At the ISPO Beijing 2018, data for the 2017 Chinese ski market were released on Jan 25. 

According to the data, the number of ski resorts in China hit 703, an increase of 57 from the previous year with 124 ski resorts in Heilongjiang Province, topping all provinces and cities in China. Meanwhile, Hebei province built 12 new ski resorts last year.  

By the end of 2017, there were over 20,000 ski instructors around China with 9,177 of them earning certificates endorsed by the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC). At the same time, over 900 ski instructors received international certificates from overseas ski organizations. 

Data also showed that 17.5 million people participated in skiing in 2017, seeing an increase of 2.4 million from 2016. Breaking down the data further, 12.1 million people  were frequent skiers, an increase of 6.8% from the previous year. On average every skier skied 1.45 times last year, up from 1.33 in 2016. 

Additionally, those skiers who went abroad to ski, 55% of them chose Japan as their destination. European countries such as Switzerland, France, Austria and Italy were also popular destinations last year. 

Source: Tencent

Proofread by Raymond Fitzpatrick