Sport Tourism Essay

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Introduction
Sport Tourism is is defined as: sport-based travel away from the home environment for a limited time, where sport is characterised by unique rule sets, competition related to physical prowess, and a playful nature (Hinch and Higham 2004)
A tourist can participate in sports tourism in two ways: active and passive. Active sports tourism include people taking part in the activities; skiing, climbing etc and passive sports tourism refers to the spectators of sporting event. (Visit Scotland 2014)
Globalisation and democratisation have had a significant influence on the rising popularity of sports tourism . As a result the main trends which have contributed to the development of sports tourism include the more people participating in sport activities as well as an increase in interest in health tourism in Western societies (Hinch and Higham 2004).

1. Tourism in Fort William

“Today there is a growing demand for holidays which offer more strenuous activities.” (Holloway 2002, p. 67). Therefore, Fort William is a key tourist destination for Scottish Tourism. Its popularity is largely due to local sport events and picturesque natural scenery, perfect for hill-walking, climbing, skiing and many other adventurous activities from diving in the sea to flying in the air–with all water sports, country sports, cycling and mountain biking actives and of course mountain sports. Owing to this, it has been named the undisputed outdoor capital for outdoor sports and activities in the UK (Visit Fort William n.d.).

Fort William is the largest town in the west Highlands of Scotland – population of approx 12,000 and is an established tourist destination, with over 400,000 people visiting Glen Nevis each year and about110,000 people walki...

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...ide programme of Sustainable Tourism events. Its aim is to create an opportunity for businesses to improve their sustainability practices which will further regional growth (Visit Scotland 2014). Caroline Willis, Operations Manager of the Pierhouse Hotel in Port Appin, who attended the last seminar reported that she “would recommend the workshop to any tourism business looking to adopt a greener approach to their activities. Since the workshop, we have had our first grading visit from VisitScotland's Green Tourism Business Scheme, and have secured a silver award as a result. We're now working our way towards gold” (Visit Scotland 2014)
An example of a green business in Fort William area is Navis Range which due to innovative and effective ways of reducing environmental impact, was awarded a Gold Green Tourism award in 2003 and then again in 2012 (Nevis Range 2014)

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