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Profiling the Typologies of Nature Sports Organizations in Portugal

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Sports Management as an Emerging Economic Activity

Abstract

Nature sports are an increasingly popular form of sports developed in natural or rural areas and have become a significant focus of the tourism and leisure industries around the world. This popularity has been creating an increased demand and, consequently, a diverse supply. However, few studies have investigated this sport tourism segment and even fewer have studied the organizations that have been developing these activities. This study identifies the typological diversity of Portuguese nature sports organizations (NSO). The study was conducted on mainland Portugal, and the data was collected by applying an online survey to a sample of NSO (n = 166). Five typologies of NSO were identified, based on their supply (the number and typology of nature sports activities), the type of organization (sport tourism companies, sports clubs and sport-recreation associations) and the organization of the activities (courses and/or participant training facilitated by technicians, training and competitions, challenges and events organization and others). Furthermore, the five typologies were characterized by their general profile (legal status, territorial scope of operation, age and size), supply (the main type of technicians’ training, services development and the main promotion and distribution channels), demand (number of participants per year, age, gender, geographical origin, experience level and frequency), perception of the repercussions of the impact of nature sports on sustainable local development and the NSO sustainable behaviour index. Statistical differences between the characteristics of each typology were analysed. Some implications for nature sports policies and management are also discussed.

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Funding

This publication was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) under the strategic project (UID/SOC/50012/2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Coimbra Education School, UNICID/ASSERT, IRNIST, Rua Dom João III – Solum, 3030-329, Coimbra, Portugal

    Ricardo Melo

  2. Centre for Social Studies/FCDEF-UC, Coimbra, Portugal

    Rui Machado-Gomes

Authors
  1. Ricardo Melo
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  2. Rui Machado-Gomes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ricardo Melo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain

    Marta Peris-Ortiz

  2. Faculty of Business, Finances and Tourism, University of Extremadura, Caceres, Spain

    José Álvarez-García

  3. Faculty of Business Administration and Tourism, Department of Business Organisation and Marketing, University of Vigo (Campus of Ourense), Ourense, Spain

    María de la Cruz Del Río-Rama

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Melo, R., Machado-Gomes, R. (2017). Profiling the Typologies of Nature Sports Organizations in Portugal. In: Peris-Ortiz, M., Álvarez-García, J., Del Río-Rama, M. (eds) Sports Management as an Emerging Economic Activity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63907-9_15

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