China’s sports industry is expected to account for 0.7 % of GDP with an added value of 400 billion yuan in 2015, a senior sports official claimed at last Tuesday’s press conference held by the Chinese State Council Press Office.
Feng Jianzhong, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sport of China (SGAS), stated, "Going on the current figures, it is expected that by the end of 2015 the sports industry will basically realize the goal set by '12th Five-Year Plan', namely an added value of 400 billion yuan and accounting for 0.7 % of GDP."
“By 2020, the total business scale of the Chinese sports industry is expected to exceed 3 trillion yuan with an added value accounting for 1 % of GDP,” he added.
This comes after the Chinese government mapped out a plan last year, aimed at boosting the development of the country’s sports sector and growing it into a 5-trillion-yuan industry by 2025.
According to Feng, the SGAS has simplified administrative examination and approval procedures, abolished examination and approval of commercial and mass sports events and reformed the operation and management systems of large-sized sports venues.
He also revealed that the SGAS will also work with China National Tourism Administration ( CNTA ) to promote sports tourism.
Source: Xinhua
Proofread by John Devlin