Will China’s Beijing Winter Olympics spur a snow sports boom in the world’s No 2 economy?
- China has tried to boost its snow sport economy since winning the bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics, throwing huge sums at related infrastructure
- Snow sports tourists are expected to reach 300.5 million in 2021-22, with ice-snow tourism revenue forecast to hit 323 billion yuan (US$50.7 billion)
Two years into the coronavirus pandemic and with the Beijing Winter Olympics just around the corner, Nartay Li has seen more visitors flocking to the General Mountain ski resort in northwest China than ever before.
Before the global pandemic, the Alps and Japanese ski resorts were favourite destinations for middle-class Chinese skiers, but border restrictions have forced them to turn to domestic ski fields.
“It has led to not only a very high number of visitors to domestic resorts, but also a growing percentage of senior skiers,” said Li, who works as a facility keeper at the ski resort in the city of Altay.
“In the past two years, I’ve seen more and more skilled skiers to the resort, and their equipment has grown far more professional and expensive than what we offer.”
Even the most basic of skis can cost 10,000 yuan (US$1,570), he added.
A strong showing by Chinese athletes at the Games could help encourage further involvement in winter sports.
Snow sports tourists are expected to reach 300.5 million during the 2021-22 winter season, with ice-snow tourism revenue forecast to hit 323 billion yuan (US$50.7 billion), according to a report released by the China Tourism Academy early last month.
Joe Song, a Beijing-based engineer in his early 40s, tried skiing for the first time during the 2019-20 season.
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“I was not in good health at that time,” he said. “My doctor suggested that I do more exercise. I had no better choice than skiing as outdoor exercise in winter.
“But when I glided along on the skis and gained speed, the excitement and thrill were far beyond my expectations.”
Skiing is now his favourite winter hobby – somewhat of a surprise as he was never a fan of China’s colder months.
Since he developed a passion for the snow, Song has spent more than 12,000 yuan on skis and taken advantage of subsidised ski passes from local governments.
“Every year once we get into October I eagerly wait for snow and hope for early opening of ski resorts, ” said Song, who has joined ski clubs on Chinese social media, where members exchange tips and information.
It’s a big market. People have a high willingness to spend tens of thousands of yuan on professional gear, buy air tickets and book hotels
Chinese travel booking site Ctrip said user-generated content among its skiing community grew 224 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year from a year earlier. For 12 days from December 20 last year, bookings for ski resorts grew sixfold.
According to Little Red Book, a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform, one of the “Top 10 Life Trends in 2022” is skiing tutorials. Search volumes for the term more than doubled over the course of 2021.
The platform has also launched a campaign calling on users to share skiing tutorial content and get the opportunity to win a 500,000 yuan reward.
“It’s a big market. People have a high willingness to spend tens of thousands of yuan on professional gear, buy air tickets and book hotels at our ski resort in a remote location,” Li said.
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To underline the growing demand, New Oriental Education, one of China’s largest private education providers, invested more than 10 million yuan in June last year in snow sports training.
Local governments like Altay have introduced several policies, including public ski classes in anticipation of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
“We conduct free public service classes every two weeks to teach students how to ski, in addition to the various folk competitions that we often hold at our ski resort,” said Li.
Zhang Xiaohei, who has been in the ski business for 10 years and works as an instructor at a resort in Hakuba, Japan, said although China is a late comer to the market, it also has advantages.
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“Japan is world-renowned for its ski resorts, but it was also built too early, resulting in infrastructure that is very backward,” he said, adding China’s ski resorts could soon surpass Japan’s in terms of quality facilities.
Though China’s ski industry is coming on in leaps and bounds, Zhang said more needs to be done to promote safety awareness among beginners.
Instructors’ qualifications in China do not differ majorly from those abroad, but Chinese skiers are less likely to seek out a teacher to learn from, he added.
“Many cases of skiing injuries are caused by such beginners,” he said.
