Women's sports tourism as a tool for empowerment and continued participation in sports
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v80.118803Keywords:
Women’s sports retention, empowerment, intrinsic motivation, sports tourism, experience quality, adherenceAbstract
Introduction: Women’s dropout from sports practice remains a persistent challenge despite growing participation in sports tourism activities. Transformative Sport Tourism Theory (TSTT) suggests that challenging and meaningful sport experiences may foster empowerment and long-term adherence.
Objective: This study aimed to analyze how transformative sports tourism experiences contribute to women’s empowerment and retention in sports practice by examining the interplay between intrinsic motivation, experience quality, perceived benefits, social support, group identification, and prior empowerment.
Method: A quantitative design was applied to a sample of 491 hotel employees from the Ecostar database (1,200 hotels). Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Multi-Group Analysis (MGA) to compare Adventure/Risk-Based and Wellness/Active Leisure contexts.
Results: Experience quality emerged as the strongest predictor, significantly influencing intrinsic motivation, perceived benefits, social support, and retention. Intrinsic motivation directly predicted retention, while group identification and social support reinforced adherence pathways. Multi-group analysis revealed that Adventure/Risk contexts strengthened motivational mechanisms, whereas Wellness contexts emphasized relational support.
Conclusions: Transformative sports tourism experiences can function as structured empowerment environments that promote sustained sports participation among women. Retention emerges from the interaction of motivational, relational, and experiential factors, with context shaping the dominant pathway to long-term engagement.
References
Ahmed, M. D., Ho, W. K. Y., Van Niekerk, R. L., Sulz, L., & Begum, S. (2020). Social support and sports par-ticipation motivations of female adolescents in India: Study of age transition and achievement level. Physical Culture and Sport, 88(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2020-0025
Ali, A., Iqbal, Z., & Ali, I. (2025). Women in mountain tourism: Exploring the links between women tour-ism entrepreneurship and women empowerment in Hunza Valley. Tourism Recreation Re-search, 50(6), 1391–1407. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2024.2386869
Apollo, M., Mostowska, J., et al. (2023). Gender differences in competitive adventure sports tourism. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 42, 100604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jort.2022.100604
Carmines, E. G., & Zeller, R. A. (1979). Reliability and validity assessment. Sage.
Castillo-Jiménez, N., López-Walle, J. M., Tomás, I., Tristán, J., Duda, J. L., & Balaguer, I. (2022). Empower-ing and disempowering motivational climates, mediating psychological processes, and future intentions of sport participation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(2), 896. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19020896
Cazenave, N., Le Scanff, C., & Woodman, T. (2007). Psychological profiles and emotional regulation characteristics of women engaged in risk-taking sports. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 20(4), 421–436. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615800701330176
Doran, A. (2016). Empowerment and women in adventure tourism: A negotiated journey. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 20(1), 57–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/14775085.2016.1176594
Doran, A., Schofield, P., & Low, T. (2020). Women’s mountaineering: Accessing participation benefits through constraint negotiation strategies. Leisure Studies, 39(5), 721–735. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2020.1763439
Eime, R. M., Young, J. A., Harvey, J. T., Charity, M. J., & Payne, W. R. (2020). Longitudinal trends in sport participation and retention. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 2(39). https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2020.00039
Eynon, M., Foad, J., Downey, J., Bowmer, Y., & Mills, H. (2019). Assessing the psychosocial factors asso-ciated with adherence to exercise referral schemes: A systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 29(5), 638–650. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13403
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104
Guo, S., Fu, H., & Guo, K. (2024). Effects of physical activity on subjective well-being: The mediating role of social support and self-efficacy. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 6, Article 1362816. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2024.1362816
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2013). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Sage.
Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8
Holland-Smith, D. (2017). Social capital, social media and gender class reproduction: Women, subcul-tures and the changing patterns of participation in climbing. In Sport and discrimination (pp. 242–256). Routledge.
Laird, Y., Fawkner, S., Kelly, P., McNamee, L., & Niven, A. (2016). The role of social support on physical activity behaviour in adolescent girls: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 13(1), Article 79. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0405-7
Lee, S. Y., Kim, S. M., Lee, R. S., & Park, I. R. (2024). Effect of participation motivation in sports climbing on leisure satisfaction and physical self-efficacy. Behavioral Sciences, 14(1), Article 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14010076
Li, C., Ning, G., Xia, Y., & Liu, Q. (2022). Health benefits of physical activity for people with mental disor-ders: From the perspective of multidimensional subjective wellbeing. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, Article 1050208. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1050208
Liddelow, C., Stevens, M., Cruwys, T., & Schertzinger, M. M. (2025). The relationship between role and social identities and physical activity participation: A systematic review and meta-analysis. In-ternational Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2025.2509218
Liu, Z., Shentu, M., Xue, Y., Yin, Y., Wang, Z., Tang, L., & Zheng, W. (2023). Sport–gender stereotypes and their impact on impression evaluations. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02132-9
Mackenzie, S. H. (2020). Women’s adventure tour guiding experiences: Implications for well-being. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 45, 410–418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.09.006
Miller, M. C., & Cave, J. (2025). Gender and adventure tourism. In Routledge international handbook of adventure tourism (pp. 432–445). Routledge.
Mirehie, M., & Gibson, H. J. (2020). Empirical testing of destination attribute preferences of women snow-sport tourists along a trajectory of participation. Tourism Recreation Research, 45(4), 526–538. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2020.1756098
Moreno-Vitoria, L., Cabeza-Ruiz, R., & Pellicer-Chenoll, M. (2024). Factores que influyen en la partici-pación físico-deportiva de las adolescentes: Una revisión sistemática. Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes, 157(3), 19–30. https://doi.org/10.5672/apunts.2014-0983.es.(2024/3).157.03
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Pankowiak, A., Casey, M., Eime, R., & Westerbeek, H. (2025). A socio-ecological approach to under-standing the experiences of women and girls playing male-dominated sports. Sport in Society, 28(9), 1248–1267. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2024.2390989
Perrino-Peña, M., & Fernández Díaz, P. (2024). Mujer, empoderamiento y actividad física: Un análisis comparativo. Sociología del Deporte, 5(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.46661/socioldeporte.11382
Robina-Ramírez, R., Leal-Solís, A., Medina-Merodio, J. A., & Estriegana-Valdehita, R. (2023). From satis-faction to happiness in the co-creation of value: The role of moral emotions in the Spanish tour-ism sector. Quality & Quantity, 57(4), 3783–3804. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01528-0
Robina-Ramírez, R., Ravina-Ripoll, R., & Castellano-Álvarez, F. J. (2023). The trinomial health, safety and happiness promote rural tourism. BMC Public Health, 23(1), Article 1177. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15849-8
Saidon, J., Atory, N. A. A., Hashim, H., Musa, R., Abas, M. K. M., Husin, L. I. A., & Murad, F. A. (2024). Ex-ploring gender differences in shaping total tourism experience quality among eco-tourists. In-formation Management and Business Review, 16(3), 475–489.
Sánchez-Oro, M., & Robina Ramírez, R. (2020). Los grupos focales (“focus group”) como herramienta de investigación turística. Universidad de Extremadura.
Sun, H., Vamos, C. A., Flory, S. S., DeBate, R., Thompson, E. L., & Bleck, J. (2017). Correlates of long-term physical activity adherence in women. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 6(4), 434–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2016.01.009
Thorpe, H., & Olive, R. (Eds.). (2016). Women in action sport cultures: Identity, politics and experience. Palgrave Macmillan.
Toffoletti, K. (2017). Women sport fans: Identification, participation, representation. Routledge.
Werts, C. E., Linn, R. L., & Jöreskog, K. G. (1974). Intraclass reliability estimates: Testing structural as-sumptions. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 34(1), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447403400104
Willinger, N., Steele, J., Atkinson, L., Liguori, G., Jimenez, A., Mann, S., & Horton, E. (2021). Effectiveness of structured physical activity interventions through the evaluation of physical activity levels, adoption, retention, maintenance, and adherence rates: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 18(1), 116–129. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2019-0349
Wu, X., Cai, Y., Abidin, N. E. Z., & Jaladin, R. A. M. (2024). Associations between motivational factors and burnout syndrome among elite skiers. BMC Psychology, 12(1), Article 490. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01989-y
Yiapanas, G. (2025). Addressing gender inequalities in European football: Key dimensions and strate-gies. Insight - Sports Science, 7(1), Article 711. https://doi.org/10.18282/iss711
Zhang, S., Huang, J., & Wang, H. (2024). Influencing factors of women’s sports participation based on self-determination theory: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 17, 2953–2969. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S465903
Zhao, Z., Shi, D., Huang, Z., & Liu, X. (2023). How does tourism memory affect revisit decisions? The mediating role of episodic future thinking. Tourism Management Perspectives, 49, Article 101199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2023.101199
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Rafael Robina-Ramírez, Ana Leal-Solís
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
