Sports tourism has been established as a growing trend in the world. The segment accounts for 25% of the tourism sector income, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
According to Mundo Tour, Chile’s travel agency for sporting events, the country follows the growth of sports tourism worldwide with similar figures.
Such is the scope of this phenomenon in Chile that, according to the figures reported by Mundo Tour, sports tourism has grown at a rate of 2 digits per year, registering a total growth of 25% in the last 5 years.
In Chile, the male audience leads the statistics, showing their preference towards sports tourism. According to Mundo Tour’s data, 80% of the passengers are men between the ages of 30 and 60 years, where most of trips include friends, or fathers and sons.
“The interest of Chileans is definitely increasing over time, and while soccer is the sport that draws the most trips every year, locally and internationally, other sports that draw the largest audiences and are continually growing include tennis, marathons, motorsports, cycling, Grand Prix Motorcycle, Formula 1, or rugby,” says Raimundo Achondo, general manager of Mundo Tour.
Groups of friends or families are the most frequent clients for massive sporting events. However, the corporate market is becoming increasingly important as well, with the goal of building customer loyalty or offering incentives to promote and increase their own sales.
“Beyond this great current state of sports tourism, we estimate that it will continue to grow as the offer for new sport disciplines advances, expanding to less exploited niches to this day, beyond soccer,” concludes the manager.