The 2017-2018 ski season is drawing to a close, and ski resorts are wrapping up operations and conducting reviews.
This season, China’s ski market is not looking optimistic—tourist numbers have not seen the significant growth we had hoped for.In some areas, they’ve even declined slightly or remained at the same level as last year.
Below are some data points obtained from tourism bureaus and ski resort managers, along with our analysis.
The first set of data comes from Yabuli (Sanshan) in Heilongjiang.
As of mid-March, Yabuli had hosted over 700,000 ski visits, showing a slight increase compared to the same period last year.Yabuli is a typical destination-style ski resort focused mainly on tourism and sightseeing, with skiing as a secondary activity. Most visitors come from southern China, accounting for 90% of the market share.
We conducted research into the reasons for Yabuli’s slow growth. The most critical factor is the “southern expansion and western spread” of China’s ski market—such as the rise of urban fringe ski resorts, indoor ski facilities, and the development of ski areas in high-altitude southern regions. These options allow many city residents to experience snow and ice without leaving home, which has diverted some potential skiers away from traditional destinations like Yabuli.
Yabuli Ski Resort
The second set of data comes from Chongli.
Chongli has seven major ski resorts. As of the end of February 2018, the area had around 800,000 ski visits, a figure that has declined compared to previous years.
Chongli is a “ski resort” region focused on ski vacations, different from Yabuli’s “ski tourism” model, and it mainly attracts visitors from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and nearby areas.Most of these visitors already have a certain level of skiing skill or past experience and come mainly for weekend getaways.
We also conducted surveys and analysis on the reasons behind the slow growth in Chongli’s ski market:
The primary reason is that China’s ski market is still largely in the “experience” phase, and ski vacations haven’t yet become mainstream.
The second reason is transportation limitations—most people still drive to Chongli themselves, as getting there by train or plane is not very convenient. This significantly restricts market development in southern China.
The third issue is that Chongli lacks diverse or well-integrated tourism resources. Aside from skiing, there aren’t many other attractions, which limits the overall development of the ski tourism market.
The third set of data comes from Beijing and Taiyuan.
These are typical “experience-based” ski areas where visitors come mainly for leisure and trying out the sport. We didn’t gather comprehensive ski visit numbers for these areas, but we conducted separate research at several representative ski resorts. The results showed either a slight decline, status quo, or minor increases compared to the same period last year.
Beijing Nanshan Ski Resort
Besides the key regions mentioned above, we also surveyed other ski resorts.Overall, the growth in the number of skiers hasn’t kept pace with the increase in the number of ski resorts. This is an issue that ski resort operators need to deeply consider and pay attention to.
Why hasn’t the ski market experienced explosive growth—despite rising living standards, national policy support, and the backdrop of the Winter Olympics—instead moving forward slowly? We’ve done some analysis, and here are our findings for your reference.
First point: Skiers’ first impressions are often poor.
This is an issue at nearby or suburban ski resorts. First impressions come from two aspects: sensory perception and service experience.
Visually and atmospherically, many ski resorts create a gap between expectation and reality. Currently, China claims to have over 700 ski resorts, but more than 500 of them cover less than 5 hectares. These small sites develop just a few runs, a snow play area, and some basic equipment—and yet market themselves as ski resorts. Exaggerated advertising draws consumers in, only to leave them disappointed and questioning what they thought a ski resort should be.
Poor experiences are also due to a talent shortage that can’t keep up with the rapid development of ski resorts.The industry currently lacks skilled ski management professionals, and the quality of ski instruction varies widely—resulting in first-time skiers having less-than-ideal experiences and forming the impression that “skiing is just so-so.”
In recent years, ski resorts were booming because skiing was still a novel sport—something people hadn’t tried before. But after giving it a go, they found it was just so-so, and gradually their curiosity and enthusiasm faded. The combination of these factors, spread by word of mouth, ended up tarnishing skiing’s reputation.
This is the typical situation for suburban ski resorts. Although they initially cultivated a large number of skiing tryouts, they also left a poor impression on skiers and failed to convert them into enthusiasts. Beijing’s Nanshan and Jundu Mountain resorts have done a great job in this regard—their slopes may be small, but they’ve optimized both service and environment to the utmost, so their market remains relatively stable.
Second point: The positioning issue of ski resorts
Whether skiing is considered a sport or a form of tourism has always been ambiguous, with no clear definition from the government. As ski resort operators, we tend to define it as a sport because only by labeling it as such can we firmly engage consumers—who will then participate frequently, just like with fitness, badminton, or swimming.
If it’s treated as tourism, consumers might only try it once and not return often. That’s why many ski resorts avoid promoting tourism and instead push the sports angle. According to China’s Ski Industry White Paper,China has around 12.1 million skiers, but approximately 17.5 million ski visits—meaning first-time or one-off participants account for as much as 75%.This shows that consumers view skiing as leisure or tourism rather than a sport, creating a disconnect between them and the operators. The mismatch in supply and demand prevents the market from growing larger.
Chongli Thaiwoo Ski Resort
We also conducted research and found that the reason consumers treat skiing as a one-time experience is inherent to the nature of the sport. Skiing takes place in the cold winter, sometimes with strong winds. People are already reluctant to go out in winter, and when you add in the wind and potential sports injuries from skiing, getting consumers to see it as a sport is quite challenging.
Therefore, as ski resort managers, we need to realize that since we currently can’t change consumer habits,we should adapt to them by developing more ice and snow tourism products, enriching our offerings, and enhancing the entertainment and fun aspects of skiing.What we’re providing isn’t just a sports venue but an entertainment space—and then gradually guide and shift consumer habits over time.
Yabuli is a prime example. It targets tourism, and as a result, its visitor numbers haven’t declined but have actually increased.
Third point: Cross-industry competition
For the skiing industry, our biggest competition isn’t from other ski resorts but from other industries altogether. It’s like how banks’ biggest rivals aren’t other banks but Alipay and WeChat.
So where does our competition come from?—Online gaming. A report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on August 4, 2017, titled “Statistical Report on the Development of China’s Internet,” showsthat China currently has 750 million internet users, among whom 422 million are online gamers, making it the world’s largest gaming market.The CCTV-2 program “China Economic Life Survey 2017–2018: The Happiness Index” revealedthat 50.36% of Chinese people spend their leisure time mainly online..
We therefore believe this is the main reason consumers aren’t getting out more. To verify this, we surveyed consumers from the post-70s, 80s, and 90s generations and found that 50% of them are unwilling to go out in winter (largely consistent with the above)—they’d rather stay home surfing the web or playing games.
Chongli Fulong Ski Resort
However, we also got a very satisfying result: they don’t want their children to get addicted to online games and hope they’ll engage more in physical activities and outdoor play.This also reminds us—if we capture the kids’ market, we’ll capture the parents too. To expand the skiing market, we must start with the younger generation. Therefore, we believe family-friendly ski trips could be the breakthrough for this industry.
Even though this year hasn’t been as booming, we shouldn’t worry too much. The CCTV-2 “China Economic Life Survey 2017–2018: The Happiness Index” shows that in 2017, China’s total tourism volume reached 5 billion trips, ranking first in consumption for four consecutive years—equivalent to an average of 3.7 trips per person per year. Consumer enthusiasm for travel is still on the rise; we just need to put in some effort to carve out a bigger share of those 5 billion trips.