"The annual sales of domestic sports industry are 84 trillion won, the highest ever, 490,000 employees," Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announces the results of the sports industry survey

*This content was translated by AI.

The domestic sports industry's annual sales exceeded 84 trillion won, the highest ever.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Choi Hwi-young) announced the main results of the "Sports Industry Survey" as of 2024. The "Sports Industry Survey" is a national approved statistical survey under Article 7 of the "Sports Industry Promotion Act" and Article 18 of the "Statistics Act" and has been in place since 2010 to understand the size and management status of the sports industry. The survey was conducted in parallel with visits, faxes, and e-mail surveys on 14,000 samples out of 131,764 companies nationwide.

According to the report, sales of the sports industry as of 2024 were tallied at 84.7 trillion won, up 4.5% from 81 trillion won a year earlier. The size of the industry, which had been contracted by COVID-19, continued to grow for five consecutive years since 2020, the highest ever. The number of workers increased 6.7% year-on-year to 489,000 and the number of businesses increased 4.4% year-on-year to 131,764.

By industry, sales in the sports goods industry increased 6.4%, showing the highest growth rate, while the sports service industry grew 3.6%, and the sports facility industry grew 2.6%.

Within the commodities industry, sports-related non-store retail (online sales) rose 15.8%, sports and sportswear retail rose 8.0% and sportswear retail rose 7.4%. In the goods manufacturing sector, sports apparel manufacturing rose 7.2%, sports shoe manufacturing rose 6.4%, and sports and sports equipment manufacturing rose 6.0%.

Within the service industry, sales rose 48.3%, sports agent business (player manager) 28.2%, sports travel business (overseas golf travel, etc.), and other sports education institutions (yoga, Pilates, etc.).

Within the facility industry, sales growth was 18.0% for other sports facilities (tennis courts, table tennis courts, etc.), 13.9% for swimming pools, 13.0% for comprehensive sports facilities, 10.2% for bowling alleys, and 8.5% for golf practice ranges.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has set aside 288.3 billion won (248 billion won in loans and 40.3 billion won in funds) to help ease the financial crunch in the industry and boost investment. A sports tech fund (7 billion won in government investment) will also be established within the sports industry fund to foster technology companies intensively. In addition, the R&D budget will be greatly expanded (800 million won in 2025 → 6.5 billion won in 2026) to support artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation in the sports sector.

The detailed results of the survey will be posted on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's website in January.

As of 2024, the size of Korea's sports industry has continued to grow for five consecutive years since 2020, a policy officer at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said. "The number of professional baseball visitors exceeded 10 million for the first time in 2024 and exceeded 12 million in 2025, expanding the number of professional sports viewing." From July 2025, the use of swimming pools and gym facilities is included in the income deduction, which is expected to further increase public participation in sports and grow related industries. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, "We will continue to expand financial and technical support for the sports industry and strengthen a customized support system for each stage of growth of sports companies."

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*This content was translated by AI.