Sport tourism and Karpathos: The Pan-Aegean games of 2002

Countries that have traditionally relied on the ‘sand and sea’ to lure tourism are now looking for specialized forms of tourism to expand their tourism market to a non-seasonal one. Sport tourism is a specialized form of tourism growing in Greece. In fact, islands such as Karpathos have realized its potential to expand tourism and have recently completed construction of a new sports stadium for the Pan-Aegean Games of 2002. This paper examines sport tourism as a development tool for the island of Karpathos as a result of hosting the Pan-Aegean Games of 2002. A description of the island of Karpathos and the Pan-Aegean Games is provided. Furthermore, an overview of domestic sport tourism and sport use of the Karpathian National Stadium is also presented.