The extreme end of travelling

Tourism and extreme sports appear to have little to do with each other, but researchers at The University of Queensland are hoping to change that.

Professor Don Getz from UQ’s School of Tourism is leading the charge in research to determine what serious athletes such as marathon runners and mountain bike riders demand when they travel to compete.

Professor Getz says athletes who travel long distances for "serious leisure" pursuits are very different from those who simply want a relaxing weekend on the beach or at a mountain resort.

His findings will be shared with tourism industry heads and researchers from around the world at the 9th ANZALS Biennial Conference at the Hilton Hotel from February 2-4, 2010.

Promoting to those people involved in serious leisure pursuits was a specialist field and required knowledge of the sports in which they competed, Professor Getz said.

"You have to manage events to satisfy the people most involved. It is something they take very seriously. It is not fun for the sake of fun," he said.

"People in that area have very specialist demands. Very little research has been done on them."

Mountain bike riders prepared to travel around the world to compete, for example, demanded high levels of professionalism from those involved in organising the events, Professor Getz said.

"They are willing to spend enormous amounts of time and money," he said.

"The number one thing for them is the challenge. They think about how they can challenge themselves. They try to stay healthy and fit.

"The people who put on the events know about the niche marketing and have to know how to cater to the specific groups.’’

Further research had to be done before information about serious leisure travel could be presented to individual tourist operators, Professor Getz said.

He also hopes to study the travel habits of people who travel great distances for events such as music festivals, dancing competitions, poker championships and fine food and wine festivals.

Professor Getz will speak at February’s conference about the connections between leisure studies and event studies, using his own and others' research to illustrate the important cross-overs.

Visit www.staff.vu.edu.au/anzalsconference

Media: Erik de Wit (0417 088 772)