Something curious is happening in travel right now. People are booking trips not just for beaches or landmarks, but for a relatively obscure sport most of them have never heard of a decade ago. Padel, a hybrid between tennis and squash, is quietly becoming one of the most potent drivers of global sports tourism, and the numbers backing this shift are hard to ignore.
The International Padel Federation released new data showing that 35 million people now play padel worldwide, and court capacity jumped over 15% in a single year alone, bringing the global total to 77,000 courts spread across 24,627 clubs and facilities. What makes this growth remarkable isn't just the scale, but where these courts are appearing. Hotels, apartment complexes, and resorts are treating padel facilities as anchor amenities, the way some properties once banked on championship golf courses.
Europe is dominating the padel map
Europe leads by a landslide with over 51,000 courts. Spain and Italy have the market locked down with mature, established padel cultures. But the real opportunity for travelers lies in the emerging markets. Eastern European nations are in their startup phase, and smaller countries are catching up fast. Switzerland added 400 courts recently. Greece and Austria each gained 300. Lithuania, Cyprus, and Ireland are all ramping up court construction.
This matters for travelers because these nations have something tennis-obsessed countries don't: space constraints that favor padel. Mountains, dense urban centers, limited real estate - padel courts fit into compact spaces where traditional tennis courts simply won't squeeze. That means destinations that could never compete in the tennis tourism arena now have a shot.
The Americas have 18,500 courts, with Mexico and Florida seeing explosive growth. Asia is still early, sitting at just over 4,500 courts, though Saudi Arabia is emerging as a regional leader. This geographic spread means padel trips are no longer confined to Spain or Portugal.
How one travel operator rode the padel wave
Luciano Cestari runs LC Tennis and Padel Holidays from the UK, and his business is telling a story worth paying attention to. Back in 2021, his holiday packages split evenly between tennis and padel, fifty-fifty. Fast forward to 2026, and nine out of ten of his offerings will be padel-centric. He already operates programs in Portugal and Menorca, is expanding into Italy next year, and watched the sport explode from his native Argentina long before most of the world noticed it.
This shift reflects something deeper: players now want to practice their sport while traveling, and the supply of quality courts in appealing destinations is finally catching up to demand.
The tournament circuit is fueling travel too
More players means more spectators, and tournaments are drawing travelers from dozens of countries. The FIP organizes Premier Padel and the CUPRA FIP Tour, along with World and Continental Cups. A brand-new amateur circuit, FIP Beyond, launches in 2026, opening up tournament travel to weekend warriors. These events have been hosted everywhere from Seville to Kuwait, proving that padel travel doesn't require predictable destinations.
What's striking is how deliberately the padel federation is stewarding this growth. FIP President Luigi Carraro emphasizes that expansion comes with responsibility - to keep the sport accessible, inclusive, and respectful as it scales. That philosophy shapes how destinations are developing their padel infrastructure, which explains why you're seeing grassroots growth in smaller markets rather than just massive resort developments in tourist hotspots.
For travelers, this means the next wave of sports vacations won't just be golf retreats in Scotland or tennis camps in California. Small towns in Lithuania could become padel destinations. A quiet corner of Greece might host a tournament that draws your crew. The sport's openness to any geography means your next active holiday might be somewhere you'd never considered before.
