Bridging the divide Framing an industry-academia collaborative research agenda for cycling sport tourism events

Purpose - In sport tourism, an undeniable recent participation trend is the gravitation of amateur athletes to participatory sport events, particularly cycling sport tourism events. This trend presents numerous policy, applied, and scholarly opportunities and challenges. Contemporary trends are identified to guide future research addressing cycling sport tourism events. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - This is a collaborative initiative between a major global sport event management organisation and established sport tourism scholars. Industry data are drawn upon to identify contemporary sport event participation trends and thus inform a future research agenda. Findings - This paper draws upon industry data and insights to tease out five emerging trends in the participatory sport event sector which scholars should engage with. Research limitations/implications - Due to the confidential nature of the company data, there were restrictions in the detail which could be reported. Practical implications - Increasing growth in premium quality, physically challenging cycling sport tourism events is analysed. A five-pronged future research agenda is proposed to address contemporary sport event management issues around measuring event impacts; strategic management of events; and leveraging globalisation and emerging markets. Originality/value - Based on trends identified in this paper, theoretical concepts are drawn upon to propose a timely, industry-relevant future research agenda into cycling sport tourism events.