Sports tourism: an economic and social tool.

What is sports tourism?

The concept of sports tourism describes a segment comprised of programs and activities with the specific purpose of promoting the practice of sports through competitions, festivals, fairs, and workshops, whether at a regional, state, or national level, for amateur or professional athletes.

Sports tourism is geared towards those seeking to participate, whether as a competitor (amateur or professional), spectator, organizer, sponsor, or commercial agent. This segment boosts the entire local tourism industry, including guesthouses, restaurants, gas stations, bars, and others.

According to data from a study conducted by Travel Leaders Group and the Adventure Travel Trade Association, the global adventure tourism market generated US$683 billion (approximately R$2.847 trillion) worldwide in 2018, before the pandemic. This segment includes adventure activities carried out in urban, natural, or rural areas.

An example is canoeing, which has been growing significantly, especially in the state of São Paulo, through the São Paulo State Canoeing Federation – FECAESP, the entity responsible for canoeing in the state, whose mission is to develop and promote competitions, actions, programs, and projects, particularly in municipalities with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants.

FECAESP has been directing competitions towards these small municipalities, not that it's a rule; the federation holds competitions in all interested municipalities in the state, whether they have 5,000 or 500,000 inhabitants, that doesn't matter. But we prioritize the speed of access to public authorities, presentation meetings, development, and construction of a state competition, and in a large urban center this ends up being slow due to the difficulty of accessing public authorities.

What we have noticed in these small municipalities is the involvement of the population present in the competitions, as it is a novelty in the city and makes the event large, thus generating local income for the businesses that are working at the competition.

Today, a state-level competition brings together nearly 500 people, including athletes, staff, organizers, and family members involved in the event. In other words, the economic and social impact is very significant, especially in a small municipality. In a large city, this would not have such a large impact.

One of the main projects we have been developing is the legacy of the competition: creating a canoeing school, thus giving opportunities to children and teenagers, both girls and boys, from the public school system. The city of Iguape is a great example, a municipality with 29,000 inhabitants with enormous potential for canoeing, as it has a large volume of water suitable for swimming, and after a state competition, we are planning with the public authorities to establish a canoeing school, in addition to other services that have emerged for nautical sports tourism.

Sport has a unique power to mobilize and inspire men and women, serving as a powerful social vehicle for gender equality and the empowerment of young people and adolescents.