Research on Urban Marathon Development Path from "Sports + Tourism" Perspective: A Case Study of China
Abstract
As the synergy between sports and tourism intensifies, urban marathon-related events have become a significant channel in terms of advancing tourism growth in the city and promoting urban brands. The booming dissemination of marathon events in China has created the fresh prospects of the coordinated growth of sports and tourism sector, as well as the question of sustainability, integration of the resources, and the off-season functioning of the events. This research is intended to address the formation processes of urban marathon events in the perspectives of the idea of Sports + Tourism by studying the development stage of the current urban marathons and detection of models of effective integration. The qualitative research design that was embraced was through literature review, policy analysis, and a series of case studies. Three symbolic marathon events in 2024, which included the Shanghai Marathon, the Qinhuangdao Marathon, and the Huanghai Forest Half Marathon were sampled out and compared through purposive sampling. The academic literature, official policy documents, and information related to events publicly available served as a source of secondary data. The results show that urban marathon activities in China have increased in impressive proportions and geographical reach with evident regional discrepancies in the reach of developments. More specifically, event positioning and local cultural embedding are the two factors, which differentiate success in tourism and make it attractive. The results have useful information to policy makers and event organizers who may want to facilitate sustainable and coordinated growth of urban marathon events.
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