THE city will hand out vouchers worth 40 million yuan (US$5.89 million) this year for citizens to reserve sports venues on the “i深圳” app, sources from the city’s culture, radio, television, tourism and sports bureau said.

A total of 1,359 sports venues across the city are available for citizens to book via the app by selecting “体育场馆预约.” These venues include municipal and district-level public gymnasiums, qualified school stadiums and private stadiums.

The online reservation for sports venues was launched on the “i深圳” app in June 18, 2022. By the end of 2022, Shenzhen had released sports vouchers valued at 50 million yuan through the platform, where it has received 2.61 million orders, bringing 5.97 million visits to the available venues. The vouchers boosted 300-million-yuan consumer spending in the sporting industry.

An insider predicted that this year’s vouchers will also spur the spending of as much as 300 million yuan.

In addition, the city is scheduled to organize many sporting events. Offline sporting events, such as marathons, speedboat races, regatta and cycling competitions, will fully resume this year. Shenzhen and Bao’an marathons are rescheduled to run soon.

The first Shenzhen Yantian Shanhai Half Marathon will open for registration Friday, sources from the event organizer said.

The half marathon is scheduled to be held March 26.

It offers a quota of 10,000 for half-marathon runners who will run 21.0975 kilometers and 5,000 for the health run, with a running distance of 5 kilometers. Registrations can be made before 5 p.m. Feb. 19.

(Chen Siqi)