Risk in Active Sport Tourism Projects: Narratives from Managers in the Chinese Event Industry

Figures & data

Figure 1. The classification of sport tourism project in China.

Table 1. Potential risks highlighted in the literature of sport tourism.

Author	Risk categories/issues/factors	The kind of sport tourism/activities
Chang and Singh (1990)	People (e.g., staffs, spectators, participants, volunteers) Financial risk (e.g., ticketing) legal risk (e.g., laws and regulations) Safety and security (e.g., physical hazards) Property (e.g., equipment, facilities) Television revenue risk (i.e., loss of revenue) Political (e.g., terrorism, threats, conflicts between countries, demonstrations)	Event sport tourism: Mega sporting events
Hartmann (2006); Rickard et al. (2011)	Environment (e.g., geographical attributes) Behaviors (e.g., tourist perception)	Active sport tourism: swimming, national park recreation
Bentley et al. (2008)	Individuals (e.g., client issues: lack of knowledge, unfamiliar with activities, perception, language differences) Environment (e.g., weather changes, the threat of wild animals) Organization (e.g., employees, communications, equipment preparation/usage)	Active sport tourism: adventure sport tourism
Xu and Ni (2008)	Natural factor (e.g., weather, animals, plants, geographical attributes) Human factor (e.g., tourists, tour leader/guide, driver/team) Technical equipment factor (e.g., professional skills, equipment)	Active sport tourism in general (China)
Leopkey and Parent (2009)	Environment (e.g., pollution) Financial (e.g., tickets selling, sponsorship) Human resources (e.g., volunteers, paid, training) Organizing (e.g., leadership) Media (e.g., negative/positive news) Infrastructure (e.g., damaged) Interdependence (e.g., hierarchy) Legacy (e.g., new facilities) Operations (e.g., logistics, safety, security, crowd control) Political (e.g., government) Regal (e.g., regulation) Relationships (e.g., satisfying stakeholders’ needs) Visibility (e.g., marketing, image, brand)	Event sport tourism Hallmark sporting events

Table 2. Manager interviews and interview method.

Company	Interviewee position	Gender	Event project (the kind of sport tourism project)	Interview method
A (a large integrated travel company)	Event manager	Male	Leisure, team development	In person
	Branch manager	Male	Competition, adventure	In person
	Event manager	Male	Adventure, competition	In person
Shanghai Fanjue Enterprise management Co., Ltd	Co-founder	Male	Leisure, team development,	In person
	Co-founder	Male	Leisure, team development	TelepPhone
B (a large integrated travel company)	Event manager	Female	Leisure, team development	In person
	Event manager	Male	Leisure, team development	Telephone
	Department manager	Male	Adventure	Telephone
Shanghai Siqiang sports culture communication Co., Ltd	Founder	Male	Competition	In person
	Event manager	Female	Leisure, competition	In person
Shanghai Qipake travel consulting Co., Ltd	Co-founder	Female	Competition, adventure	Telephone
	Event manager	Male	Adventure	In person

Table 3. The number of event managers involved in each type of sport tourism project.

The type of sport tourism project		The number of managers
Leisure sport tourism	6
Team development sport tourism	5
Competition sport tourism	5
Adventure sport tourism	5

Table 4. Description of risk issues faced by event managers.

Risk issue category	Specific issues	Number of mentions
Financial	Business turnover, repurchase rate, compensation	12
Safety	Threats to the life or health of tourists	12
Environment	Weather conditions, topography and landforms, natural hazard, the threat of wild animals and plants	12
Technical equipment	The number of prepared equipment, equipment trouble, professional skills	12
Operations	Logistics (preparation for travel, catering, accommodations, transportation, venue management, communication)	11
Human resources	Staff (tour leader/guide), training	8
Political	Government sectors	6
Legal	Policies and regulations	6
Tourist behaviors	lack of knowledge, unfamiliar with activities, tourist perception (self-assertiveness)	5
Relationships	Relationship with cooperative partners/ suppliers (hotels, restaurants, events venue), relationship with governments	7

Figure 2. A conceptual model for contributing risks and primary risks in the sport tourism project.

Table 5. Risk categories by each type of sport tourism project.

Type of sport tourism project		leisure	Team development	Competition	Adventure
Risk issue category	Safety	×	×	×	×
	Financial	×	×	×	×
	Environment	×	×	×	×
	Equipment	×	×	×	×
	Operations	×	×	×	×
	Human resources	×	×	×
	Tourist behaviors	×	×	×	×
	Political			×	×
	Legal	×	×	×	×
	Government relationship			×	×
	Supplier relationship	×	×		×

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