Club Med owner bets on winter sports in China as skiing craze creates ‘severe shortage’
- ‘Tourist attractions featuring snow and ice will be our major growth engine,’ says Fosun Tourism co-president Andrew Xu
Fosun Tourism Group, the Chinese owner of the Club Med resort chain, is betting on winter sports facilities to tap people’s mounting zeal for skiing and skating even as tourists are spending less on food and hotels when visiting scenic spots.
Andrew Xu, co-president of Fosun Tourism, said top ski resorts and entertainment complexes are still in severe shortage in mainland China, where spending on winter sports soared tenfold to 150 billion yuan (US$21 billion) over the past four years.
“Tourist attractions featuring snow and ice will be our major growth engine,” Xu said during a results briefing in Shanghai on Friday. “Based on our analysis, the country has only 14 top-notch ski resorts with scale and quality, although the winter sports industry is growing fast.”
An asset-light strategy refers to a business model under which a company has only a small amount of fixed assets on its balance sheet. Club Med now operates three all-inclusive winter resorts in China.
