The Beijing Winter Olympics have made people's attention and participation in ice and snow sports continue to rise, and this enthusiasm is also driving the rapid development of the domestic "ice and snow economy". "The ice and snow industry system is huge and has great development potential, which is expected to become a new bright spot in China's consumer economy." Lu Ning, dean and professor of the School of Tourism Science at Beijing Second Chinese University, said in an interview with the "Strong Observation" column of the People's Daily News.
Double-ended efforts to achieve rapid growth of the ice and snow industry
According to the "China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report (2022)" recently released by the China Tourism Research Institute, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in the country has increased from 170 million in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season to 254 million in the 2020-2021 ice and snow season, and it is expected that the national ice and snow leisure tourism scale will reach 305 million in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season.
In this regard, Lü Ning said that this change is inseparable from the hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics. "From the demand side, in addition to the increase in the number of participants, there is also an important performance that the re-visit rate and repeat visit rate of ice and snow participants are very high."
According to the "2020 China Ski Industry White Paper", during the 2020-2021 snow season (the statistical time of the ski industry is from May 1 of that year to April 30 of the following year), the proportion of one-time skiers experienced skiing decreased from 72.04% in 2019 to 57.64%, and the per capita number of skiers in domestic ski resorts increased from 1.60 in 2019 to 1.91.
In Lü Ning's view, this change shows that the repeated demand for ice and snow consumption is becoming increasingly strong, and the entire ice and snow industry has a very large market base.
"From the supply side, the effective supply of ice and snow venues across the country has been greatly improved, and it is more convenient for people to participate in ice and snow sports." Lu Ning said that content including leisure and fitness, ice and snow tourism, event viewing, venue operation, equipment and equipment are all important cuts in the participation of the supply side. In addition, from a single ski resort to a ski town that integrates comprehensive services for food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment, and a national-level ski tourism resort, it is actually an industrial performance that provides and gathers.
Three ways to promote the sustainable development of the ice and snow industry
The "Winter Olympics at the doorstep" has created a better market environment for the ice and snow economy and brought unprecedented opportunities for the development of the ice and snow industry everywhere. So, how to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the ice and snow industry?
Lü Ning suggested that the first is to make the ice and snow industry agglomeration area bigger and stronger, relying on ice and snow events and ice and snow tourism, implement the "ice and snow +" project, promote the deep integration of the ice and snow industry with culture, tourism, sports, health care, media and other industries, focus on building an international ice and snow sports and leisure base, high-end ski event base, and build the Asia-Pacific region into the third growth pole after the Alps and North America.
"The second is to accelerate the improvement of the independent research and development capabilities of mainland ice and snow enterprises." Lü Ning introduced that in 2019, the 1149 new snow-making machines added by the mainland reached 467 in China, but the localization rate of core snow equipment such as overhead ropeways is still relatively low. Therefore, cultivating a number of ice and snow science and technology enterprises with international competitiveness and comparative advantages is an important guarantee for the steady development of the mainland ice and snow industry.
"'Ice and snow are also golden mountains and silver mountains', to build an international top ice and snow event platform and ice and snow tourism resorts should adhere to the principle of 'protection and development', to achieve ecological protection and economic development flying together." Lu Ning said.
Looking to the future, we will continue to improve the leading role of ice and snow consumption
According to the "Ice and Snow Sports Development Plan (2016-2025)", by 2025, the total scale of China's ice and snow industry will reach 1 trillion yuan.
How can this be achieved? "The specialization of ice and snow sports and the corresponding popularization of ice and snow tourism are the two major focuses of the development of the ice and snow industry in the future." Lu Ning said.
"The specialization of ice and snow sports is the best medicine to eliminate disposable consumption." Lü Ning said that for ice and snow sports participants equipped with standardized ice and snow services, scientific and technological facilities and equipment and professional athlete coach guidance, and constantly improve the training path of ice and snow professionals, so as to achieve the combination of careful training and accurate employment, and improve the professional level of ice and snow talents.
Ice and snow consumption has a strong driving force, strong market demand and regional agglomeration. Lü Ning believes that the ice and snow tourism gathering area should combine its own cultural characteristics and highlight regional characteristics, such as combining with hot springs, folk culture and ethnic characteristics to achieve the branding of ice and snow products. "In the past, the international brand we built may be the three northeastern provinces, is the North Beidahu, the future of the new growth pole is the Beijing-Zhang culture and sports tourism belt, Chongli will be a very important point, so branding is a road we must adhere to."
"With the help of the 'East Wind' of the Beijing Winter Olympics, ice and snow consumption currently shows a high degree of heat, but the current ice and snow consumption structure is relatively single, the product portfolio is not high, and even the service quality is uneven from time to time, how the industry self-discipline, how to improve service quality, how to continue the ice and snow economy, etc., these problems need to be considered and solved." Lu Ning said.
Source: People's Daily News
Publisher: China Economic and Trade Rule of Law Convergence Media Center
Editor-in-charge: Xiao Min