According to data from the International Olympic Committee, around two million spectators will flock to competition venues scattered around Milan, the Alps and the Dolomites between 6 and 22 February 2026.

On the other hand, Summer Olympics tend to attract even greater numbers: 3.1 million tourists came to Paris to attend the Olympics between 26 July and 11 August 2024.

This shows how sports tourism has moved away from being a niche market, gradually taking its place as one of the most popular motivations for travelling.

Sporting events such as the Fifa World Cup alongside Formula One motor racing and rugby union’s Six Nations championship have become extremely popular in recent years, with millions of people willing to travel across the world to follow their favourite team.

UN Tourism shows that sports tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors within the industry, accounting for 10% of the world’s tourism expenditure and growing at a rate of 17.5% until 2030.

Meanwhile figures from travel specialist Collinson show that the market valuation for sports tourism is expected to double to $1.33 trillion by 2032.

So how can UK agents grab a bigger piece of this trillion-dollar pie?

Find the gap

For Ocky White Travel boss Mark White setting up his own sports tourism brand, Top Sports Events, was “a natural progression” as – being an avid sports fan – he realised how far people were willing to travel to support their favourite teams and athletes.

“Thinking back, I think the catalyst was the 2022 Qatar World Cup, as we were swamped with Welsh football fans who wanted to support their team in Qatar,” he recalls. “And that really brought it home to me how much people were prepared to put into these one-off trips.”

White’s comments were echoed by TTG 30 Under 30 alumnus Alex Catton, who launched his own tour operator Vedere Travel in late 2023 after 15 years in the sports travel industry. 

“I saw there was a gap, as sports tour operators were going through third parties, which didn’t make sense to me,” he adds. “Our business plan is based around everything coming directly from the source. There’s not a lot of middlemen adding different mark-ups for tickets.”

A year-round market

According to experts such as White and Catton, sports tourism is a lucrative business as it is not based on peaks but it’s active all year long and is very much drawn by what happens in any particular sport at any given time.

Catton tells TTG that, following Lewis Hamilton’s decision to drive for Ferrari this year, he has received many requests from people wanting to support the Formula One legend at his new team’s home Grand Prix.

“We’ve had so many enquiries for the Imola and Monza Grand Prix as clients want to go to watch Lewis in Italy,” Catton explains. “And it was the same with the European Championship when England got through to the final.

“We don’t have peaks like operators in traditional travel markets – we’re very reactive.”

Sports tourism has achieved mainstream status in recent years also thanks to streaming platforms and social media.

Documentaries released on the likes of Netflix or Amazon Prime have, in fact, expanded the reach of sports, giving viewers an insight into what happens beyond the scenes.

Meanwhile, social media has made fans more invested in the lives of their favourite athletes, making them more likely to travel to support their heroes.

“There are clips on social media for sports events, people can follow [athletes] on Instagram and see the behind the scenes,” says Simon Gee, product manager at Spectate Sports Travel.

“Social media is really causing an uplift in interest [for sports] and that translates into the amount of people looking to go to [sporting] events.”

Going the official route

So how can UK travel agents capitalise on this new-found interest for sporting competitions?

According to Gee, booking a sports tourism holiday is just like booking any other holiday: you need to find out exactly what clients want and work alongside operators to give them the best possible experience.

“There’s so much we can do in terms of packages, it’s all very individualised in terms of hotels and hospitality facilities,” he adds. “You can really wow people.”

Meanwhile for Alex Catton new-to-market agents should start off small and sell two or three main events, instead of packaging holidays for a myriad of different sports.

“We know events that are easier to sell and are also well-priced and accessible,” Catton explains. “So we would tell agents to market these events as we will give them full product training, covering all bases.

“[Selling sporting events] also allows agents to generate alternative enquiries and that’s a great way to get new customers.”

But overall, Catton and Gee believe the most important thing is always going through credited suppliers to spare customers unpleasant experiences.

“That’s why we have such a good relationship with agents because they trust us with their clients and we trust them to work alongside us to give clients the best possible outcome,” Gee concludes.