The increasing prevalence of sedentary lifestyles, non-communicable diseases, and declining participation in recreational physical activities among adults has become a major public health concern globally and in Nigeria. Simultaneously, Nigeria possesses abundant tourism resources that remain underutilized for recreational sports, physical fitness, and wellness promotion. This paper examines Nigeria’s local tourism sites as strategic resources for promoting adult recreation and physical fitness through innovative sports management approaches. The paper adopts a conceptual and analytical approach by reviewing literature on sports management, recreational tourism, physical fitness, wellness promotion, ecotourism, and public health. Anchored on the Ecological Systems Theory, the paper argues that tourism environments can significantly influence adults’ participation in recreational physical activities when supported by appropriate policies, infrastructure, and management systems. Findings revealed that tourism destinations in Nigeria possess enormous potential for wellness retreats, and other recreational fitness programmes. However, poor infrastructure, insecurity, weak policy implementation, inadequate sports-tourism integration, and low public awareness continue to hinder effective utilization of these sites. The paper concludes that innovative sports management policies and strategic collaborations among government agencies, tourism authorities, sports administrators, private investors, and local communities can transform Nigeria’s tourism destinations into viable centres for adult recreation and physical fitness. The paper recommends policy reforms, public-private partnerships,
fitnesstourism integration, infrastructure development, and community-based recreational programmes as pathways toward sustainable sports tourism development in Nigeria.