China's imports and exports of major sports services increased by 31.1 percent year on year in 2024, according to a latest report on the development of China's sports service trade in 2024.
According to the report released by the Economic Department of the State General Administration of Sport (SGAS) on Thursday, the total imports and exports of China's major sports service trade in 2024 reached 69.342 billion yuan (about 9.56 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 16.455 billion yuan (about 2.27 billion U.S. dollars) compared to the previous year.
Yang Xuedong, director of the Economic Department under the SGAS, stated that sports service trade has entered a phase of rapid growth, with exports posting particularly outstanding performance.
"The total of imports and exports has reached its highest level in the past five years, entering a rapid growth phase. In particular, China's sports service trade exports have achieved remarkable results, with the value of exports hitting a record high and surging 43.5 percent year on year. The simultaneous increase in scale and growth rate fully demonstrates that China's service products have gained international market recognition, with their competitiveness keeping enhancing," Yang said.
It was reported that China's major sports service trade includes five categories: performances of professional sports competitions, sports event sponsorship， copyright transactions, internet sports services, and sports tourism. In 2024, the import and export value of sports tourism trade reached 57.766 billion yuan (about 7.96 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 31.9 percent.
"Previously, sports tourism dominated as a single category, but now other sectors are developing rapidly, leading to a more balanced structure. The most notable category is sports service trade related to events, such as sports event sponsorship, which accounted for nearly 8 percent in 2024," said Wang Xueli, director of the Research Center for Development of the Sports Industry at Tsinghua University.
Experts noted that the intensive hosting of global sports events in 2024 significantly boosted enthusiasm of Chinese tourists for overseas sports event travel.
Meanwhile, China's continuous optimization of transit visa-free policies has greatly enhanced the convenience for international tourists to come to China for watching and participating in events, generating more exports in sports tourism services.
"The sports event economy has driven vigorous development in areas such as professional sports events, sports event sponsorship, and sports copyright transactions. It plays an important role in promoting domestic sports consumption, advancing high-quality economic development, and building a new development pattern, injecting new vitality into our global economic cooperation and cultural exchanges," said Yang.
China's major sports service trade surges over 30 percent year on year
