The Function of Gaming and Esports within the Way forward for Journey

This sponsored content material was created in collaboration with a Skift associate.

Esports tourism is on a speedy rise, and it’s poised to revolutionize the journey enterprise. The marketplace for esports is huge, estimated to achieve 773 million users in 2025, based on information from Statista Market Insights. In addition, almost 318 million individuals worldwide are thought-about “dedicated fans” of esports, a determine that elevated greater than 20% since 2022, based on a separate evaluation of esports “viewers” from Statista, cited by DemandSage.

The explosive recognition of esports is just not solely an attention-grabbing story of speedy development in and of itself. It represents a totally new class of sporting occasion and is considerably impacting international tourism patterns.

SkiftX spoke with Saud Alwahhabi, gaming and esports advertising and marketing supervisor, Qiddiya Investment Company, in regards to the rise of gaming and esports tourism, what it means for the evolution of journey, and the way gaming and esports are elementary to Qiddiya City’s imaginative and prescient of making the world’s first metropolis constructed on play.

Qiddiya City is constructing a complete gaming and esports district, protecting 183,100 sq. meters of arenas, amenities, and a wide range of revolutionary applied sciences and platforms to facilitate gaming for everybody, not solely skilled esports gamers and avid followers, but additionally the uninitiated: the curious, the dabblers, and people who are simply searching for a enjoyable time out. As a future host of sporting occasions of every kind, together with esports, Qiddiya City can be a strategic enabler of Vision 2030, utilizing esports and gaming tourism as levers to diversify the financial system, entice worldwide audiences, and join Saudi tradition to international youth actions.

What Makes Gaming and Esports Tourism Different?

With sports activities tourism on the whole, individuals journey to attend soccer matches, tournaments, and so forth. Esports is not any completely different within the sense that followers need to be bodily related with their favourite gamers in individual. At the identical time, esports is exclusive as a result of there’s already a social side included with the stay streaming nature of on-line gaming, the place followers are extra immediately interacting with their favourite gamers than they’d be with conventional sports activities athletes.

“In that way, being physically with [esports professionals] in the same arena or the same venue has a different feeling,” stated Alwahhabi. “In addition, many esports tournaments host meet and greets, so it’s easier for fans to meet their idols. All of these factors are driving the excitement behind esports tournaments and tourism.”

This passionate fanbase is driving rising curiosity in touring to observe and take part in individual. According to a survey from Skift and Qiddiya City, 70% of Gen Z and Millennial vacationers globally stated that they’d be involved in planning a visit round a gaming and esports occasion, both to play in a match or watch one. In addition, the share of youthful vacationers who’ve really deliberate journeys round gaming and esports for the following two years has risen about 5 proportion factors, from roughly 24% to 29%, in comparison with the earlier two years.

Esports tourism has a novel skill to construct communities that transcend bodily and cultural boundaries. Fans aren’t simply sharing a ardour for the sport — they’re forming connections with individuals from completely different international locations and backgrounds, creating bonds that exist on an entire new stage. This sense of world belonging is fueling journey, tourism, and cultural trade, making esports not solely a aggressive sport but additionally a catalyst for unity throughout borders.

As a beacon of this rising tourism sector, the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 lately befell in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 7 to August 24. The 2024 inaugural occasion welcomed 2.6 million guests, and the most recent version outpaced this, exceeding 3 million, based on the Saudi Press Agency. EWC 2025 featured 2,000 elite gamers and 200 Clubs from greater than 100 international locations, competing in 25 tournaments throughout 24 video games for a record-breaking $70+ million prize pool.

Esports’ Popularity Breaks Cultural Boundaries

The explosive development of occasions and tournaments is legitimizing gaming and esports tourism. Professional esports gamers are competing for thousands and thousands of {dollars}, and there was an enormous improve in individuals attending festivals exterior of the competitions themselves. It’s an enormous business and a phenomenon that’s ascending past hardcore followers and opening new avenues to cross-cultural and cross-generational understanding.

In specific, gaming and esports tradition is reflective of the blurred strains between the net and offline world, which is having an unprecedented affect on tourism with a brand new demographic. And its development is reshaping the attitude of what gaming and esports tradition actually is. Fans should not solely tuning in on-line; they’re touring throughout borders to be a part of the stay expertise. One-third of world vacationers stated they’d journey greater than 6 hours to take part in an esports occasion, based on Skift and Qiddiya City information, and 58% of those that had traveled for such an occasion did so internationally.

“People have a negative stereotype of gamers as people who spend a lot of time online in their basements not doing anything,” stated Alwahhabi. “But that’s not reality. This is a real community, and it’s all about coming together.”

EWC 2025 has grown considerably over earlier years. For instance, in 2024, 180,000 individuals purchased tickets to the tournaments, however 2.5 million individuals visited for the pageant actions. So it’s a lot greater than simply the competitors itself. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the 2025 version raised the bar even additional. It was the most-watched within the match’s historical past, with greater than 750 million viewers tuning in, and 350 million hours watched. Multiple “hundreds of thousands” attended the tournaments in individual, and the occasion general welcomed 3 million guests to Riyadh.

Gaming and Esports: A Centerpiece within the City Built for Play

One of the foundational objectives of Qiddiya City is to assist individuals transfer previous the concept play is frivolous. Play is throughout us, in fact, however it’s a lot simpler to hyperlink play with video video games. So it’s not tough to clarify the affiliation between Qiddiya’s “Play Life” philosophy relating to gaming and esports.

“Not everyone is an esports athlete or esports enthusiast, but I believe everyone is a gamer,” stated Alwahhabi. “We all play games on our phones, computers, consoles, or whatever. And the good thing about Qiddiya City’s gaming and esports district is that it’s not only about hosting competitions and events. We’ll have areas where you go and you experience video games in a way never seen before.”

The metropolis will introduce a brand new style of gameplay for everybody from novices to consultants to individuals simply passing by means of.

“If someone is visiting to go to a theme park or a concert, they will pass by the gaming and esports district, and they’re going to want to try it,” Alwahhabi added. “It’s not like the esports tournaments where you need to sit and watch and need to know the mechanics of the game.”

From a technological standpoint, the viewing expertise for esports tournaments will likely be not like something the world has seen.

Alwahhabi gave an analogy about soccer to explain the distinction: “If you stay at home and watch a football match, you have some privileges that the people in the arena or stadium don’t have because you have replays, you have commentators, you have your own food, and comfortable seating. So you are getting something, and of course, those in the stadium will get very different privileges, like the atmosphere of people cheering and the excitement of being physically there.”

In esports, there’s the same expertise. Fans can watch Twitch or YouTube and chat with the gamers and work together with one another, however that hasn’t been capable of translate to the stay expertise but. However, it’s straightforward to see the potential for incorporating that connectivity stay in order that the advantages of watching a soccer match at house can’t be replicated in a stadium.

In different phrases, in Qiddiya City’s gaming and esports district, followers gained’t have these trade-offs, so esports tourism will turn out to be much more beneficial.

A Global Center for Gaming and Esports

Saudi Arabia isn’t just a participant within the esports financial system however a central participant shaping its future.

For instance, the truth that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman introduced the EWC places the importance of this sector on show. “We have so many announcements for so many huge projects, and he isn’t out there in front of every one,” stated Alwahhabi. “That’s been a huge thing for the older generation to see in the news.”

In addition, enthusiasm for esports throughout the nation has turn out to be a supply of nationwide satisfaction. The Saudi Team Falcons secured its second straight Esports World Cup title after topping the general standings with 4,900 factors, outperforming different elite worldwide golf equipment, with the Netherlands’ Team Liquid ending second with 4,200 factors, adopted by France’s Team Vitality in third with 3,950 factors. According to the Saudi Press Agency, “the Falcons have reinforced their status as one of the world’s leading esports organizations, continuing to raise the Kingdom’s flag at the highest international stages.”

Beyond the EWC, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has additionally introduced the first-ever Olympic Esports Games, slated to happen in Saudi Arabia in 2027, which is able to proceed enjoying an important function within the improvement of esports tourism.

In addition to revolutionizing the expertise of stay gaming and internet hosting occasions and tournaments the Qiddiya Gaming & Esports District is just not just for shoppers, but additionally for companies, working to draw gaming corporations in addition to flagship shops. This positions Qiddiya City as a premier vacation spot for esports tourism. Indeed, greater than 30 main online game corporations will make Qiddiya City’s gaming & esports district the location of their regional headquarters.

“We truly expect Qiddiya City to be established as the esports capital of the world,” stated Alwahhabi.

To study extra about Qiddiya City’s imaginative and prescient for esports and gaming, go to https://qiddiya.com/qiddiya-city/gaming/.

For intensive analysis and deeper insights into the facility of play and its affect on the way forward for international tourism, obtain the report from Skift and Qiddiya City.

This content material was created collaboratively by Qiddiya City and Skift’s branded content material studio, SkiftX.