Sport Tourism is one of the fastest growing parts of the tourism industry in the world. Sport sociologists from developing countries have shown that sports participation is still stratified based on social status. The purpose of this study was to reveal the current situation of sport tourism participation, and compare it with the participation and consumption of sport tourism among groups of different socio-economic status in Taiwan. The method of this study utilized a self-devised “Sport Tourism Participation Questionnaire”, which was distributed to 3840 residents of Taiwan aged 12 or above in each county between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006. The result of the data analysis concluded the following: 1) The annual frequency of residents of Taiwan participating in domestic tours averaged 3.8 times per person and 85.45% of them took at least one domestic trip. Furthermore, the annual sport tourism participation averaged 1.64 times per person with 59.55% of residents taking part in a minimum of one sport tourism activity. 2) The annual frequency of residents of Taiwan participating in overseas tours averaged 0.39 times per person and 24.04% of participants took at least one overseas trip. Furthermore, the annual sport tourism participation averaged 0.90 times per person with 61.54% of residents taking part in a minimum of one sport tourism activity. 3) There were differences between participants of different socio-economic status in general tourism and sports tourism participation frequency. 4) There was also a significant difference in the participation of groups of different socio-economic status in general in overseas tourist activities and overseas sports tourism related activities. In conclusion, the participation in travel and sport tourism by Taiwanese nationals compared with that of nationals of developed countries is still on the low side. This means that there is still potential for growth in sport tourism participation. There are still obvious differences in the general and sport tourism participation among members of the different socio-economic strata. These differences are most evident in the frequency of participation and the amounts of money spent.
