Caesar IndraChairman, Traveloka.
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The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) lists sports tourism as one of the fastest growing sectors in tourism. International travel as a whole has enjoyed continuous growth for decades, with nearly 1.5 billion international arrivals in 2019. But the pandemic affected sports tourism and all international travel, and at the end of 2021, international tourist arrivals were still 1 billion under pre-pandemic figures.
In 2022 people do want to travel, also for sports tourism. The recent SEA Games in Hanoi is proof of that: it welcomed 700,000 domestic tourists and 31,447 international travelers. More importantly, the event sparked the infrastructure improvement operating the games in the capital. Mega-sports events such as the Olympics and SEA games are powerful attractions that draw interest in host markets and catalyze the development of sports systems (infrastructure and facilities), economies, and social and community heritages.
But sports tourism goes beyond major events; it includes subcategories such as active sports tourism, where people travel to participate in their chosen sport, and nostalgic sports tourism, where people take trips to destinations that have historically hosted major sporting events, such as the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, which Built in 1927, it served as the main stadium for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Sports tourism may be the ticket to motivate tourists to fly again. Tourism industry companies should prioritize building holistic, connected experiences to improve their exposure to sports tourists seeking end-to-end services and enrichment.
The company of sports tourism
As the SEA Games have shown, many want to travel to be a part of a major sporting event. This was not possible during the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, where no tickets were made available for spectators from outside China. The economic possibilities can only be derived from the record numbers, more than 64 million people, who “participated” in the event through the Olympic Web and App. When tourists fly internationally to attend major sporting events, they do more than just watch. They participate in all adjacent activities: sightseeing, shopping, eating, attending concerts, and more.
Since its debut in 2008, the Singapore Grand Prix has been attended by more than 550,000 unique travelers and has more than S$1.5 billion. The resulting buzz has been a boon to hospitality and tourism businesses in Singapore, but there are other positive spillovers as well, such as: service providers such as tailors who usually see their business grow, thanks to tourists coming in for the F1 race. And let alone the many pieces of F1 memorabilia flooding the market, which will no doubt be sought after by some who collect these as mementos.
Sports tourists want connected lifestyle experiences
But self-discovery travel isn’t just leisure in itself – it’s a sport too! Sports tourism comes with bragging rights: whoever discovers and sees more, wins. Today’s travelers want more holistic and connected experiences: doing everything as quickly as possible.
In many ways, the global pandemic has pushed companies, large and small, to accelerate their digital transformation and adopt omnichannel engagement strategies to meet consumers wherever they are. But not every company has succeeded, as many are still in the nascent phase of their digitization journey. The past year was a period of frequently changing rules, restrictions and great uncertainty. This year we are finally seeing travel really take off. Travelers are looking for holistic experiences that will enrich their vacation days, and sports tourism may just be the salve the industry needs to get dozens of people back on the road again.
Technological developments ensure a level playing field. Hospitality and tourism companies participating in this connected ecosystem will be the ones on the run with sports fans and better positioned to win the day.
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