The Meaning of Place in Sports Tourism: A Sense of Place Perspective
Chapter from the book:
Uluç,
E.
A.
(ed.)
2026.
New Generation Approaches in Sport 3.
Synopsis
Sports tourism requires that space be considered not merely as a physical area, but as a multi-layered structure shaped by experience, meaning, and social interaction. The sense of place is considered a fundamental concept expressing the totality of cognitive, emotional, and social relationships that an individual establishes with a destination.
The formation of the sense of place develops through participation in sporting events, spatial interaction, and post-experiential recall processes. The intense emotional environment created by sports organizations strengthens spatial memory and transforms the bond established with the destination into a continuous structure.
The globalization process transforms the structure of the sense of place, paving the way for the reproduction of local meanings within global flows. Digital representations influence spatial perception, contributing to the shaping of the sense of place through physical experience, visual content, and interaction processes.
In conclusion, within the scope of this section, it can be stated that the sense of place in sports tourism is a dynamic structure formed at the intersection of physical experience, social interaction, and digital representation processes. This structure points to a network of relationships that constantly reproduces the meaning of space.
