Proximate tourists and major sport events in everyday leisure spaces

Abstract

The local and the everyday provide a base resource for an individual to draw upon selectively in the reflexive construction of their leisure lifestyles. Through processes of tourism, however, these everyday spaces can become transformed into tourist products such as through the staging of major sports events. Research often recognises the social impacts sport tourism events can have on host communities yet assume homogeneity across these communities without considering the differentiated leisure lifestyles which characterise them. This paper explores the interplay between the hosting of major sports events and leisure spaces, community and practices of local established sporting communities who are connected to the event through their socio-cultural proximity to the leisure lifestyle and physical proximity to the event setting. The study draws upon qualitative data from interviews with 19 cyclists who live in Adelaide, the host city of the Tour Down Under, an annual professional cycle race and festival. The findings explore the ways in which local cyclists experience the event as proximate tourists drawing upon their knowledge of everyday sporting spaces, local resources and their insider status to inform their identities. The findings examine the ways in which they maintain connections with local places throughout the staging of the event, and highlight some of the tensions this creates in their on-going everyday leisure practices. It argues that organisers of major sports events should utilise the pool of resident participant experts offered through local sports clubs and communities and ensure they benefit from their hosting.

摘要:

地方和日常生活为个人建构休闲方式提供了一种可以选择性利用的基本资源。然而, 这些日常空间通过旅游发展 (比如举办大型体育赛事) 可以转化为旅游产品。已有研究常常认识到体育旅游活动对主办社区的社会影响, 却假定这些社区是同质的, 没有考虑到他们差异化的休闲生活方式。本文探讨了举办大型体育赛事与当地运功社区的休闲空间、休闲群体与休闲实践之间的相互作用, 这些社区由于其社会文化及实质环境赛事场景相近而与赛事联系起来。该研究基于对阿德莱德19名骑行者的访谈获得定性数据。阿德莱德是年度职业自行车赛事的举办城市。该调查探索了当地的骑自行车者作为近距离游客体验这一事件的方式。他们利用对日常运动空间、当地资源和他们内部人的地位来宣告他们的身份。研究结果分析了他们在举办赛事过程中与当地空间保持联系的方式, 并强调了在他们日常休闲活动中所产生的一些紧张关系。该研究认为, 大型体育赛事的组织者应该利用当地体育俱乐部和社区提供的常驻参与专家, 确保他们能从主办城市中受益。

Keywords:

• Major sports events
• leisure
• tourism
• proximity
• cycling
• everyday

关键词::

• 大型体育赛事
• 休闲
• 旅游
• 邻近
• 骑行
• 日常

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Referring to professional racing cyclist André Greipel.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katherine King

Katherine King is a Senior Academic in the Department of Events and Leisure at Bournemouth University. Her research interests focus on the geographies of sport and leisure and leisure identities.

Richard Shipway

Richard Shipway is a Senior Principal Academic in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity at Bournemouth University, UK. His research interests focus on sport tourism, Olympic studies, the impacts and legacies of sports events and sport ethnography.

Insun Sunny Lee

Insun Sunny Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Event and Tourism Management in the School of Management at the University of South Australia Business School. Sunny has been involved in various research projects focusing on a range of event management and visitor experiences at the local level as well as internationally, using qualitative and quantitative methods.

Graham Brown

Graham Brown is Professor of Tourism Management at the University of South Australia Business School. He has published extensively on tourism and event management and works closely with relevant organisations both nationally and internationally.