China’s winter sports scene booms as Eileen Gu’s Olympic glory inspires new generation of Chinese skiers, snowboarders
- The number of ski resorts in mainland China grew by 40 per cent in 2020 while ice-skating rinks tripled in the run up to the Beijing Winter Olympics
- The market size is expected to snowball to 1 trillion yuan (US$158 billion) by 2025, law firm Beijing Yuanhe Partners predicts
China’s winter sports industry is basking in the afterglow of the country’s successful hosting of the Winter Olympics last month.
The number of people who have taken to ski slopes and skating rinks, inspired by the spectacle of medal-winning skills they had observed in Beijing, has far exceeded the government’s wildest forecasts
Up to 346 million people are taking part in winter sports, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, surpassing the 300 million target set by President Xi Jinping seven years ago when Beijing handed in its bid to host the 2022 Winter games.
At least 800 ski resorts are operating in China, according to a report by Beijing Yuanhe Partners in 2020, competing for a slice of a market that is predicted to snowball in value by 73 per cent from last year to 1 trillion yuan (US$158.3 billion) by 2025.
There is “growing enthusiasm for snow and ice [sports], buoyed by the Winter Olympics,” Fosun Tourism’s chairman Qian Jiannong said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “The number of learners at our resorts gives me confidence, because the potential is huge.”
Fosun’s resort chain, Club Med, now operates three all-inclusive winter resorts in China, and plans to open the Club Med Taiwoo in Zhangjiakou’s Chongli county soon, which was a venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
