On January 2-3, 2026, the glory of the king Challenger Cup Final and Annual Peak Night were successfully held in Sanya. The continuous holding of these two events not only presented high-level e-sports events for the audience, but also became a strategic practice for Sanya to promote the deep integration of "e-sports+cultural tourism" industry, creating a unique "e-sports festival" atmosphere for this tropical coastal city.

First, the event will ring twice, and Sanya will build an e-sports event weekend.

Through the Challenger Cup finals and the peak night, a coherent e-sports event weekend was successfully created. On January 2nd, Beijing WB beat Jinan RW Xia by 5:0 to win the 2025 the glory of the king Challenger Cup final, and Wenyang won the 2025 Challenger Cup final FMVP. Only one day later, on the peak night of January 3, the popularity of e-sports continued with a richer star exhibition game and an all-league award ceremony. This combination mode of "professional competition+award ceremony" not only meets the professional needs of the core e-sports audience, but also attracts the attention of the pan-e-sports crowd.

The two-day event has rapidly enhanced Sanya's influence in the field of e-sports. According to incomplete statistics, the two events have attracted more than 10,000 participants. In 2025, there were more than 50 hot spots in the the glory of the king Challenger Cup final, among which Weibo boarded 34 hot searches (breaking the record of hot searches in the Cup final, increasing by 6%), and the hot spots on the peak night continued to ferment.

Second, integration and innovation, e-sports elements are deeply embedded in the tourism experience

Sanya ingeniously injects e-sports culture into tourist scenes. During the Games, Sanya Bay Haiyue Plaza, Sanya Yongle Cruise, Sanya Blue Ocean Plaza, Sanya East Coast Luzhou Community and other business venues held simultaneous events, attracting more than 10,000 people to watch. At 8: 00 pm on January 2, 2000 drones were launched at Atlantis Hotel in Sanya. This scene integration not only enriched the tourist experience, but also made the e-sports culture penetrate into the city image of Sanya in a more natural way, helping to build a younger tourist destination brand.

Third, promote the virtuous circle of "promoting production through competition and educating people through production"

The successful holding of the two events attracted 18 players and coaches from KPL professional teams, the explanations and hosts of the glory of the king KPL's e-sports, the stars of the glory of the king's e-sports ecology, representatives from KOL, Daren and other industries to gather in Sanya. During the competition, many enterprises expressed their intention to land the competition in Sanya.

At the same time, in conjunction with the Institute of Physical Education of Sanya University, we organized a training plan for young talents of e-sports in Sanya, invited Tencent and industry experts to set up a practical course on the operation and management of e-sports events in Sanya University, and provided the the glory of the king Challenger Cup for on-site observation, so as to further promote the professional ability of local e-sports majors, help the city to transform and upgrade from "the venue of events" to "the industrial cluster" and form a sustainable industrial ecology.

The two-day e-sports event has ended, but its industrial effect and urban influence will continue to ferment. With the deepening of the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, Sanya is exploring an innovative path to promote the upgrading of the cultural tourism industry through e-sports.

This city not only provides the venue for the games, but also creates a new model of the integration of culture and tourism in the digital age, which provides the "Sanya Plan" for the national and even global e-sports industry and urban development.