Investment Opportunities in Sports Tourism

Question: Discuss about the Investment Opportunities in Sports Tourism. Answer: Introduction The arena of sports is growing a fast pace. According to the Australian sports commission Australia is keenly into the sports activities of Cycling, Table tennis, Baseball, Softball, badminton and squash and other sports. According to the sports commission the Australian government is going to invest in sports to the tune $134 million (ausport.gov.au 2016). Sports tourism can be viewed as the activity of travelling to a sporting destination for watching / participating in the sporting activity. A survey by the Herald Sun found that most of the tourists visiting Melbourne will watch a sporting event (Heraldsun.com.au 2015). Hence Melbourne has been said to be the sporting capital of Australia. The investment opportunities in sports tourism is both in private and public sector. A sports activity at in a particular city enhances the image of the city, providing it with further economic development and business development opportunities. In this initial research proposal we look at the previous studies done to evaluate the investment opportunities in sports tourism. Later on we develop hypothesis regarding the investment opportunities available and some questions. In addition we would also develop some strategies to measure the investments possible in the arena of Sports tourism. Finally we present an expected research outcome for the present research proposal. Literature review Sport tourism involves the travel of people in different countries in order to see sports events (Weed and Bull 2012). There are various kinds of sports events that are taking place all over the world. They are cricket matches, football matches, rugby matches, tennis matches, badminton matches and many others. On the other hand, there are different kinds of sports events like Olympic, football world cup, cricket world cup, commonwealth games and many others. Due to the occurrence of all these kinds of sports events, the sports tourism all over the world is growing in a very fast pace. As per the latest data, the sports tourism industry all over the world has contributed $ 7.68 trillion (Lamont 2014). Sports tourism can be classified in two categories. They are hard sports tourism and soft sports tourism. On the other hand, as per some people, there are three kinds of sports tourism. They are sports events tourism, celebrity, nostalgic tourism, and active sports tourism. Hard sports t ourism depends on the quantity of people that are attending the particular sports event. All over the world, some specific sports events help to attract many people. The examples of these events are Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon Tennis events, Grand Prix, F1 and many others (Naranjo and Snchez 2016). These are the events that are known by the people all over world and for this reason, this type of events help to attract many people all over the world. On the contrary, there are other kinds of sports events that happen at the state or within the country. These are the kind of sports events that attract the people from the country or from the state. The examples of soft kind of sports tourism are the country level sports tournaments like club football, club cricket and many others. The celebrity and nostalgia sports tournaments refer also help to attract a lot of people all over the world. In the celebrity and nostalgia sports tourism, the top sports personalities all over the world gather in a single place for a special event. Usually people come in these kinds of events to see these top sportspersons in a single place (transport and tourism forum 2014). There are other sports tourism events like the active sports tourism. The active sports tourism also helps to attract many people all over the world because of the high quality of the sports events. Active sports tourism is an essential part to develop the economic condition of the country. Australia is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Several factors are helping the country to develop its financial condition. Like business sector, tourism sector, manufacturing sector and many others. One of the most important factors that are contributing towards the economic development of the country is the presence of sports tourism. Sport is a crucial factor of Australia. It has been seen that Australia is one of the best countries all over the world in terms of various kinds of sports as the sports culture of the country is very effective (Reisinger 2013). This is the reason Australia has been the leading country to host various kinds of sports events like the ICC Cricket World Cup and different other sports. Many people all over the world are coming to Australia to witness these biggest sports events of the world. This reason also contributes to the improvement in the sports tourism of the country. One portion of the Australian tourism is based on the tourists c oming in Australia to watch various kinds of big sports events and the sports tourism sectors is flourishing day by day (Kennelly and Toohey 2016). This aspect has contributed to the development of the investment opportunity of the country. Various big corporations in Australia are investing in the sector of sports tourism, as it has become one of the potential to earn high revenues. Big companies around the Australia are developing big hotels to encourage the sports tourism in the country. On the other hand, Government of Australia is not behind in the race of sports tourism. The government of Australia is investing in various kinds of projects to encourage sports tourism. They are investing in the making of world-class stadiums for various kinds of sports like cricket, football, tennis, rugby and others. Hence, from the above discussion it can be concluded that Australia is creating many investment opportunities in the field of sports tourism by encouraging the various aspects of sports tourism. All these steps of the top most companies of Australia and the government of Australia help in the improvement of the Australian economy. Research Questions and Hypothesis For the present business research proposal the research questions are Have there been any investments in the hospitality sector prior to a sports meet? Does sports meets provide business opportunities to manufacturers of sports gear? Is there an increase in tourists visiting the restaurant during sports meets? The hypothesis that can be developed on the basis of the above research questions are There are no investment opportunities in the hospitality sector for sports tourism. Sports tourism does not offer investment opportunities to sports gear manufacturers. There is no increase in footfalls at the restaurant during sports meets Research methodology An analysis of the business opportunities of the present research assignment would use secondary data (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill 2015). The data on hotels being made or renovated prior to a major sports event would be collected. Also information on investments done at local tourists done would be collected. In addition the data on the economic activity at the hotel, tourist destination during the sports meet would be taken. For the purpose of analysis quantitative data would be used. Data can also be collected on any business of sports gear that took place during the sports event (Holmes at al., 2015). The quantitative data obtained would be the income that took place during the sports meet. The data on the number of people visiting at the hotel, local tourist destination would serve to provide information regarding the number of tourists visiting the city during sports events. The information on the investments, return on investment, number of tourists, earnings from the restaurant and other factors during the sports meet would provide an insight into the range of investments that can be made. Information regarding any business dealings that took place during the sports meet would provide an opportunity regarding the economic opportunity. For the purpose of the present research data regarding investments in the hospitality sector, improvement in tourists amnesties, business opportunities and dealings by manufacturers of sports gear would be collected. The data on the ROI from the hospitality sector, footfalls at tourists locations, economic activity at restaurant and fast food joints would also be collected. This data would then be evaluated to investigate the investment opportunities in sports tourism. Expected outcome Studies by different authors have shown that Australian cities like Melbourne, Sydney are ideal locations for sports tourism. Sports tourism has been found to have contributed positively to the hospitality and transportation industry. Sports activities also give rise to employment opportunities for the local people as well as growth in certain other businesses. The public sector investments in sports particularly building new sporting complexes promote employment opportunities. Previous literature has shown that the Australian government is investing into sporting bodies and for development of sporting infrastructure. These investments would contribute towards the growth of GDP of Australia. The present research proposal would show the different investment opportunities possible for the growth of sports tourism. Conclusion Hence it can be concluded that sports tourism provides an adequate environment opportunity for investment. From the preset research proposal we also find that sports tourism provides ample business development opportunities for different sporting goods manufacturers, increases the image of the city and its tourists locations and has increased construction activities. The present research has to some extent analysed the sports tourism investment opportunities. The research would provide a thought into how sports tourism increases business opportunities for manufacturers of sporting gear. References Heraldsun.com.au. (2015). Melbourne truly is sporting capital. [online] Available at: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/melbourne-attracts-more-sporting-tourists-than-anywhere-else-in-australia/news-story/bc0fdb7cd3090698a9e0fd6b660d15d0 [Accessed 15 Dec. 2016]. Holmes, K., Hughes, M., Mair, J. and Carlsen, J. (2015). Events and sustainability. 1st ed. Routledge. https://www.ausport.gov.au/supporting/investment_announcement_2015-16 Kennelly, M. and Toohey, K., 2016. National Sport Governing Bodies and Sport Tourism: Agency and Resources.Journal of Sport Management,30(5), pp.506-520. Lamont, M., 2014. Authentication in sports tourism.Annals of Tourism Research,45, pp.1-17. Naranjo, H.V. and Snchez, M.C., 2016. Influence of sports events in local tourism.Sport Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Reisinger, Y. ed., 2013.Transformational tourism: Tourist perspectives. CABI. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2015). Research methods for business students. 7th ed. Pearson Education Limited. Tourism Transport Forum. (2014). Backing major events: Australian support for major events and why governments should get behind them. Sydney: Tourism Transport Forum. Weed, M. and Bull, C., 2012.Sports tourism: Participants, policy and providers. R