Nautical sports events portfolio as a driver to innovative dynamics

Sports events have been used as a strategy to attract tourists, taking an increasing role in the strategic plans of cities, regions and countries. In this paper we aim to explain how the leverage of a nautical sports event portfolio (Kite Masters Portimao World Tour, Formula Windsurfing World Championship, Sailing Audi Medcup, Power Boats World Championship, Portimao Global Ocean Race, F1H2O World Championship) hosted in a tourist community of Algarve contributed to new dynamics around the sea. In this research we adopted a qualitative-interpretative perspective, and a case study method. The data led us to the conclusion that the reinforcement of the destination’s image was the main goal. Furthermore, through the study of the leveraging process, it was possible to identify a strategic goal of the studied events which was not in the leverage theoretical models, namely “to innovate sports tourism products”. The events were also constituted as a platform for connectivity and diversity, creating a space and a time for local communicative interaction, facilitating the evolution of the dynamics in the Municipality of Portimao, in logic of transformative causality.