No abstract

Investments in elite sport and major sporting events are often justified in sport policy by various rationales, one of which is a 'trickle-down' effect whereby successful athletes have a positive impact on general sport participation rates. This effect is likely to be greater when hosting events, as home advantage can contribute to sporting success. The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of a trickle-down effect on sports club membership in the United Kingdom in the context of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Secondary data were collected on sports club membership levels in 33 sports, over a ten-year period, from 2007-2016 (n = 330). Sporting success was measured by the number of gold medals won in international competitions, the number of major sport events hosted in the UK, and the results of the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award (SPOTY). The outcomes of a dynamic panel regression analysis show a causal relationship between the trickle-down effect and sports club membership over a four-year period.

Research question: Can evidence of trickle-down-effects be observed among youth living in the hometowns of Canadian athletes that competed and/or won medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games?Research methods: Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) rates of male and female youth were extracted from the Canadian Community Health Survey (n > 1,000,000) for 110 health regions during the pre-Olympic (2009/2010), Olympic (2011/2012), and post-Olympic (2013/2014) year periods. The health regions were treated as panel units and, beyond Canadian athletes and medallists, the panel data analysis incorporated population size and previous Olympic hosting as control variables in the model. Results and Findings:The panel analysis revealed that the number of Canadian athletes representing youths' hometowns at the London 2012 Olympic Games was negatively associated with LTPA rates when considering the full sample of youth, and male youth in particular. Interestingly however, winning medals (of any colour) was positively associated with hometown LTPA rates among the full sample of youth and male youth. Hometown population size was negatively associated with LTPA rates for the full sample of youth and female youth specifically. Winning a gold medal and hosting previous Olympic/Paralympic Games were not significantly associated with hometown LTPA rates when considering the full sample of youth or male and female youth separately.Implications: Our study demonstrates a need for researchers and sport managers to consider the spatial reach and scope of trick-down-effects beyond that which can occur within a host nation. These effects have the potential to be a global phenomenon.

Tourism has been one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the side effects of the pandemic is the demand for safe and quiet spaces, giving rise to the search for a new lifestyle, “slow living”, which could represent an opportunity for cultural tourism. In this context, the main objective of this article is twofold: (i) to establish the relevance of cultural tourism for residents in Spain for the autonomous communities along the French Way of Saint James and (ii) to determine their behaviour on their institutional tourism promotion websites. For our analysis, we use equality of means tests and ANOVA (for data from 2002–2020), as well as measures of positioning, engagement, origin of the audience and access devices (for data from 2020–2021). The main conclusion is that the Way of St. James does not act as a driving force for cultural tourism, even though the websites of tourism promotion organisations have experienced a remarkable growth in their use. This article develops an original relation of cultural tourism through an analysis of the French Way of St. James in Spain and the web positioning of official tourism promotion organisations before and during COVID-19.

The study of the physical activity engagement (PA) has given rise to a relevant research agenda in a wide range of fields, such as its close relationship with subjective well-being, self-perceived health and social capital. Previous evidence has identified interrelationships among these variables, but without considering different levels of physical activity. We have thus considered three levels of activity: light (walking), moderate and vigorous. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is undertaken on data from Spain's National Health Survey in 2011-2012 to analyse these interrelationships. The SEM shows a simultaneous and bidirectional relationship between different levels of PA (moderate and vigorous activities) and happiness, with a more robust association stemming from happiness to PA than vice versa. This relationship is mediated through health. From a policy perspective, this implies a virtuous circle: involvement in different levels of PA increases happiness and self-perceived health, while happiness involves higher PA and subsequent positive increases in health and happiness. Nevertheless, this virtuous circle does not always run successfully when social capital is considered to mediate the relationship between PA and happiness, which might explain why it has proven to be very difficult for health policymakers to fight against inactivity and a sedentary lifestyle within a great part of the population. Highlights:. We investigate bidirectional interrelationships between different levels of physical activity (PA) and happiness. . We consider the mediation role played by self-perceived health (SPH) and social capital.. Our results highlight a network of association between different levels of PA, SPH, social capital and happiness. . SPH positively mediates this relationship for any type of PA level, whereas social capital only mediates positively when vigorous PA is developed. . From a health policy perspective, the simultaneity between PA levels and happiness implies a virtuous circle.