Skiers at the Shanglianggang ski resort in Fenghua. [Photo by Tang Yan]
By Dong Na
With the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in full swing, Chinese people's passion for winter sports has extended to the industries: skating and skiing, tourism, education, training, and equipment manufacturing... It is estimated that the total size of China's winter sports industry will reach one trillion yuan.
Although Ningbo's winter sports industry started late, with the help of strong manufacturing advantages and a large consumer population, it is stepping on a new track to pursue the business opportunities brought up by the Winter Olympics, whether it is directly related industries such as commerce, tourism, and sports, or manufacturing and foreign trade.
Winter Olympics
Heat into Ningbo
Since the start of the ski season in December last year, the number of passengers at the Shanglianggang ski resort in Fenghua has increased by 30 percent compared with the previous year. "The number of visitors during the Spring Festival holiday was booming, reaching 4,000 on the first day of the New Year. In previous years, there were only 3,000 visitors at the peak," said Wang Linbin, the manager of the resort.
In recent years, with the rise of urban ski experience gyms, many citizens are experiencing the fun of skiing in commercial complexes. As a new form of business, five urban ski experience gyms have emerged in the commercial complex of Ningbo since last year.
In addition, roller skating, skateboarding, ice skating, and other sports are getting popular nowadays. In the past two years, the number of participants in ice and snow sports in Ningbo has been increasing at the rate of 20,000 per year. At present, the number of participants in Ningbo has reached 100,000.
Welcome the Next
Trillion-sized Business
The Olympics have led to a huge increase in the awareness and participation in winter sports, and the consumption of winter sports continues to grow. Support from policy and the financial sector is making China's winter sports industry developing fast. By the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the scale of China's winter sports industry has exceeded 400 billion yuan, up 56.9% compared with 2015.
As one of the first Ningbo foreign trade enterprises in the winter sports business, Ningbo Zhongbao has secured cooperation agreements with several ski resorts in Europe and the United States and registered its own brands Kitz and Krampus to develop "star products", such as ski shoes, snowboards, and ski fixtures.
Skiing alone can help extend a complete industry chain of ice and snow sports. SNOW51, for example, is a one-stop happy life service platform based on skiing. "Our ski experience and training is not limited to experience gyms, but also to outdoor ski resorts like the Songhua Lake, making skiing a 365 day business. We cooperate with major international winter sports brands to increase retail, social, and catering businesses to build a whole industry chain of ice and snow sports," said the staff.
Capital markets are also optimistic about the "winter sports opportunities" brought by the Beijing Winter Olympics. Since the beginning of last year, several ski startups have received more than 300 million yuan in financing. In addition, A-share listed companies, education, and training industries are also gearing up to actively explore the winter sports opportunities.
Expand the
Winter Sports Industry
"As a catalyst for ice and snow sports, the Beijing Winter Olympics will push China's winter sports industry to embrace a new leap forward." Industry experts believe the value of China's ice and snow sports industry is expected to exceed 70 billion yuan this year.
At present, there are nearly 30 enterprises in Ningbo engaged in the research and development, manufacturing and import and export of ski-related equipment, including ski clothing, skis, ski poles, helmets, snow mirrors, among others. However, Ningbo has not formed an industrial cluster in ski equipment manufacturing, and the overall scale is not large. Tourism experts believe that Ningbo has both opportunities and challenges in promoting winter sports tourism.
"Starting from this year, we will consider the setting of professional slides, as well as camping, roller skating, snowy afternoon tea and other complementary formats, to improve the industry chain and attract more tourists," Wang Linbin said.
While actively introducing the city ski experience gym, Ningbo commercial centers are also planning to create a new model of "shopping center + ecological sports park".
The winter sports industry is becoming a new economic growth point. Experts point out that Ningbo enterprises should focus on extending the consumption chain, deeply integrating the ice and snow sports with cultural tourism, equipment manufacturing, education, and training industries, and bring more resources into the ice and snow consumption and industrial chain, so as to improve the winter sports economy as a whole.