international audience , which slowed down the coronavirus and which used to represent important figures.
“We estimate that some activities have a cost of €140 per day per person“, indicates the CEO of Ocisport, who also explains that “this shows that this type of tourist invests more and more in this activity”, which means that they are increasingly looking for more quality, and therefore this type of tourism gains more prestige.
Besides, all this can benefit small towns and regionsas these events can attract thousands of people and thus increase spending on hotels and restaurants at the venues.
““The marathon can have a big impact on the city of Valencia, but the glass mountain bike It could have the same or even greater impact in a town of 3,000.”“
Ocisport has spent 22 years developing cycling running in the natural environment, from small towns like Ribes de Frasera municipality of less than 2,000 inhabitants in Girona, or big cities like Barcelona, Cambrils, Valencia or Alicante. It organizes small and large events in Spain and Andorra, as well as cycling world championships and marathons, what can contribute to the local economy of the smallest counties and that they are better known in the tourist panorama under the vulture of sports. “The marathon can have a big impact on the city of Valencia, but the glass mountain bike can have the same or even greater impact in a town of 3,000,” he qualifies.
All this leads to a bigger offer, which has also increased the competition between organizers: “We have to keep fighting because there is more and more competition in the territories and everything has to be done better to continue to offer quality.”
More and more places are trying to become a sports destination
Because of its popularity, more and more municipalities are trying to keep up with sports tourism. “Many areas have discovered this as a way to promote very healthy tourismwith values that respect the environment and that are often found among those who do sports,” explains Balcells. He tells us that these places join the celebration of these events “because they want to take advantage of what it means to be a sports destination: better health habits, values and the opportunity to interact with the local population.’
In addition, Balcells explains that interests of local authorities on sports tourism was changing: “We have experienced the evolution of sports tourism: in the beginning, until 2008, support came from the part of the administration more closely related to sports, but in recent years we have noticed that it comes from the part related to tourism.”
Active tourism: first contact with sports
There is another form that also has a component of natural environment and sustainability, but it is not aimed at such a sporty and competitive crowd, but rather one that looking for a job for leisure and entertainment. We are talking about Active tourisman option for many in winter and summer.
Jessica and Sergio are going to hit the slopes of La Pinillo in Segovia in a few days. “They are going to teach me how to do snowboard because I never did. It’s not the first time we’ve gone to the snow, but it’s the first time I’ve ventured into this sport,” admits Jessica. They’ll spend around €100 each, including transport, food and equipment hire, and in his case, they’ll spend the day on the slopes and won’t be visiting the city. “If I like it, we’ll do it again,” he says, explaining that they also want to go to the Sierra Nevada for a weekend in March to do the same, but there they’ll take the opportunity to see the sights of Granada .
““We are the ones who open the door to the first contact with the activity”“
Therefore, in Jessica’s case, active tourism is the first contact with a sport that she can continue to do in the future. “We are the ones who open the door for the first contact with the activity and many times we have been the start that someone signs up with, for example for professional canoeing,” Malave, who is also one of the managers of Begi Bistan, tells us. a company that has been working on the coast of Gipuzkoa for 23 years.
In your company, you organize activities in estuaries or at sea as a kayak, boat trips oh rowing on traditional exercise machines, some typical boats of the Cantabrian coast, with which in the past they went to hunt whales. Active tourism, we are told, occupies a wide niche, and in Begi Beestan they develop activities depending on the target audience, from children and school groups, people with disabilities or pensioners. Its customers typically spend an average of €8 per person on rent a kayak and €25 if it is a boat activity.
They hope it will continue to grow in the summer with the arrival of foreign tourism
For Balcells, the growth of sports tourism will be largely marked by the health of foreign travelers. “We are sure that sports tourism will undoubtedly grow nationally and internationally,” he explains, and for him Spain has the advantage of a weather that will make it one of the countries where it will continue to promote itself in the short and in the medium term. “It will be, first of all, in the summer season, although winter is increasingly gathering more opportunities for the development of this sports tourism.“, he qualifies. In any case, he indicates that they are already on the way to this momentum: “We believe and continue to bet that these events will be the flagship of sports tourism.”
““We are sure that sports tourism will undoubtedly develop at the national and international level”“
This prediction can also be present in active tourism, as it is sometimes a gateway to more athletic and competitive tourism. According to Malave, “the type of visitors we have tends to repeat itself, although it may not happen every year.” However, he sees it as an advantage to bring this demand interest to other regions: “We want the exercise to be accessible and people can keep coming.”
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