China's 15th Five-Year Plan to Boost Sports Supply as Outdoor Spending Tops 1 Trillion Yuan in 2025

The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan proposes enriching the supply of quality sports products and services, encouraging the development of the event economy, and promoting the safe and orderly opening of waters, airspace, and mountainous areas for outdoor sports. It also aims to consolidate and expand the achievements of the "driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" initiative, with the goal of advancing the high-quality development of the sports industry.

In 2025, China recorded over 800 million visits for outdoor sports, with total consumer spending exceeding 1 trillion yuan. Market space in segments such as sports equipment, training, and event organization continued to grow. Activities like cycling, trail running, rock climbing, diving, and ice and snow sports have gradually moved from niche circles to mainstream popularity, while public demands for equipment quality, venue conditions, professional guidance, and safety assurance have risen.

In 2024, the total scale of the national sports industry reached 3.8421 trillion yuan, with the manufacturing and sales of sports goods generating 2.085 trillion yuan, accounting for 54.3% of the industry's total output. Service sectors such as event operations, fitness and leisure, and sports training remained relatively small, indicating that tangible goods still dominate residents' sports consumption, with a notable shortfall in service supply.

Structural imbalances persist in the supply of sports products and services. High-quality sports facilities are concentrated in developed eastern regions and urban centers, while infrastructure in central, western, and rural areas remains relatively weak. Ice and snow venues primarily operate in winter, with significant idle capacity in non-snow seasons, and water and mountain outdoor sports exhibit similar seasonal patterns.