THE RISE OF TRAIL RUNNING IN SOUTH AFRICA: POSSIBILITIES FOR SMALL-SCALE SPORTS TOURISM

Abstract

Between 2011 and 2016, South Africa witnessed a threefold increase in the number of official trail running events. Given South Africa’s historical love affair with ultra-long-distance road running, and with health and physical activity becoming increasingly important, such growth is not surprising. This growth reflects international sports trends, with trail running one of the fastest growing segments of this industry. It is argued here that trail running tourism has major growth potential in South Africa, as trail runners are prepared to travel to ‘destination’ race events. Such events can boost the local tourism economy, attracting domestic and international tourists. Locations in South Africa that have natural physical beauty, are scenic, remote or off the usual tourism track could leverage their physical assets to attract participants to ‘destination trail running events’. To that end, this study explores the local trail running market by firstly investigating some of South Africa’s iconic long-distance trail running events, and, secondly, profiling trail running tourists and investigating their spending behaviour. As research on the nature of active sports tourism and the characterisation of the South African market for iconic destination trail running events is limited, the study fills an important gap in the literature.

Keywords

• trail running
• south africa
• destination marketing
• sport tourism
• local economic development