Sports Tourism Market Overview

The Global Sports Tourism Market is currently in 2023 valued at USD 324 billion expected to grow to USD 1803 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 35.2% during the forecast period. Global sports tourism is one of the most emerging sectors in the tourism industry with a decent growth rate in the past two decades. The tourism sector is continuously evolving however, there is now a significant transformation in demand and traveller expectations. Nowadays, segmenting innovatively means aborting the typical pre-defined schemes, identical and generalist, trips with all the tourists doing the same thing within a period. On the other hand, tailor-made/custom packages are more trustworthy and are chosen for sports travel.

Furthermore, it is expected that sports tourism will continue to gain momentum during the forecast period, opening up innovative avenues helping to improve the quality of life in different communities.

Sports Tourism Market Segmentation

Insight by Types

On the basis of type, the market is bifurcated into hard sports tourism and soft sports tourism. Among these types, the hard sports tourism segment captures the largest market share in 2023 and is also expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period, owing to the number of people participating in competitive sports events. These kinds of events act as a motivation to the viewers and attract a large number of visitors to the events.

Insight by Sport Type

On the basis of sports type, the market is subdivided into adventure, basketball, cricket, football, golf, hockey, motorsports, rugby, tennis, winter sports, and other sports. Among these football and adventure accounted for the foremost share in the sports tourism market being played across the globe in almost all countries at large and small scales. 

Insight by Destination 

On the basis of destination, the market is subdivided into domestic and international. Of both the segments, the international destination segment accounted for the maximum share, owing to a large number of international tournaments organized globally with huge investments supporting the growth of the tourism sector.

Insight by End-User

On the basis of end-user, the market is bifurcated into individuals & groups, and institutions. Individual & group is expected to account for the highest market share in the current year and is expected to grow at the fastest rate large number of travelers traveling as solo participants or audience with sports as a reason to travel.

Global Sports Tourism Market Report Coverage

Report Metric	Details
Historical Period	2020 - 2024
Base Year Considered	2025
Forecast Period	2026 - 2035
Market Size in 2025	U.S.D.  324  Billion
Revenue Forecast in 2035	U.S.D.  1803 Billion
Growth Rate	35.2%
Segments Covered in the Report	By Types, By Sport Type, By Destination and End-User
Report Scope	Market Trends, Drivers, and Restraints; Revenue Estimation and Forecast; Segmentation Analysis; Companies’ Strategic Developments; Market Share Analysis of Key Players; Company Profiling
Regions Covered in the Report	North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Rest of the World

Industry Dynamics

Sports Tourism Industry Trends

There is a drastic growth in the number of inter-country and intra-country sports league in past few decades. These leagues are watched by not only the domestic audience but is source of attraction for international viewers as well. The trend is going to grow more during the forecast period. 

Sports Tourism Market Growth Drivers

The number of sports events and viewership are increasing globally. This is mainly due to availability of large sports infrastructure including stadiums, clubs, etc. Besides, interest towards the sports has also increased at fast rate in developing economies in last few years. Additionally, viewers for upcoming national and international sports events in 2020 and 2021 is expected to grow at double digit. Olympic Games in 2020 in Japan and FIFA World Cup in 2022 in Qatar are some of the most awaited tournament in coming years. All these factors will impact the Sports Tourism progression in the market in near future. 

Sports Tourism Market Challenges

Sports tourism sector is highly fragmented, with large number of small and large players operating in the market. Further, the booking process has now shifted from manual to digital method, allowing travelers to make booking online. Due to which there is an increase in chances of fraudulent. such cases occurred happened in past are halting tourists to make booking online. This will impact the growth of market during the coming years.

Sports Tourism Market Geographic Overview

Geographically, Europe is the largest sports tourism market with different type of sports being played in different countries. Besides, the region organizes some of the major sports tournaments and events attracting domestic and international audience.

Further, North America and APAC hold the second and third position in sports tourism market respectively.  APAC is the fastest growing region during the forecast period and is expected to surpass the Europe share in next ten years. China, India and Australia are some of the prominent countries were sports event are organized at large scale.

Sports Tourism Market Competitive Insight

Key players in the in the sports tourism market includes some of the major tourism companies who offers pre-defined and tailor-made packages for individual and group. Apart from this, the sector is a gigantic intercontinental business attracting investment, bringing political interest, media attention and millions of traveling spectators and participants. Therefore, sport is large business helping some of the economics in growing by organizing sports events in their country.

BAC Sport is a trusted bespoke sports travel and hospitality company with 25 years’ experience in providing packages for corporates, concierge, individuals and incentive agencies, as well as arranging travel and logistics for the England Football Media. Company offer tailor-made packages to Formula One, tennis, golf, football, rugby and many other sporting events both domestically and worldwide. 

Club Europe Travel is a specialist ABTA tour operator which works with schools across the globe. Company offer high quality cultural experiences in the form of concert tours, ski tours and educational tours to countries all over the world.

Some of the key players operating in the sports tourism market are BAC Sports, Club Europe Holidays Ltd., Gullivers Sports Travel Limited, Inspiresport, MATCH Hospitality, QuintEvents, Sports Travel & Hospitality Group, THG Sports, Unique Sports Travel Limited, and Victory Sports Tours.

Recent Developments by Key Players

Inspiresport (the top UK provider of young sports development tours) collaborated with Cricket Scotland. The company has recently launched The R66T Festival of Cricket and The R66T Dubai cup and also offer domestic tours to Lancashire Cricket.

Gullivers Sport Travel (the Group Travel Specialist) partnered with Waratahs Alumni where Waratahs Alumni host four Sports travel tours during the Rugby World Cup in France featuring Darren Coleman, Phil Waugh, Tony Dempsey, and Ian Kennedy.

Primary Research

VynZ Research conducts extensive primary research to understand the market dynamics, validate market data and have key opinions from industry experts. The key profiles approached within the industry include, CEO, CFO, CTO, President, Vice President, Product Managers, Regional Heads and Others. Also, end user surveys comprising of consumers are also conducted to understand consumer behaviour.

The Global Sports Tourism Market report offers a comprehensive market segmentation analysis along with an estimation for the forecast period 2025–2030

• By Type
  • Hard Sports Tourism
  • Soft Sports Tourism
• By Sports Type
  • Adventure
  • Basketball
  • Cricket
  • Football
  • Hockey
  • Motorsports
  • Rugby
  • Tennis
  • Winter Sports
  • Other Sports
• By Destination 
  • Domestic
  • International
• By End-User
  • Individual & Group
  • Institution

Region Covered in the Report

• North America
  • U.S.
  • Canada
  • Mexico
• Europe
  • Germany
  • U.K.
  • France
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • Russia
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia-Pacific (APAC)
  • China
  • Japan
  • India
  • South Korea
  • Rest of Asia-Pacific
• Rest of the World (RoW)
  • Brazil
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • U.A.E.
  • Other Countries

Source: VynZ Research

Source: VynZ Research