Sports Tourism and System of Experiences

Tourists are increasingly more experienced and demanding and seek a wide range of experiences. They wish to broaden their horizon or feel enriched by engaging in new and specific sports activities. Therefore, sport in the modern tourism has not only a perceptual role, but it is also important contents of stay, and frequently the main motive for travelling to a certain tourist destination. In some cases the types of sports and sports services, and the unique experiences that are expected from sports activities directly affect the tourists when choosing a destination they will visit. The aim of this paper is to accentuate the connection between sport and tourism and to analyze the motives and profiles of participants in sports events. Based on years of experience working with top and amateur athletes as well as numerous interviews with the concerned, main sports tourism types will be mapped into the system of experiences schema, specific management tool that allows destination managers better management of experiences.