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The number of skiers in Japan has been declining for 20 years, and many ski resorts have struggled to operate. At the same time, with the help of the Beijing Winter Olympics, China's ski population has increased significantly, and the Japanese ski industry has also seen the opportunity to enjoy the dividends of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Japan's ski population has fallen by more than 75%
According to the latest data, japan's ski population peaked at 18 million in 1998, when the Nagano Winter Olympics were held, and by 2020, the total ski population had plummeted to 4.3 million.
Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Guang
The sharp decline in the ski population has led to difficulties in operating ski resorts across Japan. According to the Japan Times, a ski resort called Dynaland in central Gifu Prefecture, which was visited 20 years ago by 350,000 people per ski season, is now only 190,000 people. The epidemic is not the main cause, according to the head of the ski resort, the trend of decreasing tourists has become very serious five years ago. Before the Nagano Winter Olympics, many indoor ski resorts were built across Japan, many of which have been forced to close, and now there are only two large indoor ski resorts left in Japan.
When a Xinhua reporter conducted a survey in Nagano a few days ago, he found that people in the industry and government personnel generally believe that the slump in Japan's ski industry is mainly due to the aging and childbearing of the whole country.
Kenji Hagiwara, mayor of Nagano, was interviewed by Xinhua News Agency. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jian Ye
Kenji Ogiwara, mayor of Nagano and two-time Winter Olympics ski champion, said frankly: "The main reason is that there are young children at an advanced age. Because the population has decreased and the children do not have the conditions to go skiing, because most parents now work, there are fewer families who take their children to the ski slopes than before. ”
In Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture, which hosts skiing competitions at the 1998 Winter Olympics, all of which are now run by Hakuba Tourism Development Co., Ltd., president Masashi Hagino said with concern that there are currently about 6.3 million elementary school students in Japan, and that the number of skiers is decreasing year by year, and there are fewer and fewer skiers. In this way, after 20 or 30 years, there will be no ski tourists, and the ski resort will not be able to operate.
Masashi Ogino, president of Nagano Hakuba Tourism Development Co., Ltd., was interviewed by Xinhua News Agency. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jian Ye
In addition to demographic factors, the diversification of sports and recreation also diverts the ski population. Kenji Hagiwara, who has participated in the Winter Olympics four times, said that now that entertainment methods and hobbies have diversified, how to provide diversified services has become a major problem for ski resorts.
Shinichi Ryuzawa, president of MWAVE Co., Ltd., which runs two Olympic skating halls in Nagano City, agrees. "I think it's mainly kids who are more interested in football, baseball and basketball, because these sports have a guarantee of attendance both winter and summer," he said. ”
China's ski population has increased significantly
In contrast to Japan, China's ski industry began to enter a relatively rapid development stage in 2011, and the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics has put the development of this industry into the fast lane. According to statistics, from 2014 to 2020, the number of snow parks in China and the hardware facilities of snow parks have been greatly improved, and the number of skiers has risen from about 10 million to more than 20 million, basically reaching a 100% increase.
On December 18, 2021, China's first winter Olympics, Park Dong-seok (center), and snow friends ski at the Tonghua Ski Resort in Wanfeng, Jilin Province. Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Chang took the photo
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Chinese tourists to Japan hit a new high year after year. In 2019, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan reached 9.594 million, accounting for 30% of the total number of foreign tourists visiting Japan, an increase of nearly 10 times in 12 years. Among the nearly 10 million Chinese tourists, the number of people who ski in Japan has also increased significantly, and Chinese skiers can be seen everywhere in Japan's major snow resorts during the Spring Festival in 2019. Japanese media said that Chinese tourists have changed from "buying out" and "going on a rampage" to "slipping".
The reporter met a hotelier from China in Baima Village, who said that before the epidemic, skiers from China multiplied every year, reflecting the importance of Chinese tourists to the snow resorts in Baima Village.
Ready to go
The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the growing trend of Chinese tourists skiing in Japan. Although the number of international tourists in the post-epidemic era is still optimistic, the Japanese industry is still relatively cautious about Chinese skiers. After all, in the past 30 years, the majority of international skiers in the Nagano area have been Europeans, Americans and Australians.
Nagano Hakuba Hachio-no-ne Snow Field. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jian Ye
Kenji Hagiwara, who became mayor of Nagano last November, said he would increase publicity for Nagano Ski Resorts so that more ski resorts can be known to overseas skiers. "Many ski resorts in Japan are very popular in the world, because the snow in Japan is 'powder snow', and the amount of snowfall is not too cold, so you can enjoy the snow to the fullest, which is the biggest charm. We want to pass this information on to the world, and make efforts in this regard to attract foreign ski enthusiasts to enjoy skiing in Japan's ski resorts to make up for the cooling of the Japanese winter sports 'participation heat'. ”
Kenji Ogihara also hopes that the Beijing Winter Olympics will drive the development of China's winter sports industry and make more Chinese like skiing. He believes that Beijing is close to Japan, and after the Beijing Winter Olympics, he also expects more Chinese guests to come to Baima Village for skiing. In the reporter's interview, Hagino Masashi specially arranged for Li Zhaoxin, who can speak Chinese, as an assistant. The reporter also met employees who could speak Chinese at other snow parks in Hakuba Village.
Masashi Ogino said: "Through the Beijing Winter Olympics, more people will be exposed to winter sports. These are all positive factors for Japan. ”
Grab from the doll
In addition to attracting international tourists, the Japanese industry believes that to revitalize the ski industry and winter sports, it is also necessary to grab the dolls and attract children to the snow field as soon as possible.
Kenji Ogihara, who has lived in Nagano for nearly 30 years, has four children, and when the children were very young, he personally taught them to ski. Many of Nagano's ski resorts are now creating conditions to attract children, and he introduced the Togakushi Ski Resort in Nagano City, which actively creates conditions to attract parents to take their children to ski, and is also a favorite entertainment place for Nagano citizens.
Nagano Olympic Stadium. Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Wang Zijiang
MWAVE Co., Ltd. also offers children's skating classes, such as beginner skating classrooms, figure skating classrooms, etc., as well as classes for Olympians.
This year, various ski resorts in Hakuba Village, supervised by Masashi Hagino, also offered courses for children over the age of 4, and children over the age of 4 can sign up. At present, the effect is very good, the enrollment season has just begun, the membership has exceeded 10,000 people.
"Let the children have the opportunity to get involved in skiing from an early age. Because of the epidemic, children can't go out, can't travel, and will definitely have invisible mental pressure, so we set up children's courses on the ski resort to provide services for children. Masashi Ogino said.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Text Editor: Cao Fei Caption Source: Visual China Photo Editor: Zhu Juan
Source: Author: Xinhua News Agency