The Relationship Between Sport Tourism and Selected Dimensions of Urban Development

The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between sport tourism and selected dimensions of civil development from the experts and officials point of view, including: job creation, generateing income, decreasing poverty and investment in Tehran.
The research method was descriptive and survey. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. To approve the content validity of questionnaire, sport management professors’ views and to analyze the construct validity and classify the questions based on specific objectives of the study, exploratory factor analysis were used. The reliability of survey was confirmed by a pilot study and Chronbach's Alpha coefficient (r= 0.95). Statistical sample of the research was composed of 150 individuals: experts in tourism department of Cultural Heritage Organization, managers and other authorities who had participated in the Tehran sports’ event. The data were analyzed by factor analysis and inferential level methods and figured out by SPSS and LISREL softwares.
Results of confirmatory factor analysis showed significant relationships between sport tourism and variables: job creation, investment, and generating income and decreasing poverty. In spite of that all relations were significant, but the relationship between sport tourism and "generating income and decreasing poverty" was stronger.
The results indicated that meanwhile sports events being held in Tehran have short term and direct advantages, they can also have some long-term and indirect advantages for the city. Therefore by planning, the sport events are not considered solely as the factor of spending considerable expenses, but also can be a profit provider factor in different aspects of urban development.