Sports Tourism

The use of sports for a reason to visit a certain destination is called sports tourism. Sports tourism takes advantage of the sports being held in certain locations. This includes the economic benefits that these tourists bring. However, there are companies and people that are directly affected by sports, regardless where they are located. There are 250 cities and areas around the United States that have major sports events. For these events people are needed to plan and work any of these sports activities. Sports tourism therefore, creates a great many interesting jobs.

To begin it creates economic opportunities for travel agencies. Certain travel agencies specialize in just sporting events. The sports industry in the United States last year created $194 billion dollars in business. Of that $194 billion dollars $12.8 billion was spent on travel. That is a lot of money available for these travel agencies to cash in on. Entry-level positions in travel agencies however, are usually a standard pay of 8 to 10 dollars an hour. However, the job offers incentives for employees who do well, which opens up the door for salary increases.

Other Jobs include sports tour operators. Setting up certain events from clubs to universities. The largest increase of jobs in the sports tourism industry has come with the approach of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in South Africa. The country has already proven it can pull off the big event. It has held the events such as 1995 Rugby World Cup, the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the Women's World Cup of Golf 2005-2008, the inaugural World Twenty 20 Cricket Championships in 2007, and the only street race in the A1GP World Cup of Motor sport, held in Durban in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Overall, sports tourism creates many jobs of potential interest for tourism and hospitality students. As a kid I always wanted to be a professional athlete, however, that dream has become unrealistic or simply just unattainable. Even with this dream coming to an end, my passion for sports has not. I love being around sports as much as I can. Sports tourism would allow me to find a career that will continue to offer me these kinds of opportunities. I would love to have a job that would require me to visit certain popular sporting destinations, and write reviews on them. This would allow me to not only take advantage of seeing all these wonderful events such as the world cup, or the super bowl, but it would also allow me to look at the effect these events have on the economy and every day lives of the surrounding area and people. Sports tourism is a growing part of the industry and ripe with exciting opportunities.
By Danny Jones