Revista de Educación,

Motricidad e Investigación

Validation of a scale on the perceptions of the

socioeconomic impact of nature sports tourism

Validación de una escala sobre las percepciones del impacto

socioeconómico del turismo deportivo de naturaleza

Jorge Rojo-Ramos

Physical Activity for Education, Performance and Health (PAEPH), Facultad de Ciencias del

Deporte, Universidad de Extremadura, 10003, Cáceres, España

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6542-7828

Santiago Gómez-Paniagua

BioẼrgon Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte, Universidad de Extremadura,

10003, Cáceres, España

sgomezpa@alumnos.unex.es

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1623-0316

Juan Carlos Guevara-Pérez

Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1215-7916

Jesús Morenas-Martín

Motor Control Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte, Universidad de

Extremadura, Cáceres, España.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0814-0636

VOL. 22 (2024)

ISSN 2341-1473 pp. 1-17

https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.vi22.7745

Abstract:

The impact that tourists have on the destination com-

munity modiﬁes their behavior and can be a key factor

guiding both their perceptions and their intention to

revisit the destination. However, the perceptions of tou-

rists have been little analyzed in the scientiﬁc literature.

The objective of this study is to explore the psychome-

tric properties and validity of a questionnaire aimed at

assessing tourists’ perceptions of the socioeconomic im-

pact of sports activities in the natural environment. The

sample consisted of 1184 sports tourists who traveled to

the Valle del Jerte (Extremadura, Spain). Both an explo-

ratory factor analysis and a conﬁrmatory factor analysis

were carried out, as well as an analysis of the reliability of

the instrument. The results showed a ﬁnal structure of 8

items divided into two factors with satisfactory reliability

values and indicators of the goodness of ﬁt. Therefore,

this research provides a quick, free and easy-to-use tool

to assess the perceptions of sports tourists about the

socio-economic impact generated by the activities they

practice.

Keywords:

Instrument; economic impact; active tourism; nature;

psychometric properties

Fecha de recepción: 17 de mayo de 2023

Resumen:

El impacto que los turistas tienen en la comunidad del

destino modiﬁca su comportamiento y puede ser un

factor clave que guíe tanto sus percepciones como su

intención de volver a visitar el destino. Sin embargo, las

percepciones de los turistas han sido poco analizadas en

la literatura cientíﬁca. El objetivo de este estudio es ex-

plorar las propiedades psicométricas y la validez de un

cuestionario destinado a evaluar las percepciones de los

turistas sobre el impacto socioeconómico de las activi-

dades deportivas en el medio natural. La muestra estuvo

formada por 1184 turistas deportivos que viajaron al Va-

lle del Jerte (Extremadura, España). Se realizó un análisis

factorial exploratorio y un análisis factorial conﬁrmatorio,

así como un análisis de ﬁabilidad del instrumento. Los

resultados mostraron una estructura ﬁnal de 8 ítems divi-

didos en dos factores con satisfactorios valores de ﬁabi-

lidad e indicadores de la bondad del ajuste. Por lo tanto,

esta investigación proporciona una herramienta rápida,

gratuita y fácil de usar para evaluar las percepciones de

los turistas deportivos sobre el impacto socioeconómico

generado por las actividades que practican.

Palabras claves:

Instrumento; impacto económico; turismo activo; natura-

leza; propiedades psicométricas

Fecha de aceptación: 18 de marzo de 2024

Validation of a scale on the perceptions of

the socioeconomic impact of nature sports

tourism

Validación de una escala sobre las percepciones

del impacto socioeconómico del turismo

deportivo de naturaleza

Jorge Rojo-Ramos

Physical Activity for Education, Performance and Health (PAEPH),

Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte, Universidad de Extremadura,

10003, Cáceres, España

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6542-7828

Santiago Gómez-Paniagua

BioẼrgon Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte,

Universidad de Extremadura, 10003, Cáceres, España

sgomezpa@alumnos.unex.es

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1623-0316

Juan Carlos Guevara-Pérez

Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, 50005

Zaragoza, Spain

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1215-7916

Jesús Morenas-Martín

Motor Control Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte,

Universidad de Extremadura, Cáceres, España.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0814-0636

https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.vi22.7745

[ 3 ]

Introduction Interest in nature activities like skiing, rock climbing or kayaking has progressively grown over the

past 20 years (Brymer & Schweitzer, 2017). Despite the decline or stagnation in participation in many

traditional organized sports, a larger variety of nature-based sports have seen increased appeal

(Melo & Gomes, 2017a). In addition, cities are becoming epicenters for chronic, non-communicable

physical and mental health disorders, making urbanization one of the most signiﬁcant global health

issues of the twenty-ﬁrst century (Dye, 2008), making these types of activities even more important.

However, although parks, forests, and beaches have been directly linked to health promotion for

decades (Thompson, 2011), their beneﬁts and ability to promote regular outdoor physical activity

has only recently, and systematically, been studied (Hunter etal., 2015). In this line, natural environ-

ments have been related to both better physical health (self-perceived health, longevity or cardio-

vascular disease) (de Vries etal., 2013; White etal., 2013) and better mental health (psychological

well-being, anxiety or depression) (Beyer etal., 2014; Richardson etal., 2013). Also, natural settings

present chances for casual or incidental physical activity among those who are reluctant to engage

in organized sports or gym-related activities due to a lack of time, money, or conﬁdence (Withall

etal., 2011).

The term “nature sports” refers to a category of sports that are developed and practiced in natural or

rural environments, with formal and unofﬁcial rules, that can support local sustainability, and that can

be practiced in the air, land or water (Melo & Gomes, 2017b). Likewise, both natural environments

and nature sports are components of tourism since most of these activities take place in places

far from the participants’ homes, requiring travel and tourism to natural and/or rural areas (Hall &

Page, 2014). Sport tourism can be deﬁned as leisure-based travel that takes individuals temporarily

outside of their home communities to participate in physical activities, to watch physical activities,

or to venerate attractions associated with physical activities (Gibson, 1998). The growing attention

that the tourism and sports industries are giving the sport tourism sector, and nature sports in par-

ticular, is evidence of its signiﬁcance, as is the development of a variety of academic works (Gibson,

2017), which show an extensive and signiﬁcant area of shared interest between sports management

and tourism development (Jiménez-García etal., 2020). In this sense, the market for nature-based

tourism, which includes both soft (like trekking) and hard nature sports (like kayaking), is frequently

touted as the tourism industry’s fastest-growing sector, with an increase of between 10% and 30%

every year (Marques etal., 2010), generating a great economic impact on tourist destinations (Melo

etal., 2020).

Conversely, on order to better understand how tourism may be most advantageous for all parties

involved, tourism research has paid a lot of attention to how locals view tourist affects and support

tourism development within a place (Su etal., 2018). However, the scientiﬁc literature has not fo-

cused on how tourists think about the impact their activity has on the destination (Joo etal., 2019),

although some initial research has shown that tourists may become emotionally attached to (Cardi-

nale etal., 2016) or identify with the destination (Su & Swanson, 2017). Therefore, tourist behavior

and travel patterns in the tourism industry are functions of perceptions (Font & Hindley, 2017), which

can be deﬁned as a person’s ability to select, arrange, and interpret stimuli into a meaningful and

cogent knowledge of the world (Schiffman y Kanuk, 2004). In this line, to engage visitors in the exe-

cution of management solutions and so help avoid and possibly prevent undesirable effects, current

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[ 4 ]

thinking suggests that a deeper understanding of how visitors view their own impact be pursued

(Diamantopoulou & Voudouris, 2008). For example, Cheung and Jim (2013) analyzed the preferenc-

es and perceptions held by visitors to various areas of Hong Kong, ﬁnding that the selection of ecot-

ourism products was characterized by good quality information and low ecological impact. Also, Su

and Swanson (2017) conﬁrmed that visitors are less likely to return if they observe mostly negative

effects of tourism at the site, as visitors’ attitudes and perceptions guide their behavior. Hence, tour-

ism administrators shouldn’t ignore the possibility that visitors may have their own opinions about

how tourism affects a particular location (Kaplanidou etal., 2012).

Another issue that has generated controversy among experts in the ﬁeld is the validity and reliability

of the different scales used to analyze tourists’ perception of the impact of their activity on the desti-

nation community. Most studies have focused on analyzing models in order to obtain how different

psychosocial aspects inﬂuence others (Fan etal., 2012; Ranjbarian & Pool, 2015) or focus on different

tools that assess the perceptions held in relation to risk or safety issues (Bird, 2009; Fuchs & Reichel,

2006), which have little to do with the impact of tourism. However, according to the authors’ knowl-

edge, there are no validated scales to evaluate the perceptions of tourists about the socioeconomic

impact of their activity in the destination area. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the psy-

chometric properties as well as validity and reliability issues of a questionnaire oriented to measure

visitors’ perceptions of their socioeconomic impact on the destination community, in tourists who

traveled to an area of Extremadura (Spain) to carry out sports activities in the natural environment.

The sample consisted of 1184 tourists who visited the Valle del Jerte (Extremadura) for sports activ-

ities in the natural environment. The sociodemographic details of the participants, all of whom were

chosen using a convenience sampling method, are shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Sample characterization

Variables Categories N %

Gender Male 554 46.8

Female 630 53.2

Age

Under 20 2 0.2

Between 20 and 29 359 30.3

Between 30 and 39 509 43.0

Between 40 and 49 255 21.5

Over 50 59 5.0

Nationality Spanish 1167 98.6

Foreign 17 1.4

Methods

Participants

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Variables Categories N %

Nature Activities

Hiking 87 7.3

Canyoning 379 32.0

Kayaking 124 10.5

Stand Up Paddle 77 6.5

Caving 90 7.6

Rafting 91 7.7

4x4 Routes 124 10.5

Horseback Riding 97 8.2

Others 108 9.1

Ethical concerns

The use of these data did not require approval from an accredited ethics committee, as they are

not covered by data protection principles, i.e., they are non-identiﬁable, anonymous data collected

through an anonymous survey for teachers. In addition, based on Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the

European Parliament and of the Council on 27 April 2016 on the protection of individuals concern-

ing the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (which entered into

force on 25 May 2016 and has been compulsory since 25 May 2018), data protection principles do

not need to be applied to anonymous information (i.e., information related to an identiﬁable natural

person, nor to data of a subject that is not, or is no longer, identiﬁable). Consequently, the Regulation

does not affect the processing of our information. Even for statistical or research purposes, its use

does not require the approval of an accredited ethics committee.

Initially, a questionnaire was provided that analyzed different sociodemographic variables such as

gender, age, nationality and nature activities practiced during the trip.

Later, a questionnaire composed of nine items was administered to assess the perceptions of tour-

ists on the socio-economic impact of nature activities in the Valle del Jerte, being based on a Likert

scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). This questionnaire was initially developed by

Ramírez-Hurtado et al. (2007) as two different 10-point Likert scales to evaluate, on the one hand, the

induced economic effects (IEE) (5 items) and, on the other hand, the external effects (EE) (6 items),

which are related to the development of sports activities or events as a beneﬁt for a social environ-

ment. According to these authors, they deﬁne the induced economic effects as the positive impact

produced by new investments in infrastructure and tourism revenues. Also, External effects are ben-

eﬁts that are not channeled through the market, which are generally passed on to the residents of

the locality organizing the event. Later, Jiménez-Naranjo et al. (2017) adapted and reduced these

scales in terms of score (5-point Likert scale) and length (9 items in total), eliminating very general

items, to parameterize the socioeconomic impact of one of the largest international sporting events

(World Paddle Tour) at the time of its celebration in Extremadura. The 9 items that make up the

Instruments

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questionnaire are listed below: 1) “Increased recognition and promotion of the destination” (EE);

2) “It represents an element of pride and satisfaction” (EE); 3) “Generates a trafﬁc and safety prob-

lem” (EE); 4) “Disrupts the usual rhythm and impairs other activities” (EE); 5) “Number of overnight

stays increases” (IEE); 6) “Employment increases” (IEE); 7) “It entails economic losses because the

investment is greater than the beneﬁts obtained” (IEE); 8) “Economic advantages are concentrated

in the hands of a few companies and individuals” (IEE); and 9) “Public spending is necessary for the

development of this type of sports” (IEE). Finally, the items that evaluated the socioeconomic impact

negatively were reversed to analyze the domain in the same way. Likewise, no modiﬁcations or ad-

aptations were made despite changing the context (from paddle tennis to nature tourism) since the

scale analyzes beneﬁts associated with the development of sports activities or events.

Active tourism businesses in the Valle del Jerte (Extremadura, Spain) were asked to collaborate in

order to access the sample. A member of the research team visited those who consented to partic-

ipate in the study to explain the process and method of sample selection. The method devised was

as follows: each group of participants who had engaged in outdoor sports activities with the partic-

ipating businesses and who opted to work on the project would take part in a drawing for a piece

of paper from a drum. After accepting the informed consent, the user whose paper had an X put

on it was requested to participate in the survey. Then, they were provided with a QR code to access

the survey, which they had to scan with their mobile device to go immediately to a Google Forms

tool-created form. For their participation in the study, the SOPRODEVAJE Rural Development Group

donated a reusable metal bottle for each group member. All information was gathered and handled

anonymously. The form was ﬁlled out in an average of 3 minutes.

Since all responses were automatically gathered in one database regardless of the company with

which the survey was conducted, it was decided to use an electronic questionnaire because of all

the beneﬁts it provides (de Rada Igúzquiza, 2010). It also facilitated a higher response rate because

it was thought easy for participants to access the URL through a QR code. Information was gathered

between March and October of 2022.

Participants had to be of legal age, have engaged in outdoor sporting activities with a partner active

tourism business, and own a cell phone to access the survey in order to meet the inclusion criteria.

The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were performed using the free statistical program FACTOR

v.10.10.02 (Rovira I Virgili University: Tarragona, Spain), which took into consideration the ordinal

nature of the data collected using a 5-point Likert scale. The robust unweighted least squares (RULS)

approach with Promin rotation (Lorenzo-Seva & Ferrando, 2019) was used to extract the factors un-

der the assumption that there is a correlation between the dimensions. A polychoric correlation

matrix was used to determine the properties of the data, and a parallel analysis (Lim & Jahng, 2019)

was used to establish the proper number of dimensions. After, Direct Oblimin was selected as the

rotation technique for deﬁning factor simplicity and structure. As indicators of sampling adequacy,

the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were utilized (UI Hadi etal., 2016).

Statistical Analysis

Procedure

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The conﬁrmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then performed using the AMOS v.26.0.0 software (IBM

Corporation, Wexford, PA, USA). Items having communalities lower than .30, loads lower than .60

and crossloads higher than .40 were removed (Brown, 2015). The root mean square error of ap-

proximation (RMSEA), the root mean square of residuals (RMSR), the non-normed ﬁt index (NFI), the

comparative ﬁt index (CFI), the chi-squared probability (p > .05), and the chi-square per degree of

freedom ratio (CMIN/DF) were used to evaluate the model’s goodness of ﬁt (Marcoulides, 1990).

Cronbach’s alpha coefﬁcient and McDonald’s omega were used as reliability metrics to evaluate the

questionnaire’s ﬁnal design (Kalkbrenner, 2021).

Considering the scores obtained, the positive items (item 1, 2, 5 and 6) show perceptions that can be

considered good. Similarly, nature sports tourists do not perceive nature activities as having a neg-

ative impact on the community (items 3, 4, 7 and 8), all of them showing values below 3 points. The

descriptive statistics of the tourists’ responses to the items in the questionnaire are shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2

Descriptive statistics of the items that make up the questionnaire

Items MSD

1. Increased recognition and promotion of the destination 3.86 1.38

2. It represents an element of pride and satisfaction 3.68 1.60

3. Generates a trafﬁc and safety problem 1.82 1.01

4. Disrupts the usual rhythm and impairs other activities 2.14 1.10

5. Number of overnight stays increases 3.31 1.56

6. Employment increases 3.61 1.58

7. It entails economic losses because the investment is greater than the beneﬁts obtained 1.89 1.04

8. Economic advantages are concentrated in the hands of a few companies and individuals 2.40 1.15

9. Public spending is necessary for the development of this type of sports 2.65 1.50

Nota. M: Mean; SD: Standard Deviation.

The eigenvalue-based explained variance (Larsen & Warne, 2010) and the validity of expected a

posteriori scores (EAP) (Ferrando-Piera & Lorenzo-Seva, 2016), allowed the RULS technique with

Promin rotation to determine that the questionnaire had a structure consisting of two factors in the

ﬁrst half of the sample. The EFA was carried out since the sample adequacy indices produced posi-

tive results (Bartlett test = 4041.8; df = 28; p < .001; and KMO test = .79.

The Direct Oblimin rotation method was selected once the number of dimensions was determined

since the degree of kurtosis (kurtosis = 24.89; p <.001) called for non-parametric approaches. Table

3 displays the rotational loading matrix for 9 variables and 2 factors.

Results

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TABLE 3

Rotated loading matrix through Direct Oblimin.

Items Factor 1 Factor 2

1. Increased recognition and promotion of the destination .89 .05

2. It represents an element of pride and satisfaction .98 -.03

3. Generates a trafﬁc and safety problem .04 .66

4. Disrupts the usual rhythm and impairs other activities -.11 .64

5. Number of overnight stays increases .89 -.05

6. Employment increases .99 .03

7. It entails economic losses because the investment is greater than the beneﬁts obtained .17 .66

8. Economic advantages are concentrated in the hands of a few companies and individuals -.12 .61

9. Public spending is necessary for the development of this type of sports -.38 .28

The rotated loading matrix reveals that there are nine elements, distributed throughout the two pre-

viously mentioned components, all of which have loadings larger than .60, except item 9. Therefore,

this item was eliminated from the scale because it did not meet the criteria of factor loading (<.60)

and communality (<.30). Table 4 presents the polychoric correlation matrix composed of eight re-

maining items.

TABLE 4

Polychoric correlation matrix obtained from the EFA.

Item 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 1

2 .89 1

3 .04 .01 1

4 -.12 -.18 .57 1

5 .77 .86 -.06 -.29 1

6 .86 .93 .02 -.12 .90 1

7 .10 .09 .32 .39 .10 .16 1

8 -.13 -.21 .31 .34 -.11 -.19 .52 1

Consequently, we obtained a factorial solution of 2 intercorrelated factors (-.08) encompassing each

of them four items: 1) positive perceptions (items 1, 2, 5 and 6); and 2) negative perceptions (items

3, 4, 7 and 8). Table 5 displays the composition and factor loadings of each item.

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[ 9 ]

TABLE 5

Factorial solution of the questionnaire.

Items Factor 1 Factor 2

1. Increased recognition and promotion of the destination .89

2. It represents an element of pride and satisfaction .97

3. Generates a trafﬁc and safety problem .64

4. Disrupts the usual rhythm and impairs other activities .71

5. Number of overnight stays increases .90

6. Employment increases .98

7. It entails economic losses because the investment is greater than the beneﬁts obtained .66

8. Economic advantages are concentrated in the hands of a few companies and individuals .64

Following the deﬁnition of the questionnaire’s design, CFA was used with the remaining half of the

sample to create a conclusive model (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Final scale model.

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The ﬁnal structure of the questionnaire, which had eight items split into two components, is shown

in Figure 1. The numbers shown in the image (from left to right) are the correlation between factors,

standardized regression weights, squared multiple correlations of each variable, and correlations

between exogenous variables.

The scale goodness-of-ﬁt indices are shown in Table 6 after the CFA, suggesting a satisfactory match

between the model and the data (Schumacker & Lomax, 2016).The RMSEA is within the predeter-

mined range (.01-.05), and an RMSR of less than .08 can be considered extraordinary. A nearly per-

fect ﬁt to the model is shown by NNFI and CFI over .90. Finally, both the CMIN/DF index, which must

be below 5 for a proper model ﬁt, and the chi-squared probability exhibit great results because of

non-signiﬁcant values.

TABLE 6

Goodness-of-ﬁt indices extracted from the CFA

Indices Value

RMSEA .048

RMSR .078

CFI .979

NNFI .973

Ρ (χ2) .156

CMIN/DF 4.781

RMSEA: root mean square error of approximation; RMSR: root mean square of residuals; CFI: comparative ﬁt index; NNFI: non-nor-

med ﬁt index; P (χ2): chi-squared probability; CMIN/DF: minimum discrepancy per degree of freedom.

Table 7 shows the explained variance for each factor as well as the Cronbach’s Alpha and McDon-

ald’s Omega reliability indices for the questionnaire dimensions. The explained variance was de-

ﬁned as the proportion of the variance in the responses that was not attributed to hazard but rather

to each of the model’s components (residual values).

TABLE 7

Questionnaire internal consistency indicators

Indices Factor 1 Factor 2

McDonald’s Omega .94 .72

Cronbach’s Alpha .94 .71

Eigenvalue 3.72 2.20

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The main purpose of this research was to explore the psychometric properties, as well as the reli-

ability and validity criteria, of a questionnaire to assess tourists’ perceptions of the socioeconomic

impact of sports activities in the natural environment. The results of this study yielded a factorial

structure composed of two interrelated factors and eight items, showing satisfactory goodness-of-ﬁt

indices. Likewise, the values of both Cronbach’s Alpha and McDonald’s Omega show scores above

.70, so they can be considered as acceptable. Some years ago, this scale was used in one of the

largest sporting events hosted in Extremadura (Jiménez Naranjo et al., 2017), the World Paddle

Tour, being originally developed by Ramírez-Hurtado et al. (2007) as two different scales to assess

the perceptions of both social and economic effects perceived by those attending a tennis event in

Andalucía, however, in none of these works was an initial validation of the scale/scales carried out.

Similarly, and more recently, Agorreta-Lumbreras et al. (2020) attempted to carry out an initial psy-

chometric exploration of the current scale in participants of sporting events in the Valle del Jerte,

but both the sample analyzed, and the reliability indicators were considered precarious to validate

the instrument.

Following the most recent trend of scientiﬁc studies (Gao etal., 2017; Joo etal., 2019), it would be

logical and meaningful to ask tourists about their perception of the impact of tourism on the des-

tination and what contributes to more positive attitudes towards tourism development, especially

in natural environments where the impact of tourism activities can produce insurmountable con-

sequences (Han, 2021). Gao et al. (2017) conducted research in two world heritage destinations in

China, showing that tourists’ perceptions of the negative impact of tourism were positively related

to tourists’ assumption of responsibility, which in turn was positively associated with tourists’ per-

ceptions of responsibility. In this line, Cheng & Wu (2015) explored a structural model to promote

sustainable tourism in several island destinations in Taiwan, ﬁnding that the more positive tourists’

perceptions of the environment and place were, the more they developed environmentally respon-

sible behaviors. Similarly, Chiu et al. (2014) found that the perceived value of the trip, satisfaction

and participation in outdoor activities encourage environmentally responsible behavior.

On the other hand, the economic impacts of tourism have historically received the most attention

because of the positive effects they can have on destinations and communities, both directly and

indirectly, and their relative ease of evaluation (Comerio & Strozzi, 2019). In this context, Parra-Ca-

macho et al. (2016) found that both residents’ and tourists’ perceptions of the economic beneﬁts of

a small-scale maritime sporting event were positive but showed signiﬁcant differences in favor of

tourists, with a direct effect on their intention to revisit or participate in the event the following year.

Similarly, Vergara-Ferri (2022) found very positive perceptions from tourists and residents regarding

the economic impact of Spain’s largest professional cycling event. Another study carried out in the

Valle del Jerte area found excellent perceptions by tourists about the socio-economic impact of kay-

aking activities in the natural environment, with women being more positive in general terms than

men (Rojo-Ramos etal., 2023).

By contrast, several studies have shown that there is a relationship between increased tourism and

detrimental effects on social and environmental structures (Dunets etal., 2019), although tourism

can improve the economy by creating jobs and income, it also often has a negative impact on the

environment and local populations. However, this trend seems to be reversed in sporting activities

Discussion

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[ 12 ]

or events in rural areas as indicated by Zhou & Kaplanidou (2018), who point out that closer contact

between participants and the local community generates greater beneﬁts in the short and long term.

This idea was conﬁrmed by Hautbois et al. (2020) who compared the social beneﬁts of marathons

in the communities that organized them, ﬁnding that both participants and spectators beneﬁted,

although there were differences depending on whether the event allowed open registration or re-

quired a certain level of professionalism. According to Taks (2013), compared to large-scale events,

small-scale events have fewer negative effects. As a result, this analysis demonstrates that the event

had few adverse effects, such as issues with trafﬁc and safety or changes to the locality’s routine and

activities.

This study has certain limitations as any other study. In the ﬁrst place, the sample was mainly com-

posed of national tourists, with a minimal number of participants of other nationalities, so that per-

ceptions could be inﬂuenced by sociocultural issues. Likewise, the majority of tourists carried out ad-

venture sports activities, which is another bias to be taken into account. Also, there is little scientiﬁc

literature analyzing the perceptions of tourists, the main reason for validating this scale, which makes

it difﬁcult to interpret the results and relate them to previous studies. Furthermore, due to the nature

of the study, no measures of the temporal stability of the instrument were carried out, nor were tests

to certify the criterion validity with other measures with a similar focus. Finally, the ﬁnal conﬁrmatory

model required the correlation between the errors of items 1 and 2, as well as between the errors of

items 7 and 8.

As future lines of research, it is proposed to incorporate into the analysis all sports activities that take

place in the natural environment and take place in the Valle del Jerte area, and later extend it to the

entire Extremadura. Similarly, it would be interesting to analyze the perceptions of attendees and

participants in various sporting events, as already attempted in previous works, so that tourism and

organization companies can work in a coordinated manner.

Understanding the relevance of tourist’s perceptions about their impact on the destination, this is

the ﬁrst research that offers a valid and reliable tool to analyze the perceptions they have about the

socioeconomic impact of sport activities in the natural environment. Also, because tourists’ expe-

riences and views are likely to worsen if they feel unwelcome or emotionally distant from people

and see unfavorable results from their travels, tourism businesses and environs play a crucial role in

psychologically welcoming tourists. Therefore, public and private organizations must adopt various

strategies aimed at improving the tourist’s perceptions of the impact of the activities they carry out,

adapting these strategies to different tourism contexts as well as to the sociodemographic charac-

teristics of the tourists themselves. Finally, it should be noted that increasingly all lines of improve-

ment and development that are implemented in tourism, being even more relevant in this study

because of its rural and nature context, must follow a sustainable pattern to ensure the ‘preservation

of the environments in which different activities are practiced whether sports or not.

Limitations and Future Lines of Research

Practical Implications

https://doi.org/10.33776/remo.vi22.7745

[ 13 ]

This research has explored the psychometric properties of a scale to analyze the perceptions of

tourists on the socioeconomic impact of sports activities in the natural environment, showing good

results both in terms of reliability and validity. Therefore, public and private entities have a fast, re-

liable and free tool to evaluate these perceptions. The CFA revealed a ﬁnal structure of eight items

divided into two single dimensions, each of them separately encompassing positive and negative

perceptions.

To thank the City Council of Piornal and Gecko Turismo Activo for making possible the development

of this research.

The authors declare no conﬂict of interest.

This research was funded by Society for the promotion and development of the Valle del Jerte

(OPRODEVAJE).

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