Serious about leisure, serious about destinations: mountain bikers and destination attractiveness

Abstract

Despite the relevance of the concept of serious leisure to the study of certain types of sports participants, little is known about the relevance of the serious leisure framework to the study of destination preferences. This paper outlines the findings of a qualitative study of "serious" mountain bikers in New Zealand. Indepth interviews were used to determine the attractiveness of certain destinations to mountain bikers whose devotion to the sport conforms to the notion of serious leisure. Travel to tourism destinations helps mountains bikers pursue serious participation in mountain biking. Reciprocally, destinations are assessed by serious mountain bikers on the basis of their ability to advance participants' degree of seriousness. Therefore, this study suggests that the serious leisure framework can enhance understanding of destination preferences in sport tourism as well as provide management and marketing professionals with insight regarding destination development and promotional strategies. Implications for practitioners are discussed. This paper aims to make a scholarly contribution by exploring specific connections amongst serious leisure, sport tourist behaviour and destination preference. ARTICLE HISTORY

The Rise of Trail Running in South Africa: Possibilities for Small-Scale Sports Tourism

“…In this way, travel associated with sport has become a way to create personal identity and participate in authentic experiences (Moularde & Weaver, 2016). The greater the attachment to a particular sporting personal identity, the more likely th e individual is to undertake sports related travel, creating a virtuous economic and social circle.…”

From Serious Leisure to Cycling Tourism – The Case of Mountain Biking

“…Ustvari, članovi određenog društvenog kruga, osobe koje se bave ozbiljnom slobodnom aktivnošću postepeno sory stimulation (Elkington and Stebbins, 2014;Stebbins, 2007). Social changes that have occurred in recent decades, which affect work, consumerism, leisure and tourism habits (Henley Center, 2007), have created the 'new tourist', the sophisticated tourist who seeks a high-quality, informative, enjoyable, and exciting experience (Benckendorff, 2006;Moularde and Weaver, 2016;Stebbins, 2007).…”

“…Relevant studies have identifi ed various stages of one's involvement during the development process of a serious leisure activity (Benckendorff, 2006;Moularde and Weaver, 2016;Stebbins, 2007). Common to all is that the longer one perseveres, the higher one's level of expertise ascends, expressed by accumulated knowledge, frequency of participation, number of sites, type of equipment, quantity of equipment one owns, quantity of books and magazines one owns, fi nancial investment, and the distance one is willing to travel to participate.…”

“…From the social aspect, there is evidence of sociological changes at the level of the cyclist and cycling groups, including specialization processes to improve skills, refl ected by a dominant investment of time and money, and the joining of additional enthusiasts who are becoming addicted to the cycling trend (Green and Jones, 2005;Stebbins, 2007;Moularde and Weaver, 2016).…”

From Experience to Summit or Vice Versa? Netnography Study on a Virtual Community of Mountaineering

“…In this respect, mountaineering can be evaluated within the scope of serious leisure, since individuals take part in this activity regularly and consistently, and they are professionally improving themselves along with their knowledge and skills as a result of long-term efforts and work. For this reason, there are some distinctive characteristics of the participants of serious leisure in comparison with those of casual leisure [11,27].…”