With keen hope, the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing has kicked off. With the progress of the Winter Olympic Games, the athletes on the field have left a deep impression on us. Ice and snow sports have also attracted more and more attention. Skiing, skating and other sports have increasingly become people’s choices for leisure, entertainment, tourism and vacation.
The Winter Olympics boosted the development of the ice and snow industry. The relevant person in charge of Fosun tourism culture (01992. HK, hereinafter referred to as Fosun Tourism Culture) told the reporter of daily economic news that the holding of the Winter Olympics comprehensively promoted the agglomeration of China’s ice and snow industry to an unprecedented peak from the dimensions of industrial policy, consumer demand and capital inflow, As a global enterprise in the field of ice and snow leisure and vacation, Fosun tourism will benefit from the effect of the Winter Olympic Games.
Ice and snow sports market has huge space
According to the statistical survey report on “driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports” issued by the State Administration of sports, since Beijing successfully bid for the Winter Olympics in 2015, by October 2021, the number of participants in ice and snow sports in China had reached 346 million, equivalent to one quarter of the country’s population.
China is a market with the fastest growth rate of the global ice and snow industry. It is expected that in the next two or three years, more than 500 million people will participate in ice and snow sports in China. More than 70% (70.35%) participate in ice and snow sports for entertainment and leisure, and 15.78% for physical fitness
Image Source: screenshot of the statistical survey report on “driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports”
The relevant person in charge of Fosun tourism said that the upsurge of ice and snow sports has already begun. The approaching and holding of the Winter Olympic Games will push this upsurge to the highest point, and the effect of the Winter Olympic Games is only the beginning. By 2025, the scale of China’s ice and snow industry will exceed trillion. At present, Chinese consumers participating in ice and snow sports are mainly middle and high-end income groups, young people and junior and intermediate enthusiasts. These groups have strong consumption ability and willingness. In the future, this sport is expected to develop to all ages like Europe and America, and there will be more and more middle and senior skiing lovers.
In an interview with the reporter of the daily economic news, the above-mentioned person in charge of Fosun travel and culture believed that the convening of the Winter Olympic Games has increased the public’s attention and participation in ice and snow sports, greatly promoted the development of ice and snow industry infrastructure and surrounding industries, and effectively ensured the continuation of this ice and snow boom. Compared with the European and American markets, skiing, as one of the most important leisure sports in winter, has long been integrated into people’s daily life. Nowadays, with the improvement of residents’ consumption level and the progress of industry, ice and snow sports will also become a popular sport among Chinese people.
According to the Shanxi Securities Co.Ltd(002500) Research Report, China’s sports industry has continued to develop in recent years. In 2020, the total scale (total output) of the national sports industry was 2.74 trillion and the added value was 1.07 trillion. Compared with 2019 before the epidemic, the total output decreased by 7.2% and the added value decreased by 4.6%. It is expected to reach a market size of 5 trillion in 2025, occupying an important position in the national economy. In terms of structure, China’s sports industry has also gradually changed from the traditional sports manufacturing industry to the industrial model of sports manufacturing, sports service and sports consumption. People’s demand for new outdoor sports such as cycling, water sports, ice and snow sports, rock climbing, fishing, marathon and equestrian is rising.
In addition, the Winter Olympics will comprehensively enhance the popularity of the ice and snow industry in terms of ice and snow sports, ice and snow tourism, ice and snow equipment and investment and financing of the ice and snow industry. Stimulated by the supply and demand of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the return of ice and snow outbound tourism, the upgrading of tourism consumption and the national layout of ice and snow facilities, it is expected that the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China will reach 305 million in the ice and snow season from 2021 to 2022, The income of ice and snow leisure tourism is expected to reach 323.3 billion yuan.
The person in charge of Fosun tourism also said that the Winter Olympic Games not only greatly increased the popularity of ice and snow sports in China, but also promoted the rapid warming of ice and snow economy, including the rapid growth of ice and snow vacation, leisure catering, training business, learning tools rental and sales and other related supporting service industries, but also injected strong impetus into the region’s search for new economic growth points. “What Fosun tourism creates in the ice and snow field is an ecology and the layout of the whole industrial chain, which will help the company to share the dividend of the ‘spillover effect’ of the Winter Olympic Games in an all-round way.” The person in charge said.
High end and landmark ice and snow tourism projects are still scarce
On the other hand, the current global epidemic situation is still uncertain, which also makes the outside world have a trace of hidden worries about the vigorous development of ice and snow sports and ice and snow leisure tourism.
However, according to the relevant person in charge of Fosun travel, the epidemic has indeed had a certain impact on the ice and snow tourism industry. However, with the normalization of epidemic prevention and control in China, ice and snow tourism is also gradually recovering. The club med Changbai Mountain Tourism Co.Ltd(603099) resort, which has just opened recently, has been full for two consecutive days from January 25 to 26.
Secondly, the demand structure of ice and snow tourism is developing towards peripheral tourism and family tourism. During the ice and snow season from 2020 to 2021, local users account for about 60% of the tourist source composition of ice and snow tourism, and the localization characteristics of ice and snow tourism are more significant. At the same time, in terms of travel time, ice and snow tourism users tend to travel in the medium and short term. Among them, the users who choose 2-3 days of travel time are the most, about 49.4%, followed by the users who choose 4-5 days of travel time, about 36.1%.
In addition, in the view of the person in charge, the epidemic has also accelerated, forcing China’s ice and snow industry to develop in the middle and high-end direction. The main consumer groups of the ice and snow industry pay more attention to quality, quality and health. Therefore, in the future, the investment in the ice and snow industry should try to avoid blindly following the trend of low-end and homogenization, and should be arranged in the direction of high-end and innovation.
\u3000\u3000 “Thanks to the strong promotion of the Winter Olympics, China’s ice and snow industry has made great progress. However, compared with Europe and the United States, China’s current ice and snow industry is still in a relatively preliminary state. In terms of industrial chain layout, investment will extend to deeper links of the ice and snow industry chain. In addition to infrastructure such as ski resorts, ice and snow peripheral products such as ski equipment, as well as ice and snow training, ice and snow vacation and so on Snow service industry has great market potential. ” The relevant person in charge of Fosun travel said.
In addition, the person in charge also said that looking at China’s ice and snow market, compared with the huge ice and snow consumption demand and future market growth potential, high-end and landmark ice and snow tourism projects are still extremely scarce, showing a serious mismatch between supply and demand. In addition, the high threshold and difficult replication of high-end large-scale ski resorts make them more able to attract more consumers and have much stronger anti risk and competitiveness. Therefore, large projects are often more favored by capital.
