PBM Insight Report: Padel tourism reaches new markets amid rise of specialist operators

In line with the sport’s rapid growth across the world, padel tourism is experiencing strong expansion, with padel clubs and specialist operators alike aiming to cash in. While Spain remains the default destination in Europe, Italy and Portugal are attracting rising numbers of padel tourists, and elsewhere the concept is emerging in the US and across different parts of Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. But those seeking to tap into the rise of padel tourism need to have a clear strategy to be competitive. PBM Insight Report by Laura Syrett in London, Brenda Dionisi in Milan, Andreia Nogueira in Lisbon, and Paul Cochrane.

As participation numbers increase and padel courts appear in increasingly attractive destinations and venues, padel is emerging as a major player in the active holidays industry – including international travel packages. 

The main source markets for padel tourists are, unsurprisingly, northern European countries where padel is popular but which have colder, damper climates. These include the UK, but also Ireland, Scandinavia, Benelux and Germany.

“[These are] driving a lot of outbound padel travel, often to escape winter and get guaranteed outdoor play,” observes Miguel Coelho, who has been involved in padel globally since 2001 and is today founding partner of padel court designer and supplier APMX based in Scottsdale, Arizona in the US. 

Coelho, who witnessed the explosion of padel in his native Portugal before migrating to the US, notes there is also increasing movement within southern Europe, as players from France or Italy travel to Spain for intensive weeks of padel playing.

“Spain is still the default destination, because it combines a high volume of courts, quality coaching, and reliable weather,” he tells Padel Business Magazine, adding that other southern European destinations like Italy and Portugal are growing quickly as alternatives.  

Asia and Latin America are also emerging as both source and destination markets for padel playing worldwide. “We are starting to see long-haul ‘experiential’ offers in places like Bali, Mexico and the Maldives, where padel is packaged with wellness and high-end hospitality,” Coelho points out.

Padel tourism in the Gulf  

In the Middle East, padel is growing in popularity as a sport in the Arabian Gulf, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar.

The small Emirate of Qatar hosts several clubs and is looking to push padel tourism as part of the country’s overall strategy to boost sports tourism.

Alex Ponseti, a partner in La Pelota Padel Academy in Qatar, and managing director of the Padel World Summit, says the appeal of local padel attracts sports-oriented tourists, such as those visiting to watch the Formula 1 World Championship, which has been held since 2021, and to capitalise on the success of the FIFA World Cup in 2022. 

“Padel is a way to have more international exposure for Qatar,” he explains. “It's not moving as fast as in the UAE, but it is growing. They are looking at premium tourism, and focusing on Formula 1, as also premium.”  

Indicative of such tie-ups to promote the sport and tourism, Premier Padel, in conjunction with Qatar Airways, hosted a week of open-door padel matches attended by Formula 1 stars and global athlete padel enthusiasts in Doha, in December 2025 ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. 

“The Middle East is becoming a powerhouse for the sport with Premier Padel and the World Padel Championships taking place in both Dubai and Doha, which are increasing in popularity for padel holidays,” says Ponseti.  

Doha can capitalise on its 5-star hotels and outdoor venues to attract padel players, which make the city “a perfect location”, he observes.

However, with courts only outdoor, the appeal is limited to the winter months when temperatures are more favourable. “It doesn’t make sense to do it in any other season as it’s too hot,” Ponseti explains.

“Gulf countries have a huge opportunity, as do travel agencies, to promote padel tourism during Europe’s cold months. Qatar and the UAE have the padel clubs, good weather, good hotels, and the airports, so it is the time to start.”

The rise of specialist padel tourism operators

Across many of the established and emerging padel tourism regions, there are growing opportunities for companies specialising in this aspect of the industry.

As well as general active-travel companies adding padel weeks to their packages, and a growing number of resorts and hotels that now present padel as a signature amenity, there is now a small but visible group of specialist operators whose entire business is built around padel trips. 

These include UK-based Padel Travel X, combining elite padel coaching with travel experiences to destinations including Spain, the Canary Islands and the Maldives; Italy-based Weebora, which offers padel holidays to locations including Bali, Monaco, Argentina and Egypt; and Padel Travel, a Spanish travel agency specialising in curating unique journeys for padel enthusiasts in Madrid and Malaga. 

Of those offering long-haul padel tourism far from established padel markets, Malaysia is one destination looking to capture padel playing tourists from colder climates.

Louise Ward, director of spa and wellness at Datai Langkawi, a luxury resort in Malaysia, says its padel and tennis experience is proving popular with UK and European visitors, particularly during the northern hemisphere winter. 

For resorts like this located in fairly secluded settings, it is important to offer guests a wide variety of activities on resort – and padel fits the bill. “Padel is relatively new, but as a combination of tennis and squash on a shorter court it can be more user-friendly for our guests and is available for all age groups,” Ward tells Padel Business Magazine.  

US emerges as source and destination market for padel tourists

In the US, Las Vegas-based club P1 Padel advertises padel holidays in the city, with three-day structured padel programmes in “the entertainment capital of the world”, with the added attraction of concerts, high-end dining, luxury shopping and casinos. 

A Weebora note stresses that fellow US city Miami is also becoming a popular padel holiday destination, as its “padel scene is growing fast, with state-of-the-art courts and a community that embraces both locals and international players”. 

The US is now an important source market for padel tourists as padel brands and clubs encourage their players to travel for the sport and even operate as de facto travel agents. 

“We're seeing more and more of this tourism thing … putting together groups and going to different locations and kind of doing more of the tourism, but also padel together,” says Julian Wortelboer, who along with Cesc Caceres is a co-founder of Padel Smash Academy, a padel gear supplier in the US which also operates a padel club in Connecticut.

“I've been doing this for over four years now, at least once a year [where] we take people from the US into Europe to play padel,” he adds. 

Wortelboer explains that such brand/club-organised trips usually last a week and involve playing up to three hours of padel per day, usually in the morning, followed by local sightseeing and then social events such as dinner and drinks in the evenings. 

Popular destinations for US padel tourists include Spain and Portugal in Europe, but also Argentina. Wortelboer singles out Madrid for its particularly strong padel ecosystem, where padel tourists can play at multiple venues and even organise ad hoc games and tournaments between different clubs. 

“There’s so much padel everywhere in Madrid,” he observes. “They have so many different padel clubs and usually we jump three different clubs. We play with other clubs – it's super, super fun.” 

Alessandro Di Stefano, CEO and founder of Padel Travel, says Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Valencia are “still the go-to [cities] for intensive courses”, adding that a “great padel holiday is built on coaching, [professional] service, and flexibility” around what individual guests want to achieve and do on their trips.

Coaching a key element of padel trips

Coaching is central to most structured padel trips. “For many travelling players, the promise is not just ‘sun and courts’ but ‘come back home noticeably better’,” Coelho explains. “From a business perspective, coaching also helps operators differentiate and justify price.” 

He stresses that coaching-intensive camps are emerging as one of the most popular models for padel tourism. These are generally three-to-seven-day trips built around daily coaching blocks, video analysis, and structured match play, often with a clear level band such as ‘intermediate’ and ‘advanced’ club players. 

Coelho notes that other package types growing in popularity include social and lifestyle retreats, which combine a mix of padel, beach, food and city or nature experiences; tournament or event-based trips where travel is linked to amateur tournaments, exhibition events or pro tours; and resort-based ‘padel plus’ stays offered by upscale hotels where padel is a key, though not core, add-on.

According to Patricia Frost, CEO of Padel Travel X, the unique community aspect of padel as a sport and fitness pastime makes it ideally marketable as a holiday activity.

“Padel is ... more about connection, culture and lifestyle than competition,” she tells Padel Business Magazine. “Travel accelerates all of that. When players travel together, they play more, learn faster and build stronger bonds and come home more engaged with the sport.” 

Frost agrees with Coelho that Spain is still the standout destination for padel tourists, thanks to the quality of its clubs, coaches and facilities and also because it hosts popular competitions such as Hexagon Cup and the finals of Premier Padel.  

Frost points out that the UK, primarily a source market for padel tourists, has also spotted the opportunity to capitalise on portable elements of padel tourism’s pull factors to help it become a padel tourist destination.

While it cannot import Spain’s weather, it can attract tournaments, and the UK is to host a Premier Padel tournament for the first time in 2026 in London during August.  

Meanwhile, Hexagon Cup announced the launch of the Hexagon World Series at an event in London in December. The tournament will travel to different international locations, which are expected to include the UK.

How to offer padel travel variety

Padel tourism operators are also looking to adapt to players looking for diverse kinds of travel experiences.  

“Padel is played across all age demographics,” says Frost. “We see older people engaging with padel trips which also offer relaxation, corporates who want to embrace wellness, and a younger demographic who want to both engage with academies and party in Ibiza or Majorca.” 

Padel Travel X offers tailored holidays for clients, offering everything from ‘Padel and Wellness’ in Bali, to ‘Padel and Party’ in Ibiza as well as trips to world-class academies such as the Paquito Navarro Academy in Madrid, under the directorship of renowned coach Ramiro Choya.  

“We also have thriving club partnerships where we offer clubs a full logistical and operational service creating bespoke packages for their members at exclusive rates,” says Frost, noting that Padel Travel X offers partners “a generous profit share” from the experiences it organises.

Focus on more joined-up product design

While it is growing, Coelho observes that padel tourism is still a small slice of what remains a predominantly local, community-based sport.

And while it “can make a real difference to shoulder-season occupancy in countries with a strong tourism vocation and a mature padel industry ... it is still a long way from the scale of golf tourism, for example,” he explains.  

Coelho suggests the padel industry should focus on more joined-up product design, where padel resorts and clubs work more deliberately with specialist operators to create repeatable offerings such as annual padel weeks, women’s retreats, or corporate clinics, plus trips designed specifically for beginners. 

He also says padel could learn from the golf industry’s efforts to create famous destinations, such as Scotland and the Algarve, rather than just promoting individual courses, as well as tiered products for different price ranges and travel bundles, including transfers, rentals and insurance. 

Frost adds that padel has some key advantages attuned to modern habits and lifestyles that make it poised for rapid growth. “Padel is definitely the new golf, which may be just a reflection of our times in that it’s quicker,” she says. “People don’t really have the time or inclination to spend hours on a golf course, whereas a very energetic game of padel can be played in 60/90 minutes.”

Inviting friends to play padel overseas

Luis Teixeira da Silva, co-founder of the Nottingham, UK-based firm Padeltrips4u, which has organised padel trips in Portugal and Spain for over two years, says: “There are definite indicators that this touristic movement between countries will be motivated in part and increasingly by sport, and padel will play a big role in that.”  

He tells Padel Business Magazine that padel tourism is growing exponentially, considering the increasing number of spectators from multiple countries attending professional circuit matches and the growing trend of people inviting their friends to play padel in different countries, with around 15% of the padel community estimated to own second homes overseas.  

Padeltrips4u is trying to formalise and consolidate this demand by selecting clubs for organised trips that offer extra services, like meals; employing high-quality coaches; organising tournaments against local players; and offering cost-effective packages from £400 ($537), including accommodation.

Furthermore, by betting on major outbound markets, such as the UK and Ireland, Padeltrips4u offers easy and close access to destinations with direct flights and with clubs no further than an hour from airports and that also have covered indoor courts for rainy and hot days.  

Silva emphasises the importance of having a community to support investment. As a padel ambassador for LTA Padel (Lawn Tennis Association – Padel, the sport’s governing body in Great Britain), he has helped to create a regional travel padel community in the UK Midlands, encouraging players to visit clubs.

“Our first trip was with about 25 people all from our local community. They had a fantastic time because there were already people that knew each other and they were playing padel in a different destination,” he recalls.  

As for international travel, he says the market is boosted by padel players being converts from other racquet sports, who are often over 40 years old, with more disposable income and potentially a flexible schedule to travel. 

Padel tourism emerging in Portugal

Padeltrips4u has been generating padel hosting clients in Portugal’s tourism region the Algarve, for instance working with the founders of the club Padel Blu Albufeira before it was opened, testing the venue. “The hotel is now finally open,” he says.  

Silva believes padel tourism can learn from golf tourism in Portugal because people often want a hybrid experience, in which different members of a family can do separate activities while staying together.  

“Hotels are already learning that padel could be a very good additional revenue stream,” he notes, adding that some are replacing other sporting infrastructure, including tennis courts, with padel facilities.  

He cites a Praia da Luz hotel, in Algarve, moving away from tennis: “Whereas they had hardly any paid revenue for the tennis court, the padel court was always full.”

Per-Ole Borderhaug, CEO at Ferragudo-based firm Tennis & Padel Algarve, tells Padel Business Magazine: “We have been a DMC [destination management company] with focus on golf travel at the Algarve for the last 10 years [with the company Golf Algarve], and the padel concept was just released last year. We see a very positive outlook for 2026 with several pre-reservations received”.  

He sees padel in Portugal as a nascent travel market, with “very few clubs/resorts with sufficient courts to take care of groups and so far, not many tour operators having the knowledge and contacts”. He adds that most of them are based abroad or working with local partners.  

Borderhaug finds it essential to be there to find indoor courts when it rains, since there is a shortage of them.  

His company offers packages with accommodation, padel court times, training sessions and tournaments. “We focus on a combo of padel and discovering the Algarve and custom-fit the packages to the guest's preference,” he says, adding that his clients are people who play for fun mainly aged from the 30s to the 60s.

Padel helping drive sports tourism boom in Italy

In Italy, the popularity of padel is one reason the country is currently experiencing a sports tourism boom, both to padel locations within and outside the country.

Growth in player participation, new courts and facilities, major tournaments, and related spending is encouraging both domestic and international travel for individual development, sports competitions and leisure. This growth has contributed to the emergence of travel packages and agencies dedicated specifically to padel players, offering experiences both in Italy and abroad.  

One of these is Weebora, the Milan-based travel agency which is a partner of the International Padel Federation (FIP) offering full-service padel travel packages and group trips that combine training, clinics, tournaments, accommodation and logistics with cultural and other touristic experiences.

“Our strategy is to create packages that offer a mix of top-tier padel training and culinary and cultural experiences,” founder and CEO Fabio Zecchini tells Padel Business Magazine.

He observes that the reason padel tourism is having such a huge growth moment is because players seek the athletic part of the game as much as the socialisation part.

“Our travel packages are designed to reinforce a sense of community both while playing on the court but also during the ‘fourth set’, a padel expression inspired by rugby,” where players often enjoy a ‘third half’ of socialising after a game, he explains.  

Weebora group packages may include group dinners, cooking classes, museum visits and social activities, while also offering clinics at top academies.

Zecchini says popular travel packages are the clinics offered in Spain (in Madrid, Barcelona, Palma di Mallorca and Malaga) where players can train with elite coaches.

“Today, anyone can go and play with the coach of the world’s number one ranked padel player, and this is something you can’t do in any other sport; both Italian and foreign padel travellers like this idea a lot,” he says.   

Zecchini points to rising global interest in international travel packages to attend major padel tournaments, as well as demand for seaside and countryside resort-based padel holidays.

He also cites increasing interest from padel clubs across Europe who want to organise trips for members in Italy and abroad, as well as corporate clients interested in booking padel trips as a team building activity for employees.  

Similarly, Gopadel is a Modena (Emilia Romagna)-based travel agency founded by tennis and padel coach Filippo Montanari, who recently expanded from tennis into padel tourism. Gopadel offers year-round weekend and weekly packages in Italy’s most renowned tourist destinations.

Montanari tells Padel Business Magazine that clients are affluent, in their 40s and 50s, and willing to splurge on a three-day holiday playing padel in four- or five-star resorts.

He adds that popular Gopadel locations include Tuscany’s Maremma and Versilia regions and Elba island off the Tuscan coast, as well as the Riviera Romagnola, along the Adriatic coast.