The potential of CrossFit in sport tourism

CrossFit is widely understood as a training method based on varied high-intensity interval training which consists of functional workouts, a combination of Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics and body weight movements. The focus is on functional movements which include any type of fitness exercises, cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy. The key aspect of CrossFit training is the so called Workout of the Day (WOD). One of the main objectives of this article is to determine participants’ motives, involvement in the sport, event- related travel, as well as destination and event preferences. Nowadays, sport is one of the biggest industries in the world (Taleghani & Ghafary, 2014). People around the world are involved in sport and it is an important activity in tourism industry. Modern sport tourism can be defined as a unique interaction of activity, people and place (Weed & Bull, 2009, adopted from Huggins, 2013). The main types of sports tourism are those with sports content, sports participation tourism, sports training and sporting events (Gozalova et al., 2014). Sport and tourism are joined industries in which “active sport tourism” has an increasingly more important role. “Active sport tourist” has been first described by Gibson (1998, adapted from Getz, D. & McConnell, A., 2011) and it can be said that an “active sport tourist” is a tourist whose main purpose is to participate in a sporting event. This paper used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative research was conducted through in-depth interviews with CrossFit box owners and trainers in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The quantitative element was also obtained through CrossFit clients in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sample size includes 102 respondents which are regularly practicing CrossFit. Likert’s five scale was used, which was adjusted from article Getz, D. & McConnell, A. (2011). Serious Sport Tourism and Event Travel Careers, Journal of Sport Management, 25 326-338, pp. 326-337. The analysis revealed that the most important elements which would encourage respondents to participate in a contest are connected to self- challenge, improvement of athletic ability, spending time with friends, travelling to a certain city or area, doing something unusual, having fun, doing it for the thrill, raising money for charity and meeting new people. It is interesting that the majority of respondents think that they would be bored without CrossFit. For the same number of respondents competing is a particularly pleasurable experience. Regarding the question how respondents choose a CrossFit competition in which to participate, it is interesting to notice that prize money is unimportant. On the other hand, the important elements for competition participation are that their friends are also attending, the fun atmosphere at the event and that everything they need to know is available on a user-friendly website.