IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jtourh/v6y2025i2p66-d1633933.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Combating Seasonality in Regional Tourism: A Call to Action Through Sport Events and Practitioner Insights

Author

Listed:
  • Sofia Gkarane

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Chris Vassiliadis

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Iordanis Kotzaivazoglou

    (Department of Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 62124 Serres, Greece)

  • Garyfallos Fragidis

    (Department of Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 62124 Serres, Greece)

  • Vasiliki Vrana

    (Department of Business Administration, International Hellenic University, 62124 Serres, Greece)

Abstract

Seasonality, a defining characteristic of tourism, is recognized as a significant challenge for regional tourism, affecting local economies and limiting sustainable development. Among the various strategies that the literature suggests to alleviate its negative effects, the organization of events stands out. In particular, sport events have gained recognition as an essential element for all-year round tourism development. However, a deeper understanding of how tourism practitioners (those experiencing the personal and financial difficulties of seasonality) perceive the potential of sport events to smooth its challenges has not yet been explored enough. This study aims to fill this gap by examining tourism practitioners’ views on the role of sport events, particularly running ones, in mitigating tourism seasonality. To achieve this, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with tourism practitioners from selected regions of Greece who, as active stakeholders, shared their perspectives in the development of regional tourism through the year round. The data gathered from these interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis. The results indicate that most of the respondents recognize seasonality as a significant challenge and they share a common concern regarding its adverse effects on both regional tourism and on their local businesses. Themes of survival and sustainability emerged consistently, emphasizing the need to implement various initiatives, aside from sport events, to mitigate its effects. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on seasonality, focusing on its economic and social implications, particularly from the perspective of tourism professionals. It also provides practical recommendations for destination managers on utilizing sport events as a tool for promoting tourism during off-season periods. Lastly, the findings highlight the need for localized and collaborative initiatives to address seasonality issues and support sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofia Gkarane & Chris Vassiliadis & Iordanis Kotzaivazoglou & Garyfallos Fragidis & Vasiliki Vrana, 2025. "Combating Seasonality in Regional Tourism: A Call to Action Through Sport Events and Practitioner Insights," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jtourh:v:6:y:2025:i:2:p:66-:d:1633933
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/6/2/66/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/6/2/66/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mercedes Jiménez-García & José Ruiz-Chico & Antonio Rafael Peña-Sánchez & José Antonio López-Sánchez, 2020. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Sports Tourism and Sustainability (2002–2019)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Stefano Duglio & Riccardo Beltramo, 2017. "Estimating the Economic Impacts of a Small-Scale Sport Tourism Event: The Case of the Italo-Swiss Mountain Trail CollonTrek," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Zhen Su & Ruyi Wen & Yanyu Zeng & Kai Ye & Tanaporn Khotphat, 2022. "The Influence of Seasonality on the Sustainability of Livelihoods of Households in Rural Tourism Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-25, August.
    4. Javier Campillo-Sánchez & Francisco José Borrego-Balsalobre & Arturo Díaz-Suárez & Vicente Morales-Baños, 2025. "Sports and Sustainable Development: A Systematic Review of Their Contribution to the SDGs and Public Health," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Ana Chersulich Tomino & Marko Perić & Nicholas Wise, 2020. "Assessing and Considering the Wider Impacts of Sport-Tourism Events: A Research Agenda Review of Sustainability and Strategic Planning Elements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valentin Herbold & Hannes Thees & Julian Philipp, 2020. "The Host Community and Its Role in Sports Tourism—Exploring an Emerging Research Field," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-26, December.
    2. Ine Hugaerts & Jeroen Scheerder & Kobe Helsen & Joris Corthouts & Erik Thibaut & Thomas Könecke, 2021. "Sustainability in Participatory Sports Events: The Development of a Research Instrument and Empirical Insights," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Barbara Mazza, 2023. "A Theoretical Model of Strategic Communication for the Sustainable Development of Sport Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Roberto Martín-González & Kamilla Swart & Ana-María Luque-Gil, 2021. "Tourism Competitiveness and Sustainability Indicators in the Context of Surf Tourism: The Case of Cape Town," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-22, June.
    5. Maria Morfoulaki & Glykeria Myrovali & Kornilia-Maria Kotoula & Thomas Karagiorgos & Kostas Alexandris, 2023. "Sport Tourism as Driving Force for Destinations’ Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Dusan Borovcanin & Ivan Cuk & Miha Lesjak & Emil Juvan, 2020. "The Importance of Sport Event on Hotel Performance for Restarting Tourism After COVID-19," Societies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-13, November.
    7. Isaac Taberner & Albert Juncà, 2021. "Small-Scale Sport Events as Place Branding Platforms: A Content Analysis of Osona’s Projected Destination Image through Event-Related Pictures on Instagram," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    8. Leslier Valenzuela-Fernández & Manuel Escobar-Farfán, 2022. "Zero-Waste Management and Sustainable Consumption: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Mapping Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-24, December.
    9. Estela Marine-Roig & Eva Martin-Fuentes & Natalia Daries-Ramon, 2017. "User-Generated Social Media Events in Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Marko Perić & Vanja Vitezić, 2019. "Socio-Economic Impacts of Event Failure: The Case of a Cancelled International Cycling Race," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-15, September.
    11. Weisheng Chiu & Thomas Chun Man Fan & Sang-Back Nam & Ping-Hung Sun, 2021. "Knowledge Mapping and Sustainable Development of eSports Research: A Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    12. Julius Uti Nchor, 2023. "Livelihood Strategies and Their Determinants among Informal Households in Calabar, Nigeria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    13. Dino Genovese & Francesca Culasso & Elisa Giacosa & Luca Maria Battaglini, 2017. "Can Livestock Farming and Tourism Coexist in Mountain Regions? A New Business Model for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-21, November.
    14. Chin-Cheng Yang & Chih-Chien Shen & Yu-Sheng Lin & Huai-Wei Lo & Jia-Zhi Wu, 2021. "Sustainable Sports Tourism Performance Assessment Using Grey-Based Hybrid Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-24, April.
    15. Mary-Ann Cooper & Raquel Camprubí & Erdogan Koc & Ralf Buckley, 2021. "Digital Destination Matching: Practices, Priorities and Predictions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-11, September.
    16. Mancini, Simona & Triki, Chefi & Piya, Sujan, 2022. "Optimal selection of touristic packages based on user preferences during sports mega-events," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(3), pages 819-830.
    17. Rocío González-Sánchez & Sara Alonso-Muñoz & María-Sonia Medina-Salgado & María Torrejón-Ramos, 2023. "Driving circular tourism pathways in the post-pandemic period: a research roadmap," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(3), pages 633-668, September.
    18. Marius-Ionuț Gordan & Elena Peț & Gabriela Popescu & Ioan Brad & Anda Ioana Milin & Tabita Cornelia Adamov & Ramona Ciolac & Anka Roxana Pascariu & Tiberiu Iancu, 2022. "Factors Influencing the Accommodation Prices of Romanian Rural Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    19. Christina Tölkes & Elias Butzmann, 2018. "Motivating Pro-Sustainable Behavior: The Potential of Green Events—A Case-Study from the Munich Streetlife Festival," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, October.
    20. Hyun-Duck Kim, 2017. "Images of Stakeholder Groups Based on Their Environmental Sustainability Linked CSR Projects: A Meta-Analytic Review of Korean Sport Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-9, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jtourh:v:6:y:2025:i:2:p:66-:d:1633933. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.