Sport tourism and destination attractiveness: bridging gaps in research for emerging economies

While sport tourism holds immense potential for emerging economies, limited research explores factors influencing destination attractiveness in these contexts. This study addresses this gap by identifying and evaluating key drivers of sport tourism destination attractiveness (STDA) in emerging economies. We broke down the data analysis process into three steps. The first step was to conduct a literature review and use industry and academic experts' assistance to identify the critical factors- fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). We then utilized the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to evaluate the criteria and ascertain their relative significance. In the last step, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to deal with the importance and causal relationships among the criteria and to recognize the influential criteria of STDA. We identified 21 key factors related to the STDA in emerging economies. Having a grasp of these key factors can assist managers and decision-makers in optimizing resource allocation, devising targeted marketing strategies for different sport tourism segments, and improving the overall tourist experience in these destinations. This knowledge enables them to make well-informed decisions regarding developing and promoting their destinations, and ultimately stimulates economic growth.