After the epidemic, outdoor sports became more popular in the United States
After the epidemic, outdoor sports became more popular in the United States
In the United States, which is basically out of the epidemic, outdoor sports are growing at an unprecedented rate， sports fitness .
European and American people have always been devout and fanatical in their pursuit of outdoors and sunshine. According to the statistics agency Statista, the overall profits of the sports and outdoor sectors in the United States have increased by more than 20% in 2020 and 2021.
However, this wave of outdoor fever after the epidemic not only stems from Americans' deep love for sunshine and sweat, but also reflects the comprehensive change of lifestyle.
Golf, skiing, frisbee and basketball, which were originally minority sports, have become the fastest growing sports in the United States in recent years. Sports enthusiasts of all ages have found alternative outdoor sports outside the gym.
In particular, PEAK, a ball game that combines tennis, badminton, table tennis and other elements, has become the fastest growing sport in the United States by virtue of its ease of use, low technical threshold and applicability to all age groups.
Plan B, which was originally only a part of indoor sports enthusiasts and athletes had to do during the epidemic, has become a new lifestyle for many urban men and women. Hiking without any equipment and technical requirements is the most popular. Hiking activities recorded on Strava have tripled in the last three years.
Running in spring, diving in summer, hiking in autumn, and skiing in winter, the growing enthusiasm for outdoors has also driven the economic growth of related venues, coaches, equipment, and tourism sectors.
However, a coin always has two sides. The current problem facing the outdoor sports market in the United States is how to transform the short-term outdoor enthusiasm into a continuous passenger flow, which is the key to maintaining new venues and jobs.
skiing
Back home, facing the comprehensive opening up, the domestic people who have been repressed for too long will inevitably start a "retaliatory" movement.
The recent popularity of skiing and frisbee shows that the domestic people have awakened their interest in outdoor sports, but there are still objective conditions to limit the scale of domestic outdoor sports to reach the United States, such as the lack of natural environment and venues suitable for outdoor sports.
The restriction of consumption capacity is also one of the stumbling blocks for the rapid development of domestic outdoor sports. The economic cost of group sports such as frisbee and basketball is still controllable, but skiing, tennis, golf, cycling and other sports with unlimited equipment requirements exceed the economic affordability of the general public.
In the short term, most outdoor sports will still be played by a few people in China. After Yangkang, if you want to go outdoors, it's nice to run two laps by the Suzhou River.
Although European and American countries restarted all walks of life six months after the outbreak of the epidemic, a considerable number of sports events were postponed, cancelled or restricted due to public safety problems, which had a significant impact on local people, communities and sports organizations.
Indoor and official sports activities are restricted, and outdoor sports naturally become solutions.
New York Adirondack Mountain Hiking Scenery
According to Axios.com, golf participation increased by 27% from June to December 2020; The number of tennis players increased by 22%; Compared with 2019, the number of outdoor hikers increased by 8.1 million; The number of people playing Frisbee also doubled in 2019.
In 2020, when little is known about the epidemic situation, outdoor sports that cover a wide area, have flexible participants, and are convenient to maintain a social distance of 6 meters are the best alternative for people who cannot participate in indoor and competitive sports as usual.
The enthusiasm for outdoor sports has not diminished with the popularity of vaccines and the realization of mass immunization in the United States. For example, in the past two years, the number one sports ball in the United States has developed rapidly with the waste heat of the epidemic. According to U.S. News, PEAK Global, which has maintained a growth rate of about 11.5% since 2016, will achieve a growth rate of 40% from 2019 to 2021.
The PEAK ball, which is regarded as a reduced version of tennis, is easy to use, has simple rules, and requires less physical strength than tennis. It is especially popular among the elderly. In fact, in 2021, more than 30% of the people participating in PEAK Ball will be over 55 years old.
In addition, alpine skiing, snowboarding and rock climbing are the outdoor sports that have rapidly warmed up in the post epidemic era and exceeded the pre epidemic level. According to the data of Strava's annual report just released last month, the above three sports have achieved 379%, 180% and 95% growth respectively compared with 2021.
The report also points out that the number of horse runners in 2022 is twice that in 2021, and Americans will also enter sports data when traveling abroad.
It is more intuitive to show that the vigorous development of American outdoor sports is the change of consumption focus. According to Forbes, the store data of Nike, New Balance and Converse decreased by 47%, 23% and 18% from May 2019 to May 2021.
In sharp contrast, the sales of outdoor equipment are booming. The sales of hiking shoes and mountain bikes continued to grow after the epidemic. Cotopaxi, an outdoor equipment brand, is the fastest growing sports equipment brand.
Although there are also industry critics who doubt whether outdoor sports can maintain the current strong momentum, it is undeniable that Americans are no longer satisfied with sweating in the gym and are more into nature.
The current wave of outdoor heat in the United States is not surprising.
Like the reason for the domestic jump exercise craze in the closing period in early 2022, outdoor sports were the "last resort" choice of the American people when the scope of activities was limited in the early days of the epidemic. Unlike in China, most cities have very low population density except big cities such as New York and San Francisco. Americans can enjoy the luxury of backyard sports and hiking in nature reserves.
Although strictly speaking, Americans have never experienced a period of closure and control, the cancellation and postponement of indoor sports, the restriction of competitive sports, and the avoidance of viruses at the beginning of the epidemic are also important factors for the American "retaliatory" sports after the opening up.
The sound of ambulances hovering in the sky, masks everywhere when going out, and distrustful eyes are unforgettable once experienced. At the darkest moment in the world at the beginning of the epidemic, breathing freely and moving limbs in nature is an important way to maintain physical and mental health.
In the later stage of the epidemic, outdoor fever is the epitome of the comprehensive change in people's lifestyle.
People gradually adapt to and prefer the mixed work at home mode, and many companies in Europe and America are also willing to provide work at home opportunities. The bedroom is the office, which saves people several hours of commuting time. Many people have formed the habit of getting up in the morning to exercise or doing something during the lunch break.
A research on sports and entertainment during the COVID-19 period conducted semi open interviews with more than 100 subjects. Pernilla, the subject, said that when he worked at home, he had more time to spend flexibly. Because he didn't have to commute, he also picked up the hobby of riding.
The significance of outdoor sports is no longer limited to physical exercise. For many people, hiking together and playing football have become a new way to socialize and enhance feelings with family and friends instead of drinking in bars.
Loella said: It's nice to go out for a drink with friends, but now I prefer to go out for a walk with friends, wander aimlessly for a few miles and then sit down for a cup of coffee. I hope to continue this way of life.
Strava's annual report also mentioned that people's time and distance for group sports increased significantly compared with individual sports. Obviously, sports are becoming a more in social way.
Of course, outdoor fever can not be separated from the change of people's health concept after the epidemic. Although many fitness venues in the United States were equipped with sterilized paper towels for consumers to wipe equipment before the epidemic, many members will also bring their own pads on the equipment where it is easy to contact sweat. However, the wide spread of COVID-19 has raised the public's standards of public safety to a new height.
As a place with low air circulation and easy close contact between people, the gym provides a hotbed for the infection of various viruses. No matter for their own protection, or for the protection of other more vulnerable individuals (the elderly, children) at home, many fitness enthusiasts choose to exercise at home or outdoors.
Outdoor heat is undoubtedly good for outdoor brands.
According to the latest global outdoor equipment market survey by the market research company technovio, the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.3%, with an incremental growth of about 4.4 billion dollars.
After the epidemic, people are more willing to take risks and integrate into nature than ever before. Outdoor consumption is infiltrating people's lives in various ways. Patagonia and Archaeopteryx jackets loved by the middle class; The Get Out camping tent with bold colors; Bandits headband full of artistic and primitive flavor, etc.
People buy these outdoor products not only for sports, but also for the spirit of yearning for the wild.
At the same time, tourism repair industry is also affected by outdoor heat.
According to the Outdoor Activity Trend Report of the American Outdoor Foundation, 53% of Americans over the age of 6 have participated in at least one outdoor travel repair project in 2020.
According to the report, the reason why people choose such relatively unpopular outdoor travel repair projects is that they want to motivate themselves to exercise, keep healthy, take a break from work and spend high quality time with family/friends.
Outdoor travel repair kayak
Whether you want to get away from the tense rhythm of the city, or want to change the environment for a short time, or explore new adventures with your family, outdoor tourism is more considered by people.
However, as mentioned in the report, how to maintain the return rate of passenger flow is a huge challenge for the industry. This challenge also applies to the entire outdoor industry. From the three minute hot Frisbee in China, it can be seen that whether people are passionate about the outdoors or not depends on the guidance and maintenance of the environment and community, and more on the individual
