Sport Tourism Activities and their Impacts in Relation to Sustainable Development

Abstract

In line with the concept of sustainable development, the paper deals with the impact of sport tourism activities. Sport tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry. The paper focuses on the two most popular sport tourism activities in the Czech Republic, i.e. hiking and cycling. The aim of the paper is to map the impacts of these selected sport tourism activities in relation to sustainable development and suggest possible solutions. The research showed that for the economic impacts of hiking and cycling, benefits outweigh risks. This suggests that if developed sensitively, sport tourism could provide significant economic growth. Employment and increased income in a destination is also positively reflected in the social sphere, such as improved destination image, quality of life for residents and community support for sport. Risks relate to socio-cultural changes such as loss of authenticity, threat to local identity, change of lifestyle of residents, etc. For the environmental impact of the selected sport tourism activities, risks outweigh benefits. The biggest risk factors include pollution, devastation of flora and fauna, which always has a negative impact on the landscape and its biodiversity. The proposed measures to mitigate the negative impacts and strengthen the positive ones of these sport activities relate to improving tourism services, improving the quality of tourist routes, or cycle paths through effective management of the destination using partnership cooperation. Educating visitors to influence their behavior and thinking on how to spend their leisure time and holidays is also an important measure. Education and training not only on economic, but also on socio-cultural and especially environmental responsibility is a necessity in this regard, given that for hiking and cycling, nature and landscape are among the dominant components of what tourism provides.