Sport Tourism Centres from Top Athletes’ Perspective: Differences among Sport Groups

Background: Sport tourism plays an important role in the tourism industry and consequently in the economy. Sport tourism centres as providers of sport services need to be familiar with the basic needs of their customers and tailor their services accordingly. Objectives: The aim of the paper is to determine the models for customizing sport tourism services to address the needs specific for an individual sport. Methods/Approach: A questionnaire has been created and sent electronically or physically to top athletes from Slovenia, Central and Eastern Europe. Respondents were mainly from Slovenia and mostly representatives of national sports federations. The Mann Whitney and the Kruskall-Wallis tests were applied in order to test differences among sport groups. Results: The conducted Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests show that representatives of different sport groups have different perspectives on sport tourism services. Conclusions: The results of the study can be used by sport tourism centres in the process of tailoring their services, planning marketing activities or developing strategic projects