A Comparative Study on the Data Collection Status of the Number of International Participants in Japanese Marathon Events

Abstract

Developing sports tourism is one of the economic strategies implemented in Japan. The collection of data on inbound sports tourists is important to conduct strategic marketing to ensure constant inflows of inbound tourists in the future. The aim of this study was to compare the data collection status of the number of international participants in Japanese marathon events between 2015 and 2019. The target of this study was Japanese full marathon events officially authorized by the Japan Association of Athletics Federation (N = 40). The results revealed that the number of event organizers that collected data on the number of international participants increased in 2019 compared with 2015. The result that some events attracted more international entries or starters in 2019 than in 2015 shows that running events received more attention as an inbound tourism resource. However, most marathons, except for events held in cities, attracted only a few international participants. Target marketing and organizing data for inbound sports tourists can still be improved by utilizing sporting events.