Full Throttle on the Silk Road: China's New Love for Sports and the Outdoors

1. ISPO Sports Park creates festival feeling
2. China also mixes urban with outdoor
3. New development and new ideas for the market
4. Trend forecasts, exchange of experience, case analyses
5. After ISPO is before ISPO

"When the wind of change blows, some build walls and others windmills." After ISPO Shanghai 2023, the well-known Chinese proverb could be understood as a call to the sports and outdoor industry to look very closely at developments in Asia and to use the resulting opportunities wisely.

After the strict Covid-19 restrictions were finally lifted in China, 140 international brands didn't want to miss their chance to revive their contacts to China at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. The trade show featured outdoor sports, camping and vanlife, water and winter sports, cycling, climbing, urban sports and everything related to sporty lifestyle. New brands introduced themselves, new products and new technologies excited the audience. Forums and lectures were also held on current topics such as sports and tourism, sports fashion, international exchange between industries and international marketing. With its festival concept, the newly opened "ISPO Sports Park" ignited the participants' enthusiasm for sports and gave new momentum to the industry. "Through the exhibition and interaction in the past three days, we are happy and proud to see that everyone at ISPO Shanghai has gained something. The sports lifestyle industry in China is on the fast track," said Ms. Xu Jia, General Manager of Messe Muenchen Shanghai Co, Ltd. and CEO of Messe Muenchen (Greater China).

The return of international brands clearly reflects the stable development of the Chinese consumer sports market. Water sports in particular have recently taken a big leap, with many destinations in China building water sports facilities. As a result, the exhibition space of the 2023 Water Sports Fair has doubled. Product testing, competitions and other activities were continuously held in the large pool and surf simulation machine, which were set up for the first time at ISPO Shanghai. The area was always crowded with sports enthusiasts ready to have a new experience.

The sporting lifestyle has become popular among Chinese people, and these changes have encouraged the industry to keep up. At ISPO Shanghai 2023, outdoor apparel brands have introduced trendier, younger-looking designs, allowing wearers to switch between urban and outdoor identities anytime, anywhere.

Industrial development has its cycles and phases. This requires two things in particular: modernization of the industry structure and strong new impulses. Therefore, ISPO Shanghai 2023 has developed new concepts and perspectives for itself, which are implemented from strategic layout to event design.

1. ISPO has not only expanded the core exhibition categories that reflect the lifestyle of mass sports. ISPO has also created themed areas that embrace this concept and spirit. From outdoor camping between the mountains and the sea to sports facilities in the cities: All this is now linked by "sports tourism," creating a balance between people, styles and contexts.
2. Lifestyle was not neglected either. The "ISPO Sports Park" not only showcased sporting elements such as cycling, Frisbee and horseback riding, but also lifestyle products such as coffee, wine and RV travel. Together with local communities, organizations and companies, ISPO Shanghai also organized sports events and parties. In doing so, it created a "night economy" and enabled new interactive experiences for participants*. One of them: a mass fitness dance competition.

This year, ISPO Shanghai organized conferences and forums on three topics: Sports Tourism, Sports Fashion Trends and the International Market Expansion of Chinese Sporting Goods Brands.

The platform helped the industry address the following challenges:

• integrated development of sports and tourism
• Expansion of market channels
• Sports fashion trends
• consumer profiling
• design of cross-border e-commerce platforms

ISPO Shanghai is developing into an increasingly comprehensive and diverse platform. This was also demonstrated by the partnership with the Chinese electric car brand NIO. In the future, the trade show will continue to uphold its original mission and provide better and guaranteed services to the industry. The next ISPO Shanghai will open in the summer of 2024 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. Even before that, ISPO Nanjing 2023 will be held at Nanjing International Exhibition Center from August 4 to 6, refreshing the hot summer in Nanjing with even more wind of change.