Sport and Tourism Research: A Geographic Approach

This article responds to recent criticism of research serving the field of sport and tourism (Weed, 2005a, 2005b). It adopts a geographical perspective to highlight the unique research questions and directions that emerge in the study of sport and tourism within this particular field of the social sciences. The geographic concepts of space, place, and environment are reviewed and applied to the study of sport and tourism. Drawing upon these key concepts, a number of research directions are highlighted and discussed. It is argued that these research directions, among others, should be systematically addressed by researchers so as to build coherent bodies of knowledge. Consideration is also given to methodological approaches that might be applied to effectively advance this area of research in sport and tourism.