The state-of-the-art in sport tourism geographies

Abstract

The geography of sport offers valuable theoretical and conceptual frames to inform the study of sport-related tourism. While all sports share fundamental aspects such as rule structures, elements of competition and aspects of physical play, the manifestations of these dimensions of sport are enormously diverse. Sport and tourism are socially constructed phenomena. The constant evolution of sports in different societies raise a spectacular array of opportunities – and challenges - for tourism development. This review paper explores the development of the field of sport tourism over time, tracing the academic study of sport tourism to two seminal pieces of work that were published in 1989. It reviews current and emerging avenues of research in this dynamic field, highlighting gaps in the literature that focus particularly on the environmental and technological dimensions of sport tourism. We conclude that the social, economic, technological and political forces of change in our societies will continue to reshape (and be reshaped by) the geographies of sport and tourism.

Keywords:

• Sport
• tourism
• social construction
• space
• place
• environment
• technology

Introduction

Sports geographers have long recognised the conceptual and empirical connections between sports events and tourism (Gibson, 1998). In advance of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Faulkner and Tideswell (1999: 3) observed that ‘the geographical extent and volume of sports related travel has grown exponentially’. The Sydney 2000 Olympics were revolutionary in creating an environmental charter and delivering ecological remediation outcomes, but it also marked the first instance of hosting an Olympic Games in tandem with a comprehensive tourism leveraging strategy, as required by the Australian federal government at that time (Faulkner & Tideswell, 1999), which extended to strategies to identify and minimise potential tourism diversion effects (Weed, 2007). The subsequent two decades have seen the development of increasingly critical directions in sports event scholarship which have drawn into question the socio-spatial dynamics and legacy benefits of mega sports events (Gaffney, 2010; Wise, 2016).

In recent decades the evolving field of sport and tourism has been informed by recognition that the conceptual connections between the geographies of sport and tourism extend beyond mega sports events (Higham, 1999). The enormous diversity of the forms and functions of sports that are significant to tourism—which range far beyond sports mega events—has become a feature of sports geography scholarship. The elite competitions of global mega-sports events pale in a tourism sense, when set alongside the social and cultural phenomena of recurrent spectator fandoms, non-elite participation sports, serious leisure sports pursuits, recreational engagement in sports, heritage sports and sports nostalgia in all of their forms (Standeven & De Knop, 1999). It has also been recognised that sport and tourism are socially constructed phenomena and are a reflection of the ever changing societies in which we live (Andrews, 2006). Simultaneously, sport and tourism serve as influential forces of societal change. While attempts have been made to articulate the commonalities between sport and tourism (Gibson, 1998; Higham & Hinch, 2018; Weed & Bull, 2012), it has become evident that the conceptual foundations underpinning the geography of both fields reveal significant similarities. This review paper explores the development of sport tourism scholarship highlighting the conceptual connections that have emerged at the considerable intersection between the geographies of sport and tourism.

A concise history of sport and tourism research

The scholarly study of sport and tourism can be traced back to the year 1989. In that year two seminal pieces of work that offered important entry points for systematic study of the confluence of sport and tourism were published. The first, John Bale’s Sports Geography (1989), whilst making indirect references to tourism, captured the interest of tourism scholars as it examined sport through the lens of key geographical concepts. The second was a conference paper delivered by Sue Glyptis to the Leisure Studies Association (LSA) in April 1989 titled Leisure and Patterns of Time Use, which was the first to explicitly state the growing convergence of sport and tourism in leisure studies (Glyptis, 1991).

Bale’s (1989) study on the geography of sport explores the concepts of space and place within the domain of sports. Sports are defined by spatial parameters which are written into codified rules (e.g., court dimensions). The spatial parameters of sports may be explicit (e.g., restricting player movements) or implicit (player positions). This alludes to the many parallels between sports and tourism, given that tourism is also defined by spatial parameters relating to physical movement and (im)mobilities.

Bale (1989) observes that although sport can boost economic spending in a defined region, the benefits of hosting sports events, tournaments, or teams are not distributed equally across all communities. His spatial analysis of sport explores the role of locations in which sports occur, noting that sports may be reliant on natural settings and/or constructed facilities. He introduces the concept of ‘transportability’, noting that some sports are rigidly anchored in space, while others are relatively free of resource constraints and as such can be strategically located. In exploring the contrasts between centrally-located and resource-based sports, Bale (1989) discuses geographical concepts such as scale, central place theory, distance decay, and locational hierarchy which have offered useful foundations for the study of sport and tourism.

The spatial concept of distance decay again highlights interesting parallels between sport and tourism. Bale (1989) observes the relationships that exists in elite sport between competing at one’s ‘home’ location versus an ‘away’ location and the likelihood of winning. Winning is less likely when competing away from home, and “the probability of winning forms a clear gradient according to distance from home” (Bale, 1989: 31). This spatial concept also applies in tourism. Distance decay suggests that the volume of tourist flows decrease with distance from the generating region of the tourism system (Boniface & Cooper, 1994), although distance decay in sport tourism is influenced by a range of moderating factors that can be influenced through strategic branding, packaging, leveraging and bundling to extend market range (Chalip, 2006). The idea that sport locations rise and fall in importance over time (Bale, 1989) has parallels in the geography of tourism (Butler, 1980).

Bale (1989) also notes that sport is a cultural form of physical activity, highlighting four ways in which sports may contribute to sense of place. First, he notes the deep sense of the sacred that fans associate with their sports team which often results in making pilgrimages to the team’s venue. Second, despite geographical distances, fans develop ‘home’ connections with their teams and venues/stadiums. Third, the aesthetics of sports locations play a significant role in creating a sense of place. Finally, sports heritage is fostered through tradition, iconic sports sites and the veneration of sport teams and iconic players as expressed through sports museums, halls of fame and stadium tours. While sports may infuse space with meaning, Bale introduces the concept of ‘sportscapes’ to describe the growing standardisation of sports facilities and the landscapes of sport, often driven by the stadium requirements of global sports bodies and the increasing technologization of sports. Sportscapes represent the threat of “placelessness” (Relph, 1976) which may erode the cultural tapestry that makes tourism places unique.

Reporting on a study of western European countries, Sue Glyptis (1989) was the first to articulate the development of active engagement in sport tourism. She reported on an empirical study that found significant growth in participation in a range of recreational sports in a cross section of social groups and socio-economic strata during the 1980s. In the subsequent decades, there has been growing interest in the development of participation and pleasure sports, the emergence of new and hybrid sports, and the growth of lifestyle sports, all closely linked to leisure tourism and personal travel careers (Higham & Hinch, 2018). In articulating the growing intersection of the domains of sport and tourism, Glyptis (1989) played a pivotal role in defining and conceptualising ‘sport tourism’. Given that sport may serve as a primary, secondary or tertiary tourist motivation, Gammon and Robinson (1997) drew a distinction between sport tourists (where sport is the primary motivation) and tourism sports (where sport is a secondary or tertiary travel activity). These definitions of sport tourism encompass elite athletes, non-elite competitors, spectators and recreational participants (Gibson, 1998).

In the early stages of definition Gibson (1998:49) defined sport tourism as “…leisure-based travel that takes individuals temporarily outside of their home communities to participate in physical activities, to watch physical activities, or to venerate attractions associated with physical activities”. While this definition was widely adopted, a common omission from early efforts to define sport tourism was a clear and explicit definition of sport. Hinch and Higham (2004) attempted to do so highlighting three criteria that define all sports, while making different sports unique in terms of their contributions to tourism and tourist experiences;

1. Rules: All sports are defined by spatial and temporal structures and rules of engagement which may be formally codified or otherwise known to participants;

2. Competition: Relating to physical prowess, goal orientation, competition and contest-based aspects of sport;

3. Play: Sports may be engaged for fun, arising from uncertainty of outcome and athletic display.

While defining sports is important in terms of understanding sport tourism phenomena, technical definitions of sport (and tourism) fail to capture the complexities in how sport is socially constructed. Furthermore, definitions of sport can be either narrow (closed) or broad (open) (Hsu, 2005). The former attempts to differentiate sport from non-sport activities. The fact that figure skating is a (winter) Olympic sport and ballroom dancing is not highlights the difficulties of differentiating sports from non-sports. By contrast, broad (open) approaches accept that distinguishing between sport and non-sport activities is not always straightforward.

Andrews (2006) captures the need for alternative approaches to defining sports. He argues that defining socially constructed phenomena (such as sport and tourism) is an exercise in futility because social constructions vary too greatly across space and time. The evolution of Olympic sports exemplifies this argument; from the power sports of classical times (discus, javelin, athletic competitions) to new generation sports such as skateboarding, wall climbing, and snowboarding, and emerging sports such as e-sports (computer gaming). As Andrews (2006:1) observes, “although physically-based competitive activities are a feature of virtually all human civilisations, the popular myth of sport as a fixed and immutable category is little more than a pervasive, if compelling, fiction”. Instead he adopts an alternative ‘interpretive’ approach to understanding sports, emphasizing the need to understand sports and sport experiences within their socio-historical and political-economic contexts. The interpretive approach is reflected in Bale’s (1989) open definition of sport which includes anything that is featured in the sports section of local newspapers. He argues that the content of the sports section of any local, regional or national newspaper serves as a reflection of the social and historical context in which it is situated.

Current trends

The seminal works of Bale (1989), Glyptis (1989) and Andrews (2006) among others have provided a foundation that has served as a launching point for subsequent scholarship in the geographies of sport and tourism. While the study of sport and tourism was initially served by research that was generally descriptive and observational (Weed, 2005), they initiated an ‘ambitious agenda’ to address the study of sport (and tourism) (Koch, 2017). Their foundation have now been extended in terms of conceptual depth with the development of more defined avenues of research. Bale (1989; 2003) analytical contributions, for example, were informed by concepts such as place, landscape, core-periphery, location and globalization (Wise, 2016). Building upon and extending these contributions, current research has advanced more critical methods to explore how sport and tourism impact and shape communities and identifies (Conner, 2014; Gaffney, 2010). Current lines of research that have extended the geographies of sport and tourism can be usefully reviewed in relation to some of the founding concepts in sport tourism studies.

Sport and tourism development has been a longstanding (Hinch & Higham, 2004; Weed & Bull, 2012), and remains a continuing focus of sport tourism research. A flurry of research on mega-events focused on Brazil emerged with the hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Host community inclusion in mega-sports events has been usefully explored in the context of the Rio Olympic Games and #RioZones as a means to integrate sports events, urban space, and host communities (Duignan et al., 2022). The study of sport mega events has been usefully extended by sports geographers using ethnographic and field-based research methods approaches to reveal critical insights into place and context (Wise, 2015). Wise and Hall (2017) address doubts surrounding mega sports event legacies in terms of social transformation in society. They call for research into the legacies of sport mega events in terms of creating tourism an regeneration opportunities for regional destinations and peripheral cities by way of spreading event, tourism and leisure cultures into new markets across a country (Wise & Hall, 2017).

Beyond mega sports events, the study of sport and tourism development has been advanced in relation to national, regional and local sports. Hemmonsbey and Tichaawa (2020) apply destination branding theory, specifically co-branding with sport tourism events in South Africa, finding that this is an effective approach to support long-term brand positioning strategies. The development of rural sports as a strategy to address depopulation in the Castellón region of Spain (Vidal-Matzanke & Vidal-González, 2022), and destination diversification through the development of outdoor sports such as trail running in the Pays of Allevard (Portugal) (Perrin-Malterre, 2018) illustrate examples of ongoing research in this area. The Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) continues to be a valuable framework in the study of sport tourism development, including athlete training at Stellenbosch (South Africa) (Heuwinkel & Venter, 2018), and the use of Thai sport and sport event tourism (SET) to serve long-term destination development interests in Thailand (Williams et al., 2021).

The geographical concepts of space, place and environment continues to underpin and extend research in fields of sport and tourism. The concept of distance decay usefully informs the study of public transport use by sports fans who are making sustainable transport choices to access urban sports venues (McCullough et al., 2023). Moreover, sport heritage has been conceptualised as a tangible and immovable (non-transportable) sport tourism resource through the lens of the ‘spatial fix’ (Gordon & Ramshaw, 2023), and sports stadiums as a spatial anchor that produces transformative spaces through fan interaction and engagement (Richards et al., 2022).

By contrast, virtual spaces have emerged as an avenue of research into sport and visitor experiences. Conner (2022) extends Bale’s theoretical discussions of sportscapes and the futurescapes of sports to the emerging world of virtual reality (VR). His research investigates virtual sportscapes that are participatory (engaged for active user participation) and spectator-based (for watching sports in virtual reality) providing critical insights into the socio-spatial and cultural implications of virtual sportscapes, where the barriers between sportscapes, technology and the body ‘blur’ (Connor, 2022:399). Virtual space is now a focus of destination marketing studies to explore how DMOs can leverage European football franchises on their digital marketing platforms (Proctor et al., 2018).

The concept of place remains a central theme in sport tourism research. Place attachment plays a significant role in mediating positive emotions and behavioural intentions among visitors to ski resorts in Iran (Hashemi et al., 2023). A study of the Bethlehem to Jerusalem Peace Run explores how sport tourism can frame peace relations in places of confrontation and conflict (Gelbman, 2019). The concept of objective authenticity arising from claims of being the ‘home’ of particular sports have been the subject of attention relating to uniqueness of sports destinations (Wilson, 2002). Several such studies have focussed on the sport of golf in promotions of VisitScotland (Whigham et al., 2021), and in the ways that the sport of golf has been harnessed to promote Scottish values (Edensor et al., 2021). Research has also delved into how sports can serve as a window into unique local culture. For instance, studies on the Arctic Winter Games and the Canadian Football League reveal unique connections between sport and place (Hinch & Ramshaw, 2014). Similar studies have followed, exploring the experiences of Muay Thai and their cultural connections to place (Pookaiyaudom, 2020), temporal manifestations of nostalgia in experience of the Tour de France (Fairley, Gibson & Lamont, 2018) and ancient sports in Iran (Masaeli et al., 2020).

Within the environmental dimensions of sport and tourism questions of local and global sustainability remain to the fore. Recent research highlights the need for sport and tourism managers to develop and implement environmental strategies to actively manage sport tourism markets (Mascarenhas et al., 2021). This is particularly urgent in the case of nature-based sports that take place in ecologically sensitive areas, or in conservation designations (Newland et al., 2021). Alienation from nature through the adoption and use of technologies also emerges as both an opportunity and a threat to nature-based sports (Xu & Li, 2023).

New directions of research have extended and advanced insights into the experiences of sport tourists, whether they are active participants or spectators. The growth of participation and pleasure sports has led to a growing academic interest in various aspects of engaging in active sports. This current field extends the work of Glyptis (1989) by examining contrasting leisure motivations to engage in active sports at home and while on holiday (Osti et al., 2018), and the way that everyday leisure practices can be transformed into tourism experiences through engagement in sports events (King et al., 2021). Recent studies of specific sports have focussed attention on segmentation of the scuba diving market (Albayrak et al., 2021) and routinised social practices in kiteboarding (Derriks et al., 2023).

The tourist experiences of lifestyle sports participants has emerged as a rich vein of critical research. Recent studies on surfers have investigated destination loyalty arising from surf culture (Reis et al., 2022), aspects of conflict arising from localism due to increasing visitor demand for surf breaks (Towner & Lemarié, 2020), cultural knowledge of nature in the surfing experience (Farrelly & Beverland, 2023) and decolonialism in surf tourism (Ruttenberg, 2023). Similarly, mountain biking has been addressed in relation to serious leisure and destination attractiveness (Abernethy et al., 2022), experiences of psychological flow (Amatulli et al., 2021), and gendered experiences of extreme lifestyle sports in the case of the Cape Epic in post-apartheid South Africa (Bordelon & Ferreira, 2019).

The conceptual development of visitor experience research extends to spectatorship and fandoms. Spectator attachment and visitor satisfaction at college sports in the US (Lee & Kim, 2023), the impact of football team sponsorship on football fan identification in Portugal (Silva, 2020), and football fan experiences as ‘exceptional habit’ (McManus, 2022) have been the focus of recent research into sport experiences. Morgan’s (2007) contributions to co-creation in sport fan experiences has been further extended in an analysis of marathon events in Japan that informs enhanced value co-creation for international competitors who navigate language and cultural barriers to full participation (Chen, 2023).

Two new lines of sport tourism research that conceptually extend the geographical concepts of space, place and environment have clearly emerged in recent years. The first addresses virtual technologies and new avenues of media communication, which have significant implications for both spectator and active sports experiences. Recent studies have started to explore advances in experiential media including virtual reality in the experiences of mega-sports events (Regret Iyer et al., 2022), and the role of state-of-the-art technologies to increase participation in active sport events (Achilleos et al., 2021). Emerging research also investigates social and interactive experiences in e-sports as factors that may encourage competitors and spectators to attend events in person (Thompson et al., 2022), and how social media content-sharing apps and podcasting platforms afford opportunities for sport content producers to shape and influence the authentication of sports places (Lamont & Ross, 2021).

Within the environmental dimension of sport tourism a second important line of emerging research focusses on climate change and carbon emissions. Important papers have addressed the ‘creative tension’ that emerged with the cancellation of sport competitions in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This tension arises from realisation of the urgent need for post-pandemic sports events and league competitions to address their high greenhouse gas emissions (Cooper & Alderman, 2021: 525). Empirical studies have followed that address the carbon emissions of American college football at the University of Tennessee (Cooper, 2020), and the carbon footprint of fan travel to Bundesliga football matches in Germany (Loewen & Wicker, 2021). The research on climate change impacts and adaptation has been triggered by research on the ski industry (Hopkins & Maclean, 2014) and active winter sports participants (Orr, 2020). From this arises the concept of ‘peak events’ which refers to the rise, crisis and decline of events. An historical analysis of the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup (1964 and 2018) reveals 60-fold growth in the scale of these mega event over the past 50 years, leading to a crisis point in the late 2010s. Given the high emissions linked to such growth, it is argued that bidding and hosting frameworks must be reassessed in order to rein in sports event emissions (Müller et al., 2023).

Gaps in the literature and future research directions

The geography of sport provides important theoretical and conceptual foundations that informs academic research in the field of sport tourism. Within the spatial dimension of sport, the urban and regional locations where sports take place, the links between the tourism generating and sport destination regions of the tourism system, and the travel flows between them present promising avenues of research. An expanding body of research now explores the ways in which sport contribute to unique sense of place, whilst also examining the resource requirements and environmental impacts of sport tourism. Many of these studies have been effectively informed by key concepts in geography, including systems theory, scale, place, location hierarchy, spatial travel flows, and core/periphery.

The temporal dimensions of sport and tourism encompass short, medium and long-term timeframes. The temporality of sport and tourism invites researchers to address aspects of tourist experiences in sports, the seasonal variations in tourism phenomena throughout the year, and the long-term evolutionary dynamics in sport which present both opportunities and threats to the status of tourism destinations over time (Higham & Hinch, 2018). The temporal elements of sport tourism are also threatened by global processes, most notable in the case of sports that are fundamentally dependent on certain climatic and seasonal resource conditions (Scott et al., 2019). Climate change directly threatens the viability of winter sport destinations due to changing seasonal patterns, the loss of natural ski days across the winter season and the deterioration of resource conditions. Further research is required to address strategies for mitigation, adaptation (and maladaptation) within different sport and destination contexts (Hopkins, 2014).

While significant attention has historically centred on mega-events, spectator sports and sports heritage, recent years has witnessed the emergence of growth of participation events that range across the spectrum of elite and non-elite participants, and active engagement in recreational sports. Increased interest in ‘participation and pleasure sports’, and the subcultural lifestyles associated with those sports are features of evolution of the geographies of sport and tourism over the last two decades. Engagements in such sports may be a form of serious leisure in which participants set and pursue personal performance targets or may not be results-orientated at all. For many, participation may be ‘de-sportified’ to escape from formal rule structures, choosing instead to engage in sports that are non-competitive, to build personal and collective identity and social connection (Falcous, 2017). These evolutionary dynamics of sport are of importance to tourism destinations.

From this context two particularly important (and intersecting) gaps in the literature and future research directions emerge. The first is the growing role of technologies in sports, which takes many forms. The most obvious is the growth of e-sports which was initially the focus of much debate regarding the definition of sport. However, e-sports have evolved rapidly with advancing technologies and now take many forms, from online gaming which fills arenas with e-sports fans and spectators, to virtual competitions against remote but very real human opposition that emerged during the Covid-19 lockdown. Research has started to address the rapidly developing potential roles of virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence in the delivery of virtual and augmented sport experiences (Zollmann et al., 2019). The potential implications for the spatial, temporal and environmental dimensions of sport tourism await critical scholarly attention.

A second critically important avenue of research must address sport tourism development processes that are aligned with the United Nations 2015-2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs). Considerable attention has been given to the importance of measuring development processes not solely by economic outcomes, but also in relation to quality of life, personal growth, fulfilment, and both physical and mental wellbeing. While physical activity is critical to human health (United Nations, 2023), particularly in times of increasingly sedentary lifestyles, social exclusion continues to exist in many sports. The same applies to tourism which, while connected to quality of life and subjective wellbeing (McCabe, 2009), continues to exhibit unequal distribution both within and between societies. Addressing inequities in sport and tourism is critical to advancing SDGs 3 (Good health and wellbeing), 5 (Gender equity), 10 (Reduced inequalities) 12 (Responsible consumption and production), 16 (Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies) and 17 (Partnerships for sustainable development).

In addition to the UN’s 2015- 2030 SDGs, we now face the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) challenge of halving gross global CO₂ emissions by 2030. As a result, sport and tourism development processes face substantial challenges from the broader global sustainability and climate change agendas. Tellingly, in October 2023 Sport England (SE), which invests in excess of £300 million of public money into sports annually, will require all sports to declare how they are decarbonising to be eligible for future funding (Ingle, 2023). SE will develop a code of conduct that all sports organisations will be required to sign to be eligible to apply for funding which will require all sports governing bodies to disclose their climate actions. The Athletics Association of the Pacific region has underscored this urgency in a recent panel discussion hosted by World Athletics titled ‘Sport on the climate change front lines’ (Radio New Zealand, 2023).

Existing studies of sport carbon emissions highlight the enormous challenge of mitigating high carbon tourist transport emissions (Ito & Higham, 2023). Currently global sports organisations such as the International Olympic Committee deem transport emissions to be out-of-scope for organising committee decarbonisation commitments; a position that is rapidly becoming untenable. Considerable research is required to accurately measure the carbon and non-carbon emissions stemming from sports and events, to inform radical emissions mitigation measures. There can be no doubt that virtual and augmented reality technologies will play a major part in those measures (Zollmann et al., 2019).

Conclusion

Sport and tourism are dynamic and ever-evolving socially constructed phenomena, rendering the field of sport tourism rich in academic interest. The geography of sport offers valuable theoretical and conceptual frames to inform the study of sport-related tourism. While all sports share fundamental aspects such as rule structures, elements of competition and aspects of physical play, the manifestations of these dimensions of sport are enormously diverse. While initially conceptualised in relation to mega sports events, those conceptual connection now extend deep into study of spectator experiences, sports fandoms, non-elite engagements in sport and sport subcultures.

We live in times of great change. The constant evolution of sports in different societies raise a spectacular array of opportunities—and challenges - for tourism development and visitor experiences of sport. The need remains to further extend the geographies of sport and tourism with theoretical contributions informed by Marxism, post-colonialism, feminism and postmodernism (Koch, 2017). Indeed Koch (2017: 4) highlights the “…opportunity to push beyond the early work of John Bale and others” to advance a more critical geography of sport (and tourism). This opportunity is extending our conceptual and empirical insights into the socio-cultural, economic, technological and political forces of change in our societies that continue to reshape (and be reshaped by) the geographies of sport and tourism.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

James Higham

James Higham is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University (Australia), and Honorary Professor at the Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka the University of Otago (New Zealand). He is the former co-editor of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism (2014-2021) and founding director of the Otago Tourism Policy School (2019-2023). His research addresses tourism and global environmental change. The major focus of his current research is a five-year Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Endeavour Programme (2024-2028) titled “He karapitipitinga mariko – Immersive regenerative tourism experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand

Sera Vada

Sera Vada, Ph.D., is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University and a Senior Policy Officer at the Department of Tourism & Sport, Queensland Government. She has published in leading tourism and marketing academic journals with over ten years of project management and research consultancy experience in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. With a strong history of working with government, non-governmental organizations and the private sector, Sera is very passionate about contributing to international development work and research which makes a positive impact on the livelihood of people, especially communities in developing countries within the Asia-Pacific region.