Outdoor sports fuel a new consumption boom in China

A woman tries canyoning at a waterfall gorge in Yangshuo county, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, under the guidance of a professional instructor. (Photo by Liu Jiaoqing/Xinhua)

More and more people are heading outdoors to enjoy sports among mountains, lakes and seas. The steady rise in outdoor activity is also giving the consumer market a fresh boost.

The 2026 China Outdoor Sports Industry Conference was recently held in Beijing. According to a report released at the event, more than 500 million Chinese people took part in outdoor sports by the end of 2025, and related industries were worth about 3.17 trillion yuan (about $475 billion) in total.

The report shows that by the end of 2025, China had 182,000 fitness trails stretching 430,300 kilometers, and 2,626 snow and ice sports venues. As of September 2025, the country had 970 commercial climbing gyms.

Cycling is among the most popular outdoor activities. Peng Haibo, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Cycling Association, said that by the end of 2025, China had about 40 million cyclists, of whom roughly 10 million were active. Over the past three years, the country has hosted 3,248 cycling events.

Outdoor sports participants are also becoming more diverse. Monitoring data from 74 outdoor sports sites across the country show that in 2025, people aged 19 to 49 accounted for 76.16 percent of visitors, and women made up 50.82 percent.

As more people take to the outdoors, consumer spending keeps climbing.

In 2025, sales of outdoor, mountaineering and camping products on four major e-commerce platforms: JD.com, Taobao, Tmall and Douyin, reached 142.37 billion yuan, up 22.22 percent year on year and accounting for 31.68 percent of their sporting goods sales, according to the report.

In 2025, third- and fourth-tier cities accounted for 42 percent of outdoor sports spending, a sign that lower-tier markets are releasing more of their potential.

Changing demand is also pushing outdoor businesses to try new models. Yang Mulin, vice president of Decathlon China, said that as cycling grows more popular, the company has expanded services such as second-hand bike buybacks and rentals, so that people can ride in more flexible and affordable ways.

Outdoor sports are driving more than gear and service sales. They are also merging with tourism, culture and technology to create new consumer experiences.

Leveraging its mountains, lakes and ancient villages, Huangshan in east China’s Anhui Province has steadily developed signature events in road cycling, trail running, mountaineering and water sports in recent years. In 2025, the city’s sporting events generated 2.29 billion yuan in direct spending and boosted related industries by 4.18 billion yuan, Hu Meiyuan, deputy mayor of Huangshan, told the conference.

Outdoor sports are also opening new opportunities for tourism. The report shows that during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, the 13 premium outdoor routes launched by the General Administration of Sport received about 11.05 million visits and generated roughly 5.1 billion yuan in spending.