Maximizing the potential of river sports to boost sustainable tourism development: identification of the determinants of tourist consumption associated with river sports

Abstract

Tourism has important economic impacts, but these are concentrated particularly on areas such as the coast. River sports such as kayaking and canoeing, in addition to having very low negative environmental impacts, can extend positive economic impacts to geographical areas beyond the coastlines. Understanding the factors that influence expenditures on river sports is critical to maximize the economic impacts of these sports as well as their potential to boost sustainable tourism development. Despite the growing research on sports tourism consumption and its determinants, it mainly focuses on sport events and certain sports. No study was found on the factors that influence tourism consumption in river sports. The aim of this paper is to analyse the consumption patterns of visitors related to river sports and the factors that determine this consumption. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Portugal, which permitted the conclusion that the surveyed river sports practitioners tend to spend more on accommodation, catering and retail and that the factors that positively influence consumption are, above all, income and some characteristics of the trip. The paper ends with conclusions and implications for tourism sector agents.