If you've lost track of how many individuals in your circle have recently posted pictures of themselves at a Formula 1 race or a Taylor Swift concert, you're probably not alone. Sports and music tourism are growing at an unprecedented pace and are forecast to be a $1.5 trillion industry by 2032, in keeping with a brand new study by Collinson International Ltd., which owns Priority Pass and LoungeKey airport lounges all over the world.
Sports tourism accounts for the overwhelming majority of this sum, valued at $564.7 billion in 2023 and expected to grow to $1.33 trillion over the subsequent eight years. Music tourism, meanwhile, is anticipated to contribute one other $13.8 billion, greater than doubling its current value of $6.6 billion.
For its report, released on July 29, Collinson defined travellers as anyone who has flown to an event abroad or in their very own country. Of the 8,537 travellers surveyed from 17 countries, greater than 4 in five (83%) have flown to a sporting event, while 71% have flown to a concert previously three years or plan to accomplish that in the subsequent 12 months.
Collinson used these results to model how the industry has evolved and should proceed to evolve – assuming linear growth despite history-making events like Swift's “Eras Tour” or the primary Summer Olympics in eight years to permit on-site spectators, currently underway in Paris.
“People today value experiences more than things,” says Christopher Ross, President of Collinson International EMEA. “When you go to a sporting or music event, the experience doesn't start when you walk into the stadium. It's about the planning, the journey itself and the excitement.”
About 83% of people that travel to events attend football games, basketball games, the Olympics, Formula 1 races or tennis tournaments – the five hottest sporting events in descending order. In a world where streaming networks have created easily accessible paths to fandom, Ross says, “the possibility of becoming a global fan has become much more real.”
Football fans made up 69 percent of sports fans within the survey. They said that they had recently traveled to a live game or had plans to accomplish that next yr. This includes the multiple million fans who traveled to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, but not those that plan to attend the subsequent World Cup in 2026.
Formula 1, meanwhile, has been growing in popularity amongst younger generations since Netflix Inc. released its docuseries Drive to Survive in 2019; a full 30% of F1 fans attributed their interest in the game to the show. In 2023, a median race weekend saw greater than 270,000 spectators on site, up from 195,000 in 2019.
It's not only that increasingly individuals are excited about the game, ticket prices are also rising. In Britain, tickets for this summer's races have already cost 600 kilos ($765) for the perfect seats within the stands, while general admission often cost greater than 400 kilos per person – two years ago it was around 300 kilos. British racing driver Lewis Hamilton publicly criticized the rising prices.
Ross says these tickets are only one aspect of the sports tourism economy, which also includes hotel stays, restaurant meals, taxi rides, merchandise and other expenses. Collinson data shows that 77% of travelers arrive one or two days before a concert or competition and about 80% stay one to 3 days afterward. Sports tourists spend essentially the most, with 51% spending greater than $500 per trip per person on flights and other expenses, not including tickets to the event.
Take Las Vegas, which hosted an F1 Grand Prix race in November 2023. The event brought the town a $1.5 billion economic boost, 50% greater than the Super Bowl would herald just three months later. “It's a younger demographic,” Ross says of F1 fans who’re almost certainly to make extra spending on their sports travel. “It seems counterintuitive because you'd think they'd have less disposable income,” Ross adds.
But that doesn't diminish the impact of other events. The Summer Olympics in Paris, while not as big a global tourism storm as expected, still attract enough tourists to extend Airbnb bookings by 133 percent in comparison with the identical period last yr. International tourists are expected to spend around $5,000 on hotel stays, flights and tickets. And sports fans, Collinson says, are also willing to spend money in airports – which is important for the corporate. More than half of sports fans, the study found, spend $500 or more on the airport alone; 25- to 34-year-olds spend essentially the most, with a 3rd of them spending over $1,000 while waiting to board their flight.
In music, Collinson cites major events resembling Rock in Rio, Coachella and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour as driving tourism, however the latter is an unprecedented anomaly. Swift's fans have increased airfares to destinations resembling Milan and Munich by 45% throughout the concert dates in comparison with last yr, in keeping with United Airlines Holdings Inc., and the tour led to even greater spikes in bookings at Paris' top hotels than even the Olympics.
The query for the hotel industry now could be capitalize on this trend. Marriott International used the Eras Tour as a chance to recruit recent members for its Bonvoy loyalty program, offering free tickets through a raffle. Meanwhile, Auberge Resorts Collection, which operates 27 five-star resorts from Italy to Hawaii, is partnering with Mercedes-Benz to launch a brand new concert series starting in October that has to date featured live performances by Kate Hudson, Maren Morris and LeAnn Rimes. The legendary Blackberry Farm Resort in Tennessee, which has its own concert hall, will host performances by Kacey Musgraves, Emmylou and Friends and Noah Kahan, amongst others, in the approaching months, with general admission tickets typically starting at $1,000 per person.
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