Golf Trips and the Premier League: Just How Big is the Sports Tourism Industry?

Sports tourism, simply defined as travel to either watch or participate in sport, is a booming global industry, with the market value set to hit USD 2.4 trillion by 2030. 

Whether it’s flying to Belgrade, Berlin, or Bergamo to support your team away from home or cycling halfway around the world to watch them for the first time, sports fans spend significant amounts of time and money on what many consider a hobby.

So just how big is the industry?

Participation Tourism

The immediate connotation of ‘sports tourism’ is that of the spectator, but travelling to participate is just as significant.

Running is a prime example.

The most accessible sporting activity in the world, there are around 50 million runners in the USA alone – some of whom are passionate enough to do so for 26.2 miles. 

For the keenest of runners, completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors is a bucket-list accomplishment. A collection of six of the world’s biggest marathon events, running enthusiasts aim to tick off all six as part of their global travels, taking them from London to Tokyo and Boston.

From the almost 66,000 who ran this year’s London Marathon, just under 20,000 came from outside the UK, a quarter of whom travelled from the USA.

As for another large cog in the sports tourism machine, the golf tourism industry alone is valued at an estimated $25.3 billion. Driven by luxury resorts and domestic travel demand, many golfers travel to the USA, Scotland, and Australia to play on the world’s finest courses.

The impact of sports tourism can be felt locally too. A prevalent example is the impact of skiing on Alpine countries, with Switzerland being particularly reliant on it. While winter tourism represents 1% of the nation’s GDP, it is even more significant in mountain regions where the figure rises to around 10%.

The importance of this was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Swiss government decided to keep ski resorts open to allow for domestic tourism, despite restrictions placed on other services.

Spectator tourism

The larger aspect of sports tourism, however, is that of the sports fan, with sporting mega-events acting as global hotspots for tourists.

During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 3.4 million fans visited Qatar to witness the highest-scoring World Cup of all time. This naturally boosted the country’s tourism numbers – a figure higher than the country’s overall population – though it is also worth noting the impact that hosting a sporting event of this scale can have on future tourism. 

One study, researching the impact of the event on Qatar’s aim to become a global tourist destination, found that tourism increased significantly following the tournament’s conclusion, adding:

“Qatar’s successful hosting of the FWC has enhanced its image, making it a more appealing destination with lasting positive impacts. Notably, Qatar has seen improvements in familiarity, reputation, and cultural influence.” 

Fans that later returned to Qatar as tourists all form part of a football tourism industry that is, similar to trends seen in the wider industry, projected to boom. With a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.6%, football tourism’s market value is predicted to reach the $1 trillion mark by 2030.

This travel to watch football is also thriving locally, with many top clubs expanding their stadiums to accommodating more supporters. “You can’t be a big club in a 36,000 stadium, but you can be in a 62,000 stadium,” said Daniel Levy, former Tottenham Hotspur chairman.

In 2019, 1.5 million overseas visitors travelled to the UK to watch a live football match, spending £909 on average. From this figure, 350,000 said their main reason for travelling to the country was to watch sport, resulting in revenue of over £320 million just from this demographic.

Though the majority of sports tourism is leisure-related, it is also done for education. Around the world, there are a plethora of sporting cultures, with aspiring sports professionals often travelling to gain a higher understanding of the wider sports landscape.

GIS provides our students with an opportunity to do so as part of our signature Global Sports Summits.

Aimed at immersing students in a variety of sporting cultures, these summits involve attending live sports events, networking with industry leaders, and gaining behind-the-scenes access to some of the venues at the forefront of world sport.

Held annually at each of our worldwide GIS hubs, you can learn more about the global perspectives experienced by our students here.

Article by Zakaria Anani