Outdoor sports: a trillion-dollar industry that "plays".

Outdoor sports are linked to people's livelihood and economy. In recent years, with the economic and social development and the improvement of living standards, people pay more and more attention to health and quality of life, and favor leisure and sports methods close to nature, the development of outdoor sports in China has ushered in spring: ice and snow, road running, cycling, cross-country, camping, etc. have shown explosive growth; "post-90s", women, parent-child families have become the main force of consumption, specialization, lightness, playability leading the new trend of consumption.

Not long ago, the National Development and Reform Commission, the General Administration of Sports of China and other departments issued the "Action Plan for Promoting the Construction of Outdoor Sports Facilities and Service Improvement (2023-2025)", proposing to promote the total scale of the outdoor sports industry to reach 3 trillion yuan by 2025. This trillion-level industry that has been "played" reflects the people's growing demand for a better life, and also reflects the new changes in the process of China's high-quality economic development.

From niche to mass

He Changjuan, a 34-year-old outdoor enthusiast in Kunming, has mountaineering, cross-country running and skiing taking up all of her spare time. "Outdoor sports are a kind of relaxation for me, I can absolutely relax, immerse myself in nature, and feel full after exercising, ready for a new day of work and life. ”

In the past two years, He Changjuan was pleasantly surprised to find that unlike 10 years ago, most of them were male climbers, and now there are more and more female climbers, "When I went to climb Haba Snow Mountain in June this year, there were 6 women out of 10 people, and I strongly felt that the participation group of outdoor sports is expanding rapidly." ”

What was once a niche sport has become a mass sport. According to the "China Outdoor Sports Industry Development Report (2022-2023)" released in October this year, from 2022 to 2023, outdoor sports such as ice and snow, road running, cycling, cross-country, and camping will show explosive growth. In the first half of 2023, the number of orders related to outdoor sports increased by 79% compared to the same period in 2022 and by 221% compared to the same period in 2019.

"Outdoor sports are becoming an eco-friendly activity that goes deep into the green waters and green mountains and integrates into the embrace of nature, which makes 'going outdoors' a life attitude, including people's attention to health, the pursuit of freedom, and the yearning for spiritual habitat. Jin Jin, director of the Sports Culture Development Center of the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China, said.

According to the "2023 Outdoor Life Trend Report" released by Xiaohongshu, in 2023, outdoor sports have gradually become life-oriented and nationalized, and from January to October, the daily activity of outdoor users increased by more than 100% month-on-month, and hiking, cycling, camping, fishing, diving, surfing, skiing, etc. have become new lifestyles.

"Taking Yunnan as an example, all kinds of outdoor associations at all levels are booming, mountaineering, running groups, cycling and other clubs are thriving, and the number of outdoor sports participants is increasing, with more than 22 million people doing outdoor sports more than once a week. Yang Zhonghua, director of the Yunnan Provincial Sports Bureau, said.

From city blocks, to country trails, to mountain roads, you'll find people walking, running, or biking. "This is a good social phenomenon, which shows that people's demand for physical and mental health and close to nature has increased, and it also shows that the prosperity of the mainland's industrial infrastructure has made more space for outdoor sports. Jin said that in the past, outdoor sports had a high threshold for participation, strong requirements for professional equipment, and extreme or sub-extreme attributes, but now they are developing towards lightweight and high playability, and gradually penetrate into the "homes of ordinary people".

There are many tricks and many ways to play

From 2022 to 2023, China's outdoor sports industry will not only usher in historic development opportunities, but also show many new trends and highlights.

——There are many tricks and many ways to play. In 2022, camping, rafting, skiing, hiking, etc. have always been at the top of the search popularity list of outdoor sports, and aviation sports, surfing, diving, mountaineering, rock climbing, cycling, road running, fishing, and orienteering are in the ascendant. Frisbee, paddle boarding, land rushing, flag football, pickleball and other emerging sports are gradually becoming the representatives of the trend of "new urban sports" for young people.

——The "post-90s" and the main force of women's outdoor sports. The "post-90s" generation has become the largest consumer group of outdoor sports, accounting for 36.1%, and women have broken the pattern of male-dominated outdoor sports, accounting for 59.9% of the participants. Yang Xueyu, director of the Economic Department of the General Administration of Sports of China, said that women are enthusiastic about participating in outdoor sports, not only challenging men in mountaineering and hiking, but also in trendy sports such as camping, paddle boarding, surfing, and frisbee.

——"Playing outdoors with a baby" has become a new concept. According to Mafengwo data, in 2022, parent-child families will account for the highest proportion of people participating in outdoor sports, reaching 38.3%. "With the change of people's concept of education and family affection, putting down electronic products and taking the baby to 'play' outdoors has become a new concept of parenting. Yang Xueyu said.

In the survey, Wu Yixia, president of the Urban and Rural and Landscape Architecture Planning and Design Institute of China Construction Design and Research Institute, found that cycling and fishing are more and more popular among young people, and the "post-90s" are the main force of high-end cycling brands, and the number of anglers under the age of 26 has increased by 4 times in four years, and women prefer camping, and the sales of canopies, picnic mats, camping vehicles, etc. have doubled.

In addition, specialization, functionality, lightness and design are becoming new consumer trends. "Road bikers are becoming more professional and begin to pay attention to rim and frame materials, while hikers are more concerned about design and 'versatility' when choosing clothing, and personalized designs such as camping style, mountain system, and tooling style are becoming popular. Wu Yixia said.

Gold said that from the supply side to the demand side, we must continue to adapt to the new trend of outdoor sports development and cater to the outdoor sports consumer market, so as to promote the high-quality development of the outdoor sports industry.

There are many orders from enterprises, and the market is financed

"There are many corporate orders, and the market financing is active" is the answer sheet handed over by the outdoor sports field from 2022 to 2023.

In 2022, despite the overall decline in equity financing in the sports industry, the outdoor sports sector still maintained a high level of vitality, with the number of financing events accounting for 21.6% of the total number of investment and financing events in the sports industry, and 30.8% in the first half of 2023.

This reflects the optimism of social capital for the outdoor sports industry. Yang Xueyu said that through the analysis of the data of 7 outdoor sports listed companies, it can be seen that the total revenue of these companies has achieved stable growth in the past three years and has shown strong profitability.

In addition to the market pull, the rapid development of the outdoor sports industry has also been supported by multi-level policies. From 2022 to 2023, the General Administration of Sport of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the "Outdoor Sports Industry Development Plan (2022-2025)", "Work Plan on Restoring and Expanding Sports Consumption", and "Action Plan for Promoting the Construction of Outdoor Sports Facilities and Service Improvement (2023-2025)".

At the same time, the standardization of outdoor sports has been steadily promoted, and 11 national standards for ice and snow sports and 8 industry standards such as the "Guide to Sailing Events" have been issued this year.

Yang Xueyu said that in recent years, the development of the outdoor industry in the mainland has achieved a historic leap, and it is transforming to the whole industrial chain of mid-to-high-end, moving towards regional coordination and integration, and expanding to the integration of culture, sports and tourism, providing a new way for the transformation of "lucid waters and lush mountains" into "gold and silver mountains" and meeting the new expectations of the people's high-quality life.

"In the next step, policy support will focus on building outdoor sports brand projects, actively introducing more high-level and high-standard events, and promoting the vigorous development of outdoor sports. Yang Xueyu said.

Industry insiders pointed out that with the support of policies, the mainland outdoor sports market has huge potential, and enterprises are actively laying out various subdivisions, and industrial development needs to be jointly developed by all parties.

Ji Jianming, the founder of "Noke", believes that the outdoor sports market is experiencing a digital revolution, and people like to use smart devices to record and share sports experiences, which puts forward new requirements for future products and services.

"In my opinion, the future of the outdoor sports market will be more diversified and personalized, we must continue to learn Xi and innovate to adapt to market changes, and at the same time, we must continue to improve aesthetic design, create high-quality products, and refine channel operations in order to be invincible in the competition. Ji Jianming said.

Explore the road of integrated development of culture, sports and tourism

The "Several Measures on Unleashing the Potential of Tourism Consumption and Promoting the High-quality Development of Tourism" issued by the General Office of the State Council proposes: "enrich the business formats of 'events + tourism'", "promote the integrated planning and development of sports events and tourism activities, combine major and characteristic events, and cultivate the brand project of 'travel with the event'." "Special arrangements have been made for promoting the integrated development of culture, sports and tourism and cultivating new economic growth points.

"In recent years, the integration of culture, sports and tourism has achieved positive results, especially in the past six months, the cultural and tourism departments and sports departments have held many activities to promote consumption in combination with major sports events, and explored the road of integrated development of culture, sports and tourism. Ma Li, deputy director of the Industrial Development Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said that to promote the integration of culture, sports and tourism, we can start from both ends of supply and demand and find the right combination point.

Take Lijiang, for example. Since the 2014 Gryffindor Cycling Festival in Yunnan, Lijiang has been the final stop of the annual race. Because of the high altitude, dense slopes and strange scenery, the Lijiang station track has become the "ultimate test" loved by riders, and the magnificent snow-capped mountains and poetic ancient city make Lijiang a competition place that the runners yearn for.

Yin Liangqin, deputy director of the Lijiang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, said that "traveling with the event" has become an important reason for the majority of sports enthusiasts to come to Lijiang, and "one person participates, the whole family travels, one-day competition, multi-day stay" is becoming the norm, and the "flow" brought by sports events has been transformed into the "retention" of cultural and tourism consumption, which has driven local catering, transportation, tourism and other related consumption, and made the economy "burn".

Since the beginning of this year, Lijiang's tourism market has shown a blowout growth, receiving 56.7757 million domestic tourists from January to September, a year-on-year increase of 26.09%, 128.19% of the level of the same period in 2019, and domestic tourism revenue of 86.698 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 55.71%, 108.56% of the level of the same period in 2019.

"The cultural industry, the tourism industry and the sports industry are the main force of the modern service industry, with the characteristics of a prosperous industry and a prosperous industry, which can drive equipment manufacturing and promote the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries. Ma suggested that all localities can combine sports events to launch preferential measures such as exclusive scenic spots for athletes and spectators, catering, accommodation, and entertainment, so as to improve the conversion rate of local and surrounding tourism and stimulate tourism consumption. At the same time, it will promote the deepening of cooperation between cultural and tourism enterprises and sports enterprises, guide the development of sports training, sports fitness, sports and health care, and improve the level of creative design of sports equipment, sports clothing, and sports goods.

Reverence for nature and care for the environment

Harmonious coexistence between man and nature, outdoor sports is a good link, and the outdoor sports industry will also build a bridge between "lucid waters and lush mountains" and "golden mountains and silver mountains", becoming a way for green economic and social development.

The Action Plan for Promoting the Construction of Outdoor Sports Facilities and Service Improvement (2023-2025) proposes to adhere to resource co-ordination, ecological priority, and innovation-driven.

"Although the outdoor sports industry is not a high-energy-consuming and high-pollution industry, it will also have a certain impact on the surrounding ecological environment in the process of development, such as the garbage brought by mountaineering, the damage caused by fishing to the biological chain of related waters, and the waste of resources caused by the excessive operation guarantee of sports events. Zhu Hongjun, a professor at South China Normal University, believes that in the process of developing the outdoor sports industry, we must strengthen the protection of the environment and promote the sustainable development of the industry through various ways.

In October this year, the 2023 China Outdoor Sports Industry Development Conference was held in Dali, which also allowed Dali to see a path for future development. Yang Guozong, secretary of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture Party Committee, said that Dali will make full use of natural resources and diverse geographical environment to create outdoor sports cultural IP, such as hiking, mountaineering, rock climbing, cycling, marathon, kayaking, sailing, windsurfing, etc. "In this process, we will pay attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, emphasizing green travel, rational development of natural resources, and protection of the ecological environment, so that tourists can feel the harmonious coexistence of man and nature in the outdoor sports journey of Dali. ”

Windsurfing World Champion Pena Chan said: "I hope to encourage more people to participate in outdoor sports, which is not only about physical fitness, but also about interacting with nature. Only by participating in person can you truly feel the charm. ”

For the future, Huang Haiyan, a professor at Shanghai Sports University, is full of confidence: "The outdoor sports industry in mainland China is entering a booming cycle, which is an important field to promote the integration of sports into economic and social development, and it is also a bridge between 'lucid waters and lush mountains' and 'gold and silver mountains'." ”

"The spirit of outdoor sports includes perseverance, never give up, mutual assistance and cooperation, co-construction and sharing, active exploration, natural environmental protection and other rich content, which involves various states when human beings return to nature. When we turn outdoor sports into a way of life, we must remember to respect nature and care for the environment so that future generations can share it. The famous explorer Jin Feibao reminded.