China's sports travel sluggish but expected to grow

China's investments in overseas football and basketball teams may be on the rise, but it will be some time before the Chinese people begin to travel abroad en masse to watch major sporting events, tourism industry insiders say.

Proof of this lukewarm response is in the fact that fewer than 3,000 Chinese are expected to head to Rio de Janeiro for this month's Olympics.

Tourists from mature markets typically travel in the thousands, cramming itineraries with sports events and visits to hot spots in the country concerned.

However, the long distance between Brazil and China appears to have put off many Chinese from seeing the Olympics, according to Beijing Caissa International Travel Service Co.

The company says that, in terms of tourism destinations, Brazil is less attractive than Europe and the United States for Chinese tourists.

A lack of direct or nonstop flights between Rio de Janeiro and Chinese cities has not helped, while the price of accommodations has been jacked up across the board.

So the cost of visiting Brazil looks too high for Chinese tourists, most of whom have only limited budgets for sports-related travel.

Most flights to Brazil involve changing planes in Europe, North America or the Middle East. Air China operates a service from Beijing to Sao Paulo with a stopover in Madrid.

Caissa says it applied for only 20,000 Rio 2016 tickets, just 20 percent of the 100,000 tickets it sought four years ago for London 2012.

Alex Yan, chief operating officer at Tuniu Corp, a online travel agency based in Nanjing, offers a variety of Olympics packages that include tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as various events.

"These products generally carry price tags that range between 40,000 and 70,000 yuan ($6,030 to $10,500; 5,290 to 9,400 euros). Sales have been decent of late," he says.

"Compared with other popular overseas destinations, the Olympics package is not the first choice for Chinese. This is due to its relatively high price, which in turn is due to a combination of limited air routes and tight hotel resources."

Currently, the share of sports travel in China's overall tourism market is just 5 percent or 170 billion yuan. In developed countries, the corresponding figure is usually 25 percent.

By 2025, China's sports travel market is expected to reach 1 trillion yuan, according to China Securities Co Ltd in Beijing.

Tuniu says the main consumers of themed tours are younger travelers with middle to high incomes who live in major cities.

"Tours or trips that are specifically designed for sporting events are becoming increasingly popular," Yan says. "We expect demand for sporting tours to increase gradually, especially for the NBA and football-related tournaments, as these are especially popular in China."

Chen Peng, 25, of Beijing, says he will watch the Games in Rio de Janeiro on television, as it offers a better view of the action than what spectators in the stadium get.

"If it was an NBA game in the US, though, I'd love to go there because the atmosphere would be different and it's fun to watch a live professional basketball game," he adds.

zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn