With a rapid growth in demand from sporting enthusiasts, China is on track to become Sports Events 365’s largest B2B market in 2019, just a year after entering the market, the company said.
Sports Events 365, a leading force in tickets for sporting events of global interest, expects sales in China to top the $2 million mark this year.
The rapid growth of the Chinese market was given a further boost recently with the launching of a Cantonese language service in cooperation with Yoza Tour International Guangzhou for purchasing tickets on Sports Events 365’s website.
Cantonese is China’s second most widely used language and spoken primarily in the southern part of the world’s most populous country.
Last year the company teamed up with Ctrip, China’s largest online travel company, to offer tickets, using Sports Events 365’s independent and self-owned destination-based search engine.
“There is great interest of Chinese sporting fans in football, primarily in the UK, Italy and Spain, as well as interest in basketball, with most interest in the NBA in the US,” says Sefi Donner, founder and CEO of Sports Events 365.
He adds that Chinese fans have recently strengthened their demand for La Liga football matches, after China’s Wu Lei joined RCD Espanyol in January, becoming the first Chinese player in Spain’s premier league. Sports Events 365 is offering its Chinese sports enthusiasts a chance to attend an Espanyol training and meet Wu Lei.
The Israel-based company will be showcasing its rapid expansion in China at the upcoming Shanghai World Travel Fair being held April 18-20. During the show, Sefi Donner, CEO of Sports Events 365, will deliver a lecture under the title “How is Technology changing the outgoing Sports Travel business?”
This is the first time Sports Events 365 will be attending the Shanghai conference.
Sports Events 365 will also attend China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM) exhibition in Beijing from April 15 to April 17.
In April 2018, the company participated at COTTM, which is the leading foreign tourism event in China. The company also initiated activity on a B2B basis with 20 Chinese tourism and sports tourism companies for the direct purchase of tickets on a permanent basis.
The B2B activity is still at a very preliminary stage and has only started to tap the huge potential of the Chinese market, where there is tremendous interest in sporting events.
