Sport tourism as a local economic development enhancer for emerging destinations

Abstract: This paper explores sport tourism and its contribution to local economic development in an emerging destination context. Sport tourism events have been earmarked as having the ability to spotlight previously neglected and underdeveloped destinations. Resultantly, countries in Africa have recognised the potential of sport tourism to stimulate LED. Using a mixed-method research design, the study collected 670 surveys with sport event attendees at four distinct events in Cameroon. In addition, key informant interviews were conducted with officials in the domain of tourism and sport. Data reveal that, by and large, sport tourism contributes significantly to LED and plays an important role in the promotion of the region. The study provides critical lessons for the local government and relevant authorities in tourism and sport regarding policy formulation and planning around sport tourism events. Particularly, the need for local authorities to leverage sport tourism events further for the broadening of community benefits exists