Industry News

The new "Su Chao" is booming, and various inter city football leagues are also starting in many parts of the country. At the same time, mass sports events such as marathons are landing intensively in the spring, and a trend of "event+cultural tourism+consumption" integration is sweeping across.

 

On April 11th, the 2026 Jiangsu City Football League reignited, with over 40000 fans flocking to Changzhou's home stadium for the opening match. During the weekend of April 11th to 12th, the popularity of the competition continued to ferment, directly driving a consumption boom in various fields such as tourism, accommodation, catering, and retail. Twelve key scenic spots in Changzhou welcomed a peak in passenger flow, receiving nearly 660000 visitors in total.

 

The platform data further confirms the popularity of 'Su Chao'. According to Meituan data, from April 10th to 12th, there was a significant increase in bookings for cultural and tourism events in the home city compared to the previous month's non match weekends. Among them, the booking volume of cultural and tourism in Changzhou increased by 64% month on month, Wuxi increased by 73%, and Lianyungang increased by 101%.

 

According to Feizhu data, the schedule of "Su Chao" covers the May Day holiday. During the holiday period, the booking volume of charter tours in Jiangsu increased by 45% year-on-year, and the booking volume of hotels increased by more than 50% year-on-year.

 

The recently unveiled Zhejiang City Football League "Wuyue Cup" has also significantly boosted local consumption. According to statistics from the Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the "Wuyue Cup" event combined with the Qingming Festival holiday resulted in a total local consumption of 1.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%, and a 23.63% increase in tourist reception in the central urban area. A cultural and tourism market will be built around the perimeter of the competition venue, gathering over a hundred stalls of non heritage cultural and creative products, agricultural specialties, and specialty snacks, with a single market sales exceeding one million yuan.

 

I've been busy since noon, and I don't even have time to take a sip of water. "At the" Wuyue Cup "Lishui District Cultural and Tourism Market, vendor Zhong Yueying was extremely busy, kneading dough, filling and pasting cakes. As soon as the crispy and crispy baked cakes were baked, they were quickly sold out by the surrounding fans.

 

Why can football matches break the circle first and release such strong consumption momentum? Wang Yuxiong, director of the Sports Economics Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics, believes that due to the extensive mass base of football and the availability of facilities, the football league can accommodate a much larger audience than other events, making it more popular due to its stronger consumption driving ability. The further driving effect of intercity football leagues on the consumer market also comes from many innovations on the supply side, such as the innovation of online communication marketing and the construction of offline integrated consumption scenarios represented by the "ticket economy".

 

Jiang Yiyi, Dean of the School of Tourism at Beijing Sport University, further pointed out that the urban league has entered the stage of "comprehensive flowering" in many places such as Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Sichuan from the "single point outbreak" in the Su Chao region, and is becoming a new national sports consumption scene. This not only conforms to the policy direction of national fitness, expanding domestic demand, and integrating sports and tourism, but also meets the consumption upgrade needs of the public for health, social, and emotional belonging, and can quickly activate urban consumption and enhance urban brands.

 

Not only is the immersive viewing experience gaining popularity, but the mass marathon events that consumers personally participate in are also a major highlight of the spring "cultural tourism craze".

 

As temperatures continue to rise, over a hundred cities across the country, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, are intensively hosting marathon events. Under the leverage of the event pivot, local "sports+cultural tourism" consumption continues to heat up. According to travel data, the search volume for marathon venues has increased by over 240% month on month since March to April. Due to the fact that most of the events are scheduled on weekends, the hotel booking heat in the host city has increased by over 60% compared to weekdays, and popular hotels near the starting and ending points are even "hard to find a room".

 

The Tongcheng Research Institute believes that marathon and other events are not only competitive sports, but also effective engines for driving urban cultural and tourism consumption and activating weekend economy.

 

Although the "traffic" data is impressive, experts also point out that related events still face many challenges in transitioning from "explosive popularity" to "long-lasting popularity", and the conversion of event traffic urgently needs to shift from extensive drainage to refined operation.

 

Jiang Yiyi believes that the hosting and operation of the event have high requirements for the local area, but there is a shortage of professional talents in some regions, and the market operation, brand building, and scene innovation capabilities are weak. At the same time, regional differences also need to be paid attention to. Developed provinces have high competition heat and strong consumption driving effects, while underdeveloped areas face problems of insufficient resources and limited effectiveness.

 

To further leverage the driving role of sports events, continuous efforts need to be made in multiple aspects, especially to strike a balance between participation and commercialization. Firstly, we must adhere to local conditions and retain the local, amateur, and people-oriented background. Economically weak provinces focus on rural football and county-level events, while cultural and tourism strong provinces focus on the integration of sports and tourism. Secondly, we need to do a good job in cross departmental coordination such as sports, cultural and tourism, business, transportation, and publicity to form a development synergy. In addition, we also need to avoid homogeneous competition, integrate local culture, cuisine, intangible cultural heritage and other elements, and create differentiated IPs, "said Jiang Yiyi.

 

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