Investigating the Potential of E-sports Tourism in New Egyptian Tourism Cities

Abstract

The rapid evolution of e-sports has made it an interesting phenomenon for many tourism cities in terms of tourism growth and new cities awareness. Similar to traditional sports, e-sports have significant economic impacts and the potential to be a tourism motivator and a new market for tourism destinations, that could be used for attracting tourists, increasing tourist expenditure, and developing city branding. However, there is a lack of research concerning e-sports events as a sports events tourism and how they could be a great motivator for thousands of tourists. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate the potential for e-sports tourism in the Egyptian destination, especially the new cities, such as Alamein city and the New Administrative Capital which have numerous resources that may provide great opportunities for hosting e-sports events. The study uses qualitative research with a phenomenological approach to investigate Egypt as an e-sports tourism destination and describe the state of e-sports events in Egypt. The findings of the study demonstrate that e-sports tourism is growing rapidly and has a positive influence on tourism destinations’ branding and economic development. Therefore, the study recommends expanding the e-sports events in Egypt and considering e-sports tourism as a vital resource for sustainable tourism in the future.