The effects of development of sport tourism on the employment: A review of related research

The growth of the tourism sector and its contribution to national economic has fostered the general recognition of tourism as a major job generator. However, there is of yet little international consensus on the particularities of the relationship between tourism and employment. Sport tourism is a very significant element in world tourism, and has become a highly competitive niche tourism business. Many countries enjoy an appropriate status with respect to sport tourism and, accordingly, contribute directly to their nation’s economic prosperity. In this context, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of sport tourism on the employment in Iran by reviewing existing literatures. This paper examines and evaluates assumptions used by the economic study (emphasize on employment) in tourism and sport tourism context. According to the WTO, the tourism industry will witness a 4.1% rise by 2020 on annual basis. Similarly, from 1955 to 2020, there will be an annual 8.4%increase in the number of tourists travelling to Iran. Currently, tourism is regarded as the main economic component involved in creating job and employment worldwide. Iran, because of natural and artificial attractions and capabilities has great potential in the development of sports tourism and through sports tourism can benefit from tourism development, such as employment. The empirical findings indicate that sport tourism has a positive effect on employment. Thus Tourism offers the opportunity to get a job for unemployment prone groups such as youth, unskilled or low-skilled workers and women.