There were a total of 646 ski parks in China in 2016, 78 of which were newly constructed, an increase of 13.73% compared with 2015. In regional terms, Heilongjiang Province was at the top of the list with the number of ski parks at 122. High-end ski resorts are mainly being built by foreign enterprises at present, with Simco and Eister two good examples. To date, Simco has invested in more than 20 large ice rinks and ski resorts in China.

Foreign brands still dominate the equipment market, including the likes of snowmakers, snow machines, cableways, magic carpets, snowmobiles and more.

In the ski market, the core technology has come through foreign brands like Atomic, Head, Elan, Nordic and so forth, from countries like France, Switzerland, Austria and the United States.

According to statistics for 2016 from the China Ski Industry, though the growth rate of ski rental increased by 38.57%, the retail growth rate only increased by 9.18% (based on data provided by the 9 big international brands). The total retail sales were 14,500 sets in 2016.

Ski tourism has entered a boom period. Take Chongli for example. According to statistics, Chongli had over 2.77 million visitors in 2015, achieving a tourism income of 1.96 billion yuan. There was an increase of 1180 new individual household and private enterprises, promoting 4100 new full-time jobs.

According to the 2016 China Ski Industry, 11.33 million people took part in 15.1 million ski trips in 2016, that is, a rate of 1.33 per capita participating in skiing. The per capita figures show a continuous rise over recent years, going on a rate of 1.30 in 2015 and 1.27 in 2014.

Data showed that there were a total of 481 clubs and 38021 members in China, with 79 members per club, with an average mileage of 13 kilometers.

According to Ali Sports, 1.24 million people bought winter sports equipment, including the gear for skiing, ice hockey, speed skating, from Taobao and Tmall, with a consumption of more than 530 million yuan in 2016. Among them, the money spent on skis alone was 460 million yuan.

In terms of geography, according to data from the White Paper, GOSKI and Ski Race, Beijing was the largest ski market. Similarly, according to Alisports figures, Beijing topped the ski consumption list with spending of 86 million yuan and 138,000 consumers, that is, 623 yuan per capita.

Source: 2016 China Ski Industry White Book, 2016 China's Ice & Snow Industry Development Report, collate by Yutang Sports

Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin