Evaluating the travel carbon footprint of outdoor sports tourists

Sporting events continue to be one of the most popular types of tourism today. With this, more attention in scholarly research needs to focus on carbon footprint in relation to how people transport themselves to events. This empirical paper is concerned with the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions of active sports tourists who travel to participate in outdoor events. More specifically, it aims to calculate the overall travel carbon footprint of trail runners and examine the factors that influence their travel carbon footprint. Surveys were conducted with running participants at the 100 Miles of Istria ultra-trail event held in Croatia. 21.2% of the event participants (209 of 988) completed the study. Multiple regression analysis is used to assess socio-economic and demographic data factors associated with individual travel carbon footprint. Trip distance, income and experience use history are positively associated while the number of participants in vehicle and age are negatively associated with participants' travel carbon footprint. Education, environmental consciousness, and gender did not affect participants’ travel carbon footprint. Findings imply strategies and initiatives for sporting event organizers and policymakers to encourage pro-environmental consumer behaviour and reduce CO₂ emissions.