Azores Trail Run® as a sustainable vehicle for promotion and local development

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the impact of the trail running event in the Azores territory and how it fits in sustainable development strategies and policies promoted by the regional Government. For the present study we used two surveys and an interview with the ATR coordinator during the 2018 edition of the Azores Trail Run ® - Triangle Adventure. One survey was sent by email for non-residents participants and the other was applied in person to residents of the Faial, Pico and São Jorge islands during the event, with the objective of evaluating their perception of the event and the impact of the ATR. In order to complement the information gathered through the two mentioned surveys, we conducted an interview with ATR director and general coordinator. This sport event follows the principles of local sustainable development defined by the Azores regional Government and promotes the Azores as an active tourism destination. These findings are very important for the ATR organization. However, it seems necessary to promote a study for all the ATR races to analyses the true impact of the event in the Azores.

Keywords

• Local sustainable development
• Sport tourism
• Trail Run
• Azores