Why most of the 1.2 million skiers in China avoid local ski resorts and head for Japan instead

China has 700 ski resorts and more than a million skiers and snowboarders, but more than half of them prefer to head overseas to Japan and Canada, where the service is better, the weather less harsh and the prices are lower

Reading Time:5 minutes

The slopes of Niseko in Hokkaido, Japan, are a lure for Chinese skiers. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:45pm, 23 Apr 2018Updated: 8:50pm, 23 Apr 2018

International travellers have become used to sharing premier tourist attractions with Chinese tourists, and now it is the turn of skiers.

Mandarin is heard more on the slopes and off-piste at skiing destinations the world over, but nowhere more than Japan.

The 2017 China Ski Industry White Book claims that more than half of the 1.2 million Chinese skiers (and snowboarders) travel abroad, with Japan by far the most favoured destination, ahead of Switzerland, Italy and Canada.

The ski lift at the Grand Hirafu resort in Kutchan, Hokkaido, Japan. Photo: Bloomberg

Barely 10 years old, the Chinese skiing boom has already fuelled the construction of more than 700 domestic ski resorts (indoor and outdoor), but the harsh climate, high prices and substandard services divert Chinese skiers towards foreign destinations.

“Not fun,” says Beijinger “Old Chang” about every Chinese resort I mentioned. Now in his late 60s, he was a proficient powder skier who, remarkably, took up the sport while in his 50s.

Japan is attracting more Chinese skiers in pursuit of powder and off-piste skiing. Photo: Pavel Toropov

Fittingly, we are talking in a certain powder skiing hub in Japan. A few years ago, only hard core foreign “powder hounds” knew about this place, but this year the occupants of the bus to this small and remote resort were almost all Chinese.