Sports Tourism in the UAE - Thesis Example

Sports Tourism in the UAE: Implications for cultural acceptance and participation by women - Literature Review [Date] Sports have a major role in the development of tourism enhancing the efforts taken up by different countries. Every country intends to establish the events of sports their nation. This study focuses primarily on the role of sports in the tourism of the UAE and the participation of women in the different activities of sports thereby having an understanding on the acceptance of the sports culture in the UAE. Increasing Participation of Women in Sports: According to Houlihan (2008) the media channels in Arab countries are reflecting more and more number of upcoming sports channels that are struggling to broadcast their shows at the local, regional, national as well as international levels. It has been found to be a greater interest regarding the increasing participation of women in the sports events. Women are taking part in different kinds of sport that include athletics and other sports suitable for them. Women are more and more moving on the path of their dreams and fulfilling them. In the process, the sports activities of the country have also gained significant importance and attention over the years. Now the media is willing to consider the promotion of country’s sports related activities and their talents and their capabilities of hosting big sporting events in their country. Even Muslim countries are gradually moving out of their traditional cultural beliefs and supporting the participations of women in sports. As studies reflect by him Turkey has been known to take the initiative of allowing women of their country to take part in sports and send them to the Olympics. Women also proved themselves by winning medals and announced the arrival of a modern sport to have in the nation (Houlihan, 2008, pp.543-544). According to a different era of writers which includes Darraj and Goldschmidt (2008) they presented the view that the main intention has become improving the lives of such women who possess talents but are unable to present them owing to the lack of support from the population of the nation (Darraj, Goldschmidt & Puller, 2008, p.58). According to Preuss and Liese (2011) the participation of women in sports has been found to be a meter to learn the level of development and conservatism among the Muslim population and how much the participations of the women in sports are acceptable in the society (Preuss & Liese, 2011, p.48). Thus the different studies reflect that the UAE has improved in its state of acceptance of women participation in sports and other activities that has allowed the country to have more number of participants in the sports events. The culture had a great implication on the limitations declared for women in the earlier times. However, gradually with time and the women being educated and competent in the modern times, the society has also started supporting the capabilities of the women in their country and they are now allowed to take part in all kinds of sports that occurs at the national as well as the international levels. Also, more and more women are forming committees to initiate their organized ways of performances and doing more to that enhances the role of the country in the sports events. This also helps in reaching out to the global population as a country capable of hosting big sports events as well as taking part in them. In the earlier times, the lives of women could be associated with tribal people thus women being involved in agricultural, fishing and other similar activities. However a study conducted by Benn (2009) focuses in the fact that in the present days, the lives of women seem to have changed a lot and more women are taking parts in events like sports as well in the country (Benn, 2009, p.213). A study conducted by Gibson (1998) regarding the participation of population in active sport tourism conducted in US reflects the fact, that considerable number of both male and female takes active participation in the sport tourism, but men outnumber the females. Results showed the fact that age group ranged from 25-34 and they are affluent in nature. His results also showed that more amount of participation is achieved from the educated mass of people. Active participation in sport tourism by both sections of gender is appreciated and this degree of involvement should spread in to other countries for the overall benefit to be realized from them. However the limitation regarding his study was that it did not adopted a critical approach in the study of this domain. (Gibson, 1998, pp.156-160) Studies of Wilson (2008) present the importance of participating in sports events both for males and females. Such events are expected to provide the participants to increase their level of risk taking capabilities thus leading to development of skills and talents and prove to present themselves to the world with high self-esteems. According to Weiss and Petlichkoff, women generally take part in sports to make themselves fit and enjoy the events for fun. However, society also presents several challenges for women’s participation in sports with several restrictions that they pose on the women participants. His research aimed to highlight the social experience of black female athletes in their participation of academics and athletes. His research however had limitation in his method adopted as he conducted the research in a small portion of the area. Limitations also crept up in the sample size chosen for the research as it was conducted only among 14 participants (Wilson, 2008, pp.10-20). Role of sports on tourism: The definition of sports tourism was framed by Hudson (2003) in his research regarding sport and adventure tourism. According to him the term signifies traveling away to a foreign location to take part or be an audience of any sporting event. His study reflects the fact that tourist coming to a different location in relation to a sporting event can be classified under two different heads. One section of them attributes to those taking part in the event while the other comprises of the viewers of the event. Major sporting events round the corner of globe have also turned out to become major tourist destination and create opportunities of long lasting benefits for the host nation. He recommends that a rich supply side in the sport tourism can reap a lot of benefits to the host nation. (Hudson, 2003, p.3) According to Zauhar, (2004), the impact of sports on the various countries and the historical impact the sports have on those countries. The author used textbooks, documentaries and websites to determine the relationship between sports and tourism in different periods and phases of history. His studies reflect that sports was not popular in the early ages as a mode of tourism as the sports in ages back were not so globalized and it was confined within an region. The author carried a detail analysis of countries like Greece, Egypt, Persia and Rome and their sports and culture. His study reflects the fact in Islamic countries and in the beginning of Islamic civilization the activity of sports was secondary and people concentrated on trade and commerce. However the presence of visitors was evident and they did take interest in different types of sports activities carried out and it also helped them to promote the event. He also concluded that in the last decade and half, the domain of sports and tourism has merged with each other and has guided for each other’s development. (Zauhar, 2004, p.53) The research work carried out by Homafar, Honari and Heidary (2011) took the help of descriptive and analytical concepts in researching the role play of sports tourism. They conducted a research based on a set of likert scale on a sample of people in Iran and found out the effectiveness of sports tourism on the economy of the country. The result was significantly in favor that the sports tourism has a major part to play in the economy of a country and contributes in the prosperity of a nation. They also recommended that improvement in infrastructure should be made to support such activities and integration of the both sectors should be followed to produce better results. (Homafar, et al, 2011, pp.34-36) A research carried out in Les Vegas by Brown, Busser and Baloglu (n .d) was done to find out the impact of gaming and non gaming impact on the visitors of Las Vegas during a period of 1997 to 2006. The sample of the research comprised of the visitors who attended one out of the 35 major sporting events. The views were taken in the form of questionnaire. The analysis of the data evolving from the questionnaire were done using descriptive statistics and with the help of multiple regression. The results reflected by them revealed that multisport festivals is successful in drawing a huge number of visitors and has become one of the niche markets in the economy. The research carried out had some limitations. The mode of research undertaken was exploratory in nature and there was some data loss and the data set contained limited number of event years. (Brown, Busser and Baloglu, n. d, pp.59-66) A case study on the Torino 2006 Olympic Games conducted by Dansero and Puttilli (2010) analyzed and examined the effect of mega events on the host nations and their impact on tourism. It came out with results that in view of the occurrence of such a mega event by the country there is an overall transformation of the total societal and the economic condition and a localization of the whole event is experienced. An amendment is made in the structure of tourist services. The researches held the idea that such global events helps to make a place popular and it benefits the host country significantly (Dansero & Puttilli, 2010, pp.321-341). According to Andrew Smith (2010) his case study highlights the fact that the constructions of Sports city zone in the urban areas of the country helps to add value to the tourism in the area Even Arabic countries like U.A .E have developed the Dubai sports city which has grabbed the attention of many any has emerged as a possible bidder for the Olympic games to be staged in the year 2020. The study also evaluated the potentiality of tourism in the sports city zones and came out with optimistic results. He recommended that use of themed resource will be helpful in promoting tourism in an area. Smith carried out a comparative analysis of the four major sports cities to reach his conclusion. (Smith, 2010, pp.385-388) Thomas Hinch (2006) carried out an investigation on the impact of sports on the culture of Canada. His research also signified the level of influence the Canadian sports had on the overall progress of the country and also on tourism. His studies reflect that sports and culture are inherently linked with each other in case of Canada, and sports have a major influence in setting up Canada’s national identity. Tourism industry in Canada has been benefited by the growth and popularity in sports. Sports have eventually helped in the commoditization of tourism in Canada. In his paper he also concluded that sports will play an important part in the tourism industry in Canada and efforts should be made to create a mutual understanding and a platform for promoting Canada in overall.(Hinch, 2006, pp.15-16). In UAE special attention needs to be plotted in the tourism sector as it is one of the prime areas. Definitely sports can come to the promotion of its cause. In a research carried out by Amaize, Mady & Benson (2011), figures reflect that the tourism sector predicted a 6-10% growth in the year 2008. (Amaize, Mady & Benson, 2011, p.97). According to Weed and Weed (2007) in the modern times, the drastic changes in the economy of the world also tend to cause changes in the sports activities impacting the location and destinations of sports facilities. Tourism seems to present different hierarchy in their structure of presentation, where certain sports have attractions for people at a local level, other might reach out to the masses nationally and internationally (Weed & Weed, 2007). While carrying out the literature review in the section the importance of sports on tourism has been highlighted and the major limitation or research gap is the unavailability of proper source in study in the UAE context. References 1. Amaize, O, Mady, T & Benson, E (2011), the Need for Academic Programs in Tourism, Arts & Culture, Sports, and Healthcare Management in the UAE, World Journal of Management 3(1), retrieved on October 19, 2011 from: http://wbiaus.org/8.%20Ode%20Amaize%20(NEW).pdf 2. Benn, T. (2009).Muslim women and sport, London: Taylor & Francis 3. Brown, C, Busser, J, A & Baloglu, S, (2010), Sport Tourists in a Gaming Destination, retrieved on October 19, 2011 from: http://pc.parnu.ee/~htooman/EuroChrie/Welcome%20to%20EuroCHRIE%20Dubai%202008/papers/SPORT%20TOURISTS%20IN%20A%20GAMING%20DESTINATION%20PREDICTING%20GAMING%20AND%20NONGAMING.pdf 4. Dansero, E & Puttili, M (2010), Mega-events tourism legacies: the case of the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games – a territorialisation approach, Leisure Studies 29(3), retrieved on October 19, 2011 from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2580a6de-21f0-421f-8541-b59aa29d3269%40sessionmgr10&vid=7&hid=10 5. Darraj, S.M., Goldschmidt, A. & M. Puller (2008), United Arab Emirates, New York: Infobase Publishing 6. Gibson, H, J, (1998), Active sport tourism: who participates? SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY 17(2), retrieved on October 19, 2011 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&hid=17&sid=82ea07d0-7ab1-41d0-976b-9e8682a6e11e%40sessionmgr104 7. Hinch, T, D, (2006), Canadian Sport and Culture in the Tourism Marketplace, Tourism Geographies 8(1), retrieved on October 19, 2011 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&hid=122&sid=82ea07d0-7ab1-41d0-976b-9e8682a6e11e%40sessionmgr104 8. Homafar, F, et al, (2011), The role of sport tourism in employment, income and economic development, Journal of Hospitality Management and Tourism 2(3), retrieved on October 19, 2011 from: http://www.academicjournals.org/JHMT/PDF/Pdf2011/May/Homafar%20et%20al.pdf 9. Houlihaan, B. (2008). Sport and society, London: SAGE 10. Hudson, S, Sport and adventure tourism, London Routledge, 2003 11. Jarvie, G. (2006). Sport, culture and society: an introduction, London: Routledge 12. Preuss, H & K. Liesse (2011). Internationalism in the Olympic Movement Idea and Reality between Nations, Cultures, and People, New York: Springer 13. Smith, A, (2010), The Development of “Sports-City” Zones and Their Potential Value as Tourism Resources for Urban Areas, European Planning Studies 18(3), retrieved on October 19, 2011 from:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=10&sid=0851f52f-3154-4ab8-9b25-ea012d17f5b8%40sessionmgr13 14. Weed, M.E & M. Weed. Sport & tourism, New York: Taylor & Francis 15. Wilson, T.M. (2008). Women who endure: A grounded theory study of Black female former student-athletes, Michigan: ProQuest 16. Zauhar, J, (2004), Historical perspectives of sports tourism, Journal of Sport Tourism 9(1), retrieved on October 19, 2011 from http://www.sportalliance.com/Images/Resource%20Documents/Sport%20Tourism%20Articles/Historical%20Perspectives%20of%20Sport%20Tourism.pdf Read More