The sports industry has become a major engine of China's economic development and is expected to give fresh momentum to the country's services growth, according to two industry reports released during the fourth China International Import Expo.

The reports were produced by French sporting goods retailer Decathlon and multinational accounting firm PwC, both of which are members of the sports industry special committee of the CIIE Enterprise Alliance.

Over the past few years, especially after the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, an increasing number of Chinese people, women and children in particular, have participated in sporting activities to stay fit, improve their moods, relieve stress, or socialize, according to the Decathlon report.

Their enthusiasm for sports has led to a surge in related consumption and a rapid expansion of the domestic sports industry. Data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that the annual growth rate of the nation's sports sector from 2016-19 was higher than 12 percent, outperforming GDP growth. The sector was worth more than 3 trillion yuan ($475.2 billion) in 2020 despite the pandemic.

The global sports industry's average growth rate over the past three to five years was 4.9 percent, and is expected to expand at the same rate in the next three to five years, the PwC report noted.

Another trend in China's sports industry that was included in the PwC report was the broad application of high technologies. For example, artificial intelligence and virtual reality has been widely used in athletic trainings.

By Zhao Luyang