The Strategy of Sports Tourism Management to Promote Tourist Attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi

Background and Aim: At present, in the era of mass sports tourism, tourism development in the Taihang Mountains is facing many challenges, such as ecological environmental protection pressure, lagging in the transformation and upgrading of tourism products, tourist attraction isolated development, and an imperfect regional coordination mechanism. The research aims of this paper are (1) To study and analysis the current situation of the sports tourism management in Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi.; (2) To develop the strategy of sports tourism management to promote tourist attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi; (3) To validate the feasibility of the strategy of the sports tourism management to promote tourist attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi. Materials and Methods: This study adopts the R&D research method, which collects data through the questionnaire survey method and interview method. The main research tools applied to this study are a questionnaire and an interview form. According to Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon, which holds a 2023 year-end thank-you party, the total number of domestic tourists is approximately 2.5 million, and the number of key informants is around 500. The author first used simple random sampling to conducted a questionnaire survey on 400 tourists traveling to the Shanxi Taihang Grand Canyon Tourist Attractions to collect relevant quantitative data, and then Purposive sampling was used to interview 10 key informants, including the Huguan County Culture and Tourism Bureau (3 people), Huguan County Tourism Company staff (3 people), and tourist attraction managers and related staff (4 people), to collect relevant qualitative data. The author then carried out descriptive statistical analysis (Mean, S.D.) on the quantitative data, content analysis on the qualitative data, a SWOT analysis to integrate the quantitative and qualitative data, a TOWS matrix to suggest pertinent strategies, and a Connoisseurship session with nine experts to evaluate the strategies. Results: The results of the study found that (1) The current situation of sports tourism management the tourist attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi has 10 strengths, 8 weaknesses, 8 opportunities and 7 threats, and there is still a lot of space that can be further developed and optimised; (2) in response to the results of the analysis of the current situation of sports tourism management the tourist attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi, this study proposes 8 SO strategies, 7 ST strategies, 8 WO strategies, and 7 WT strategies in order to improve the high-quality development of the tourist attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi; and (3) The experts who participated in the connoisseurship agreed that these strategies have high feasibility and are in line with the current development needs of the tourist attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi, except that a few of them should be merged, and finally there are 4 SO strategies, 4 ST strategies, 4 WO strategies and 4 WT strategies. Conclusion: Generally, this study combines the natural resources and ecological environment of the sports tourism attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi, and proposes a diversified development path, especially in terms of sports tourism innovation, smart management, brand building, and the introduction of professional talents. It not only considers the existing tourism resources, but also makes full use of the government's policy support and smart management to create a unique sports tourism brand and form a distinctive brand IP. Future research can further explore the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of these strategies in implementation, and provide more practical suggestions for the development of sports tourism attractions of Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Shanxi.