Almost a third (32%) of the UK’s sports fans are planning on travelling abroad to watch international tournaments over the next five years
Football is the most popular sport to watch internationally and the upcoming UEFA EURO 2024 in Germany is the number one event sports fans plan to attend this year
A third (33%) of respondents intend to use international spending cards like Zing when spending abroad
Zing is perfect for sports tourism as it offers great, real-time currency conversion rates of only 0.2%, for all currencies and transaction amounts, any day of the week
UK sports fans are spending thousands of pounds to follow their favourite teams around the world according to a new study by global money app Zing. As we head into a summer of sport, fans are expecting to spend an average of £1,625.11 to watch games internationally this year.
Football is the most popular sport to watch internationally and the upcoming UEFA EURO in Germany is the number one event sports fans plan to attend this year (14%), followed by the Paris Summer Olympics (10%) and Champions League games (10%).
Overall, sports tourism is on the rise as almost a third (32%) of the UK’s sports fans are planning on travelling abroad to watch international tournaments over the next five years, a 12% increase on the number who have travelled to watch international sport over the past five years.
Looking ahead to next year, the Six Nations dominates the landscape, with 15% of respondents eagerly anticipating the rugby spectacle and rugby fans shelling out a significant £1,760.68 each on average to follow their favourite teams. The French Open and the Australian Open also feature prominently, with 9% and 6% of respondents respectively planning their visits.
More than a tenth (11%) of UK sports fans said that foreign exchange fees and difficulty spending money overseas is a barrier to international travel.
With the rise of international payment cards such as Zing, facilitating seamless transactions for global travellers, it comes as no surprise that 33% of respondents intend to use these services for their spending abroad.
James Allan, founder and CEO at Zing commented: "The UK is renowned as a nation of sports fans and this is evidenced by how many people are making attending games part of their international travel plans. There are a whole host of sporting events to look forward to this summer, including the Olympic Games in Paris. ZING has teamed up with VISA for this once-in-a-lifetime competition and is giving away the chance to win a VIP trip to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 for two people! Visit the ZING website and enter by April 26th to be in with a chance of winning”.
-ENDS-
Table 1: The top 10 list of sports that sports fans plan to travel internationally to watch in the next 5 years
1 | Football | 60% |
2 | Formula One | 20% |
3 | Cricket | 15% |
4 | Tennis | 14% |
5 | Rugby Union | 13% |
6 | Basketball | 9% |
7 | Athletics | 9% |
8 | Boxing | 7% |
9 | American Football | 6% |
10 | Golf | 6% |
Notes
To find out more about Zing follow thezingapp on Instagram, / YouTube and Facebook and Zing on Linkedin.
Zing commissioned One Poll to interview 2,000 UK sports fans between 4 and 8 April 2024
For more information contact us at: press@zing.me
About HSBC Holdings plc
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 62 countries and territories. With assets of $3,021bn at 30 September 2023, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.