Report: Sports-Related Travel Generated $52.2 Billion Impact in 2023

A new Sports Events & Tourism Association State of the Industry Report reveals that sports-related travel provided $52.2 billion in direct economic impact in 2023, with more than 200 million people traveling to amateur and collegiate sports events, underscoring the power of the market to attract visitors across a variety of sports.

The report also noted that in 63 percent of destinations surveyed, sports-related travel is the top generator of hotel room nights in their communities.

The survey, conducted by Tourism Economics with support from Longwoods International, and sponsored by the Northstar Meetings Group, builds on two previous surveys, the latest of which covered data through 2021. The report covers travel to adult and youth amateur events, as well as collegiate championships and tournaments but does not include professional sports events or regular-season collegiate events.

“The sport tourism industry continued to grow in 2023, increasing by 7 percent over sports traveler volume in 2022,” said John David, president and chief executive officer of Sports ETA. “The number of sports travelers in America established a new high-water mark of 204.9 million in 2023.”

Among the other highlights of the report:

• The $52.2 billion is an increase from $39.7 billion as the industry recovered from the pandemic in 2021 and $45 billion in 2019.
• The analysis revealed that sports-related travel produced $128 billion in total economic impact in 2023, including non-direct and induced spending.
• The industry supported 757,600 jobs and generated tax revenue amounting to $201 billion.
• Sports-related travelers, event organizers and venues spent a total of $91.8 billion, including $13.5 billion on transportation, $10.9 billion on lodging and $9.7 billion on food and beverage.
• Sports-related travel generated more than 73.5 million room nights in 2023.
• Regions that prioritize sports tourism in their economic development plans have seen faster growth and greater stability in their tourism sectors.

“The results of the State of the Industry Report confirm what we have been saying for years: When it comes to travel, there are few areas of the industry that provide a more powerful economic impact than sports,” said Jason Gewirtz, vice president of the Northstar Meetings Group Sports Division and a Sports ETA board member. “Stakeholders in the industry should examine and become familiar with this data to make the case for more investment in their communities and events to serve this robust and expanding market.”

The State of the Industry Report was conducted using data from Tourism Economics and Longwoods International, as well as survey results from members of Sports ETA. For the first time, event rights holders and sports venues were asked to submit data to reach new survey conclusions.

Among the data collected were preferences by rights holders on how they decide where events are located. The top consideration for those rights holders, according to the survey, is host bids and financial incentives offered by a host destination, ranking even higher than the cost of a venue or the destination itself. Rights holders also offered data on how they book their housing for events and whether they employ “stay to play” policies to require participants to book in specific properties for events.

Data collected from venues reveals that nearly all hosted youth or amateur events in 2023. Venue managers also offered insights on their funding mechanisms and factors of a successful event for their locations.

Pulling data from sports-event industry stakeholders and economic data, the report also notes the 10 states that have the most activity in sports-related travel: Florida, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia.

“Each state played an integral role in sports tourism in 2023,” said David. “The addition of the Top 10 list of states generating economic impact with sports tourism allows us to analyze best practices for all of our members.”

The full report results are available to Sports ETA members at www.sportseta.org.