Increased enthusiasm, higher demand see China's skiers glide into off-season

With Chinese consumers' increasing enthusiasm for skiing, ski brands have begun to target the market year-round.

Data from Chinese travel service provider Ctrip showed that during the May Day holiday, which ended Wednesday, indoor skiing orders surged nearly 500 percent year-on-year. Compared to the same period in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak, the orders were 40 percent higher.

Ski resorts in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region witnessed their highest traffic. Ocoa Sea Breeze International Ski Resort received 3,000 visitors a day on average and ski travelers on charter flights were scheduled to arrive even after the May Day holiday. Ski resorts in the suburbs of Urumqi and Altay also remained open until the end of April.

Xinjiang's next ski season takes place between Oct 1 and May 1. In the past two years, the increasing number of ski lovers and gradually improved infrastructure had many ski resorts in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region operating for more than six months each year. Beginning in March, ski resorts launched events that encourage tourists to enjoy the sights of the spring flowers while skiing down the slopes.

The extended ski season generated huge market opportunities. According to the 2022 Tmall Ski Market Trend Report, in 2021, summer skiing orders on Alibaba's travel portal Fliggy surged 130 percent year-on-year, and the post-1990s generation had become the main consumption group of off-season skiing. Southern cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu in Sichuan province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province had become popular skiing destinations.

Between 2020 and 2021, 88 domestic and overseas ski brands registered on Tmall. In 2021 alone, the number of ski brands on Tmall surged 100 percent on a year-on-year basis, said the report.

Surprisingly, in the past three years, search keywords related to skiing on both e-commerce platform Taobao and lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu reached a peak in August, while the consumption peak time of ski products on Tmall occurred between April and June.

Yi Li, general manager of the ice center of Sunac China Holdings Ltd, a culture and tourism group listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, said that skiing consumption last summer was extremely active, with orders in southwestern cities, such as Chongqing and Chengdu in Sichuan province, surging dramatically. Skiing orders at Chongqing Sunac Snow Park during summer outperformed those in the winter.

"Different from the winter consumption group, many from the summer skiing consumption group came from outside the province. The demands of graduation and summer vacation trips were greatly released," Yi said.

To meet people's skiing consumption demands year-round, indoor skiing is gaining popularity.

"Indoor ski resorts break the limitations of space and time and are favored by an increasing number of consumers," said Jing Min, an analyst at online think tank Digipont-Club.

Indoor skiing can be grouped into two parts — skiing institutions majoring in training and retail, and those that build ski slopes indoors to simulate outdoor skiing experiences.

"Indoor scenarios don't have high requirements for keeping warm. In addition, most indoor skiers come straight from home and wear everyday clothes. This means ski suits should meet daily wear requirements and save consumers time in changing clothes," said Liu Yushan, founder of Fujian province-based outdoor sports brand Vector.

In March, the company established subsidiaries in North America and Southeast Asia. In the future, it plans to launch summer activities overseas, bringing ski lovers to the southern hemisphere to meet their skiing demands.

Likewise, Goski Originals, a Beijing-based ski clothes manufacturer, designs ski clothing in four seasons, focusing on the design, color and convenience of the outfits. It also holds minor events in indoor ski resorts and organizes summer training to reach more consumers.

"Experience from the United States, Europe and Japan showed that the breakout period of China's ski market has arrived. Enterprises are suggested to follow industry standards, cultivate user recognition and build brand influence, to realize sustainable development," Jing said.