SPORT EVENT TOURISM ORGANIZATIONS AND RESILIENCE THEORY: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The growing sport event tourism sector generates substantial socioeconomic impacts for host destinations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted this industry, resulting in a dramatic decline in international tourist arrivals of 20–30% globally and the cancellation/postponement of sport tourism events. An emerging topic within organizational management theory is that of “resilience,” which relates to how organizations proactively adapt to and recover from disturbances in the system. This study therefore aimed to determine existing applications of resilience theory to the sport event tourism industry to assess its usefulness for these organizations as they seek to recover from COVID-19. This article focuses on the first stage of this study, reflecting the findings of a systematic literature review of articles relating to sport event tourism and organizational resilience (N = 164). A qualitative analysis revealed the lack of application of this theory to this sector. A deeper analysis revealed the unique industry challenges and opportunities relating to organizational resilience for sport event tourism in times of global crises. The study extends the conceptualization and application of resilience theory to the sport event tourism field of study. Drawing from this theory, it informs sport event tourism best practice in terms of preparedness for future crises and outlines an agenda for further research in this field.