14. Water-Sport Tribes in Multi-Sport Destinations: The Case of the Lake Garda, Italy

Lifestyle water-sports share a common escapist aim and were traditionally characterized by very specific—and sometimes closed—community groups. Initially framed within the discourse on adventure tourism, they are increasingly assessed in literature as forms of nature tourism, where the risk-taking attitude is combined with the desire to learn, achieve individual goals, and improve skills. Moreover, water-sports are also suitable to be analysed using the novel theoretical framework of consumer tribes, since they are constituted by heterogeneous groups of persons sharing a common passion and similar social practices, independently of a demographic- or class-based segmentation. The practice of multiple water-sports during one holiday for purposes of multifaceted experiences, the development of multiple water sports practices across a lifetime as well as a the co-existence of multi-optional and singular sporting practices are the main phenomena analysed in this chapter on water-sports neotribes. To analyse these phenomena, this case study focuses on the well-known destination Lake Garda, Italy. Based on semi-structured interviews to local and international stakeholders and a sample survey to local tourists, this work aims at analysing the tribes of water-sport practitioners of the Lake Garda. Results show that water-sport tribes are micro-tribes with blurring boundaries and transient memberships. They develop at destination level embedded in bigger outdoor sports tribes, having a common attitude towards eudaimonic experiences. Multi-sports destinations work both as ‘tribe generators’ and as ‘anchoring places’, because they evolve in a never ending dialogue with tribe members, that in turn improve their skills and challenge themselves in multiple sport adventures.