Megatrends that Affect Sustainable Mobility Planning and Their Implications on Sports Tourism: The Case of the Authentic Marathon, Athens

摘要

The ongoing trends and future challenges faced by the increased mobility demand lead to the development of sustainability measures that would support greener, accessible and safer transport means. According to the World Tourism Organisation, Sports Tourism represents the fastest growing sector in global tourism contributing to a great extend to an increased need for sustainable mobility. Many destinations and host locations already possess the appropriate infrastructure for accessible and seamless mobility to enhance the tourists' experience and capitalize on this global opportunity. This paper aims to analyse the importance of sustainable mobility implementation on the development of sports' tourism sector integrating as a case study the Athens Marathon: The Authentic. Using the Delphi technique based on transport experts' opinions, the Megatrends affecting sustainable mobility are identified and prioritized. The prioritized Megatrends were assessed by the Athens Marathon key stakeholders using standardized open-ended exploratory interviews to investigate to what extend the sustainable mobility Megatrends relate and affect the transport planning for the successful implementation of the Marathon. Policy recommendations were put forward to pave the way to the application of a sustainable mobility system that will also correspond to the needs of this event.