The 13th National Games of China kicked off in Tianjin on Aug. 27. Bearing the theme "National Games for a Healthy China", the event draws Chinese athletes both at home and abroad. It even includes 19 mass programs. The National Games of China has become a new platform that integrates competitive sports and mass sports and national fitness with national health.
Potential: create new economic growth point
Driven by relevant favorable policies, the development of sports industry and health industry will become an important driving force to create new economic growth point and promote sustainable economic and social development.
The 13th Five-Year Plan for sports industry development proposed that by 2020, the sports industry should exceed a size of 3 trillion yuan, and employ more than 600 million people. The value added of sports services should account for more than 30 percent. The proportion of sports consumption in the disposable income per capita should exceed 2.5 percent.
Wu Qi, guest researcher with the Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences said in an interview with the Economic Information Daily that the sports industry has become China's new economic growth point as well as an important carrier for promoting social employment. As the sports industry rose to a national strategy, demand structure adjustment, industrial transformation and upgrading, accelerating urbanization and undertaking of large events will bring new development opportunities for China’s sports industry.
Market: both the size and quality of sports consumption will rise
Sports consumption growth is accelerating. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that China’s total retail sales of social consumer goods in the first half of this year recorded 17.2369 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.4 percent year on year. Cultural office supplies increased by 11.8 percent, and sports and entertainment products grew 17.1 percent.
Wu Qi pointed out that with the continuously increase of urbanization rate, people’s income will continue to improve. Residents’ consumption will gradually shift from basic consumption, functional consumption to health consumption, experience consumption, which will release huge demands in sports industry. China's per capita sports consumption is expected to reach 856 US dollars by 2025.
"At present, China's per capita GDP exceeded 8,000 US dollars. According to international experience, when a country’s per capita GDP reaches 5,000 US dollars, the sports industry will see explosive development. Demands for sports will rise sharply. In this sense, China’s fitness and entertainment consumption have come to a critical point. In the next ten years, China's sports industry will continue to maintain rapid development. Its average annual compound growth rate is expected to reach about 22 percent,” said Wu Qi.
Based on this huge potential, the sports industry is increasingly favored by capital, becoming one of the important areas of industrial investment. "With the further marketization of the sports industry, private capital will make investment in the sports industry at a faster pace under the guidance and support of industrial policies. With the expansion in overseas market, especially the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiatives, enterprises with advantages in sports and advantageous brands and projects will enter the international market more rapidly,” Wu Qi said.
"In the future, the sports industry will cooperate with more and more industries. Its integrated development with tourism, media, exhibition, film and television will improve further. The sports industrial cluster will become increasingly prominent,” said Wu.
Outlook: health consumption leads to good life
An expert from the China Institute of Sport Science (CISS) said in an interview with the Economic Information Daily that mass sports have risen to a national strategy. It is essential and urgent to promote national health. The rapid development of society and economy, to a large extent, has changed the way people live. Sitting too much, few excessive, too much calorie intake and other unhealthy lifestyles become important hidden dangers that cause people’s healthy condition to worsen. Inadequate physical activity has become the fourth leading factor causing non-infectious chronic diseases.
"The need for health will stimulate more health consumption. Increasing health consumption has driven a healthy economy, promoting the development of the sports and health industry. Of course, the booming health industry also reflects the country’s pursuit of health,” said the expert.
Wu Qi pointed out that the population of people taking physical exercise in developed countries account for 70 percent of the total population, far more than the 48 percent in China. However, as people are more concerned about health and policy are encouraging mass sports, more people in China will participate in physical exercise. At present, China's sports population is 380 million, and is expected to reach 935 million in 2025, accounting for 65 percent of the total population to achieve the current average level in Europe and America.
Wu believes that in the process of the rapid upgrading health consumption, outdoor sports and e-sports will enter a period of rapid development, and will become more popular in the public. At the same time, the market’s demands for personalized sports services, as high-level sports events and targeted fitness training, are growing.
Translated by Coral Zhong
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