Profiling sport tourists: The case of Super 12 Rugby Union in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia

The concept of sport related tourismhas become more prominent in the last fewyears as both an academic field of study and an increasingly popular tourism product (Gibson, 1998). Sport tourism includes travel to participate in a passive (e.g. sports events and museums) or active sport holiday (e.g. scuba diving and cycling), and itmay involve instances where sport or tourism itself is the dominant activity or reason for travel. However, little research has been undertaken to examine the profile of sport touristmarket segments in an attemptto understandthese segments andtheir potential as tourism markets. This paper will examine one such attempt to profile sport tourist spectators through surveying sport tourists attending Super 12 Rugby Union matches at Bruce Stadium, Canberra in April/May 2000. The paper discusses the preliminary results of this exploratory study, and examines the sporting behaviour and travel behaviour of spectators. The paper will then discuss differences between spectator characteristicswith an emphasis on examining high yield segments based on sport and travelbehaviour, andwill conclude witha discussionof future researchpossibilities