Effective Components in Sports Tourism Destination Marketing

Purpose: Destination marketing is crucial for the growth and sustainability of tourism destinations, ensuring their development in a competitive global market. This study aims to propose a model for marketing sports tourism destinations in Ardabil province.methodology: Since this research is used to solve existing problems based on its findings, this study is classified as applied research and considering its methodology, it can be characterized as a descriptive survey research. The Statistical population of this study consisted sport management experts, tourism managers and experts of cultural heritage & tourism departments, managers and experts of Sport & youth, tourism agencies managers and visitors of sport tourism destinations in Ardabil province. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire, that was used only after being confirmed of its validity and reliability (α:.۸۵۴). Data from ۲۴۹ questionnaires returned were analyzed by SPSS V.۲۶ software and Bartlett test, KMO index, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) were used.Findings: Data analysis utilized exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify key components. EFA revealed five key factors: "Information and advertising," "Tourist packages," "Motivational and encouraging strategies," "New marketing strategies," and "Destination endorsement," influencing tourist destination marketing. To enhance Ardabil province's sports tourism appeal and foster a positive destination marketing, stakeholders should implement findings from this research. Promoting these factors can attract more visitors to the province's sports tourism destinations

Keywords:

Sport Tourism , Tourism Destinations , Tourism Destination Marketing (TDM) , Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) , Destination image , Influencer Marketing.