SPORT AS A TOURIST ATTRACTION: THE CASE OF RUGBY IN NEW ZEALAND T.D. Hinch, University of Alberta J.E.S. Higham, University of Otago, New Zealand Despite evidence of increasing scholarly interest in the topic of sport tourism, work in this area has tended to be peripheral to the essence of sport. Typically, it concentrates on the economic impact of high profile sporting events or treats sport as the general context of tourism rather than the central focus. In contrast, this paper is positioned as a theoretical examination of sport as a central attraction within the tourism system. Leiper's (1990) model of tourist attractions is used as the theoretical basis for the discussion while examples from rugby union in New Zealand are used to illustrate, the argument that sport is a unique type of tourist attraction that merits further study by tourism researchers. Sport tourism is defined as sport motivated travel away from the home environment for a limited time where sport is characterized by unique rule sets, competition related to physical prowess, and a ludic or playful nature. From a supply side perspective, this motivation is manifest in the form of an attraction. In this article, insights about sport as a tourist attraction are based on Leiper's (1990) systems perspective, which builds on the earlier work of MacCannell (1976) and Gunn (1988). Under this approach, a tourist attraction is defined as a system comprising three elements: a tourist or human element, a nucleus or central element, and a marker or informative element. A tourist attraction comes into existence when the three elements are connected (Leiper, 1990, p. 371). There are many types of sport that could be examined within this attraction framework but rugby union competition was chosen because of its close association with place and national identity in New Zealand. In examining this national sporting passion, Macdonald (1996, p. 4) stated that for more that a hundred years rugby has provided many things, taking people to other places, small town to neighbouring small town, city to city, or finally to another country. Rugby has been the enemy of distance and separation (Macdonald, 1996, p. 4). Extra impetus has recently been added to the merit of studying rugby as a tourist attraction by the introduction of a professional league (Super 12) in 1995. This commodification of the rugby fits nicely with the commercial interests of tourism in New Zealand. Travelers & Tourists The first component of Leiper's (1990) attraction system is the human element. Like other types of tourists, sport tourists seek to satisfy a variety of needs and wants in their search for leisure away from home. Two characteristics of these sport tourists are particularly noteworthy. The first of these involves a conflict between the definition of visitors from a sport and a tourism perspective. For example, from a tourism perspective, spectators at an All Blacks test match in New Zealand who reside outside of city where the game was being played would normally be classified as a tourists. In the Bledisloe Cup (New Zealand versus Australia) test match held at Carisbrook, Dunedin in 1993, over 50% of the spectators came from outside of Dunedin (Higham, 1996). From a sport perspective, however, the majority of these spectators likely viewed the All Blacks as their home team regardless of where they came from in New Zealand. At a psychological level, the spectators may not have viewed themselves as tourists. A second distinguishing aspect of sport tourists is that they can be categorized into two major groups: spectators and players. One of the more interesting aspects of this division is the inverse relationship that exists between the size of each group as you shift from international competitions through to competitions between small communities. For example, as the national team, the All Blacks are comprised of only a handful of players who may be referred to as tourists when they tour foreign countries. In contrast, when defined from a tourism perspective, a very high proportion of spectators attending an All Black match in New Zealand can be classified as tourists.