Photo: Courtesy of CIFTIS

Hosting sports competitions has become the biggest contributor to sports services growth, China's sport authority said on Thursday, as it aims to increase the number of high-profile international competitions hosted in the country.

Zhou Jinqiang, vice chief of the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC), said at the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) held in Beijing that China will continue to bring in high-profile international sports competitions.

"Sports services help enrich the supply of high-quality services and facilitates the connection between domestic and international sports markets to build a new development framework, and promotes the upgrade of sports consumption," Zhou said. "In return, it drives the high-quality development of the sports industry."

In 2023, China's sports tourism service trade saw rapid recovery, fueled by a resurgence in outbound travel tours and international spectators attending high-profile events in China like the Chengdu World University Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games.

The total import and export value of the sports tourism service trade reached 43.795 billion yuan in 2023, with imports accounting for a large share, according to Yang Xuedong, chief of the Sports Economy Department of the GASC. This indicates that a large number of Chinese people are going overseas to enjoy sports events. Yang added that the total volume accounted for approximately 31.8 percent of the figure in 2019.

Yang highlighted that after major international sports events such as the 2024 UEFA European Championship and the Paris Olympics, along with improvements in the domestic sports tourism environment, the volume of China's sports tourism service trade this year is expected to grow further.

CIFTIS host city Beijing is also aiming to develop itself as a place for invigorating sports, spearheading China's sports industry growth.

Beijing has been selected as the host city for the 2027 World Athletics Championships and 2029 World Aquatics Championships.

The short track speed skating world championship is also expected to be held in Beijing in 2025, while the year will also see the Asian Winter Games to be held in Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and the World Games in Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

In August, China's State Council issued guidelines aimed at promoting high-quality service consumption, with a focus on boosting sports participation.

The measures include the government's support for bids or introducing influential international top-tier events and encouraging local regions to organize distinctive mass sports events.

The sports service sector is one of the nine industrial sectors that are on exhibit at CIFTIS, which runs from Thursday to Monday.

The sports service exhibition features over 300 brands from more than 30 countries and regions, including China, France and Italy, according to the organizers.