Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Tourism and Sport

Dear Colleagues,

Both tourism and sports are activities of human socialization, which are of global economic importance and can contribute to a more environmentally sustainable economy, as they develop in a context of “industry without chimneys”. However, as a result of various political decisions of confinement and physical–social distancing, they have been interrupted, with varying degrees of intensity among countries, but with notable differences compared to other economic sectors.

In this sense, the greatest paralysis of activities in the tourism sector has been due in large part to the uncertainty about border closures and the bureaucracy that underlies having to comply with various travel requirements depending on the countries involved, and in the case of sports, it has even led to the postponement of the Olympic Games, in addition to the evident decrease even in physical activity due to home confinement.

Therefore, these changes in these activities do not only affect environmental sustainability by stopping this green economy, but also have an impact with an evident deterioration in the “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) related to economic growth, and those related to poverty, social inequality, and health and welfare. The impact of the decline of these human activities and their consequent and irrecoverable economic losses requires a restart. Thus, entrepreneurship in both tourism and sport is necessary and attracts social interest and uncertainty among experts.

This restart, however, will not take the form of resuming at the same point of detention, because the global political agenda wants to promote a more sustainable economic, social, and ecological return, if possible giving way to a healthier way of life. Thus, it is intended to generate more prosperity to the local environment than it has so far, also seeking to end the agglomeration of people in certain places or dates of the year, to reduce any discrimination around people who are employed or who are enjoying tourist sites and sporting events as much as possible, to reduce waste generation, to minimize the use of scarce and non-renewable resources, etc.

On the other hand, the existence of a conjunction between tourism and sport is possible. Thus, sports activities will end up becoming an important part of tourism packages, such as hiking, climbing, golf, surfing, etc. Therefore, an increase in the offer of this type of tourism is expected with the help of sector marketing, effective use of technology (such as big data), and better communication networks.

The Web of Science (WoS) main collection database shows that in the last 10 years, the number of articles published related to tourism entrepreneurship (1,400+) and sports entrepreneurship (350+), although at different scales, have experienced an exponential growth, which shows the interest of the international scientific community in these topics. Many of these articles describe the need to continue publishing in this line, since these human needs will continue to encourage investment in both activities.

Prof. Dr. Alejandro Vega-Muñoz
Prof. Dr. Orlando Llanos Contreras
Dr. Miguel Angel García-Gordillo
Dr. Jesús Morenas Martín
Prof. Dr. José Carmelo Adsuar Sala
Guest Editors

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• crowdfunding
• ecotourism
• healthy tourism
• massive events
• pro-environmental sports
• pro-environmental tourism
• sport entrepreneurial
• sport entrepreneurship
• sport events
• sport tourism
• sport trends
• sustainable entrepreneurial
• sustainable tourism
• tourism entrepreneurial
• tourism entrepreneurship
• tourism trends
• tourist wellbeing
• wellbeing of the sportsperson