Tourism of martial arts researchers: a case study of participants in an international congress

Problem. Among the scientific organisations operating on an international scale, whose interest is focused on the area of fighting arts (martial arts, combat sports, self-defence, combat systems, martial cultures and hoplology), the IMACSSS - International Martial Arts and Combat Sports Scientific Society comes to the fore. This association was established in Rzeszow and was registered in 2010. Each year it organises or patronises the organisation of a scientific conference devoted to the problem area of fighting arts. The scientific perspective for the research carried out here is co-created by: the theory of scientific and congress tourism. Because the scientific congress on fighting arts is part of the above-mentioned types of tourism. Problem questions were posed: 1) How were the topics discussed during the IMACSSS Congress in terms of quantity and quality, as a scientific conference on martial arts and combat sports?; 2) How does the aforementioned scientific event combined with tourism related to martial arts and combat sports broaden or supplement the knowledge on the subject discussed in this article? Methods. The adopted research methodology is co-created by: 1) Analysis of the scientific event in the area of fighting arts, which was the 11th International Conference of IMACSSS & 5th World Scientific Congress of Combat Sports and Martial Arts, from the perspective of the martial arts tourism concept; 2) Analysis of the ways of Grand Masters of various varieties of martial arts according to their statements; 3) Participant observation of authors; 4) Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the content of the extended abstracts contained in the Abstract Book. Results. A total of 51 papers were submitted to the conference, which were to be presented during three scientific plenary sessions (15), panel sessions (28), and one poster session (8). The conducted research in quantitative terms concerned the following numerical values: 1) Participants of scientific sessions by gender and continent; 2) Types of speeches presented during the analysed scientific sessions; 3) Topics of speeches presented during the analysed scientific sessions according to the forms of combat; 4) Topics of speeches presented during the analysed scientific sessions by research areas, and chi-square test; 5) Topics of speeches presented during the analysed scientific sessions by research areas and the nationality of their authors. Conclusions. Scientific events, such as conferences organised by the IMACSSS, are - as it can be assumed - a way of stronger emergence, promotion and legitimation of these especially less known on an international scale, varieties of fighting arts.