Turismo esportivo: um estudo de caso sobre o Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) 198 em Curitiba – Brasil

The present study investigated the data provided by the Curitiba City Hall, the Curitiba Municipal Tourism Institute in partnership with the Parana Tourism Observatory and the Rio de Janeiro Tourism Observatory, the Gazeta do Povo newspaper and Clube Athletico Paranaense’s website, seeking to understand why the UFC 198 event could be considered a successful tourist attraction in the city of Curitiba. The results indicated that the event generated, directly and indirectly, R$ 45 million, and influenced positively in the tourist flow of Curitiba. Approximately 45.207 people were present in the stadium, and it was identified that 42.37% of them were tourists and 8.49% were hiker, which came from 22 Brazilian states (and Federal District). In contrast, the international tourist demand was significant low (2.60%). The characteristics of the host city influenced the success of the event, such as well the recognition of the venue as sacred ground of the martial arts, beyond the fact of the city structure already established due to previous events organizations such as the FIFA World Cup in 2014, as well as the positive characteristcs of the stadium. To conclude, the presence of the local and state government was not expressive, and if it had been more relevant, the event could have even better results.