The first skiers can no longer afford to ski.

Since the opening of major ski resorts in November last year, it seems that more and more people have gone skiing. According to the data of Meituan, from November 1 to 9, 2023 alone, the number of ski ticket group purchase orders increased by 209% compared with the same period in 2019. According to the travel data of the same journey, during the New Year’s Day holiday just past, the domestic ice and snow tourism fever increased by 216% month-on-month.

Skiing, a middle-class sport that costs at least several hundred yuan at a time, is flying into the homes of ordinary people?

Skiing fever, fever in "tourist" skiing

Skiing fever, it’s true.

On New Year’s Day of this year, the Beijing white-collar Na Na family went to a ski resort in the suburbs of Beijing. Even though both husband and wife are zero-based, and married with children brought a 6-year-old son, this year suddenly felt like a ritual in winter, and skiing was put on the agenda.

In previous years, on New Year’s Day holidays, some indoor projects were often arranged, such as hot springs, bathing, etc. But this year, for the Si Si family, there is an impulse to "go out", and skiing is perfect because of the ice and snow.

"It is obviously an extreme sport, but the snow field is crowded with’ tourists’ dressed in colorful clothes." SiNa observed.

Skiing is becoming married with children, Xian Yi for all ages. According to the data of Changping District, Beijing, during the New Year’s Day in 2024, three ski resorts in Changping District received more than 10,000 tourists, an increase of 20% compared with the same period in 2023.

However, the "small snow field" in the suburbs where the Si family went is only a small heat, and the real heat is in the "big snow field" far away from the first-tier cities.

According to the data provided by the US Mission and public comments to interesting reports, since the opening of the ski resort in November last year, the number of ski ticket group purchase orders has increased by over 780% compared with that before the epidemic in 2019. Among many ski destinations, Xinjiang, Northeast China and Hebei have received the highest attention.

Xinjiang, Northeast China and Hebei all have the top natural snow resorts in China, such as General Altay Mountain Snow Resort in Xinjiang, Beidahu Snow Resort in Northeast Jilin, Yabuli Snow Resort in Northeast Heilongjiang and Wanlong Snow Resort in Chongli, Hebei, etc. Many of them are well-known at home and abroad for their "powder snow".

But more importantly, these destinations are not simple, more or less with the nature of "tourist destinations". The snow resorts in Xinjiang can see the winter scenery of Kanas and Hemu, which are the focus of customized tours in winter. Some of the snow resorts in Jilin are just at the foot of Changbai Mountain wrapped in silver.

According to the monthly analysis of the founder of outdoor travel brand Binghuo, many good ski resorts are rich in tourism resources. Skiing is not just skiing, but "tourism+skiing". It is not excluded that many people go only for skiing, but quite a few of them are "skiing by the way".

Geng Haolin, Marketing Manager of Beidahu Ski Resort, gave a forecast when the ski resort opened, and it is expected to receive 1 million tourists, an increase of 61% over the same period of last year.

The most noteworthy thing is Yabuli located in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. According to the latest data of Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism in 2024, during the New Year’s Day, the key scenic spots in the province received a total of 366,300 tourists, of which Yabuli Resort received 35,800 people, which is equivalent to one in every 10 tourists who went to key scenic spots in Heilongjiang Province to ski in Yabuli.

Ying Ying, a native of Beijing after 1990s, used to go to snow fields near Beijing in previous years, but this snow season, she chose long-span tourist skiing.

When the board was just opened last year, she lived in Altay, Xinjiang for a month and bought a season card for the ski resort. Although skiing was the primary factor, the reason that attracted her to travel all the way was Xinjiang itself.

"Good snow is the premise, but the beautiful food is particularly attractive. Anyway, skiing is inevitably time-consuming and expensive, so go to the most interesting place." Yingying said.

After New Year’s Day this year, Yingying went skiing in Hokkaido, which is similar to going to Altay. Yingying’s first thought of this trip was to go to the scene of the movie "Love Letter", with skiing by the way.

"In fact, I can’t say who is more important, but if you buy one, you get two. Why not?" Yingying said.

Xiao Jiu, a ski coach, told an interesting report that this year, it was observed that many players went to more tourist resorts. It was not so much a simple skiing craze as the whole tourism craze.

Wu Bin, the author of the White Paper on Ski Industry in China and vice chairman of Beijing Ski Association, also made in-depth observation. On the basis of tourism fever, Wu Bin said that the more beautiful the head ski resort is, the more spread it is, which is a Matthew effect and a manifestation of further improvement of market concentration.

"The more concentrated and spread, the more people there will be, which will form a cycle." Wu Bin said.

Who is kryptoning gold? Krypting what gold?

Skiers come, so people spend more on skiing?

Taking Yabuli, a ski resort in Harbin this year, as an example, the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism released a set of data during New Year’s Day in 2024: Yabuli Resort received 35,800 people, up 540% year-on-year, and its income was 17.94 million yuan, up 680% year-on-year. Converted, it is equivalent to spending 89.9 yuan per person in Yabuli.

People spend more on skiing, perhaps not only on snow resorts or ski resorts, but also on the purchase of equipment.

Beijing white-collar Haorui, this year’s investment in the snow field is even "downgraded". In previous years, snow tickets alone cost at least 300 yuan, but this year, he regards skiing as "missing".

"This year, Datou only spent 168 yuan." Hao Rui said. He and his friends chose a little-known ski resort in Pinggu, Beijing, and bought a 168-yuan group purchase package on the short video platform, including daytime snow tickets, snowboards, snowshoes and an hour coach, all at one price. Even if the transportation fee is included, the direct bus from Dongzhimen only needs to go back and forth from 50 yuan.

In the snow field tickets, the consumption is downgraded, but on the whole, Haorui is still experiencing the consumption upgrade.

This year, Hao Rui decided to skate more times. Although he pursued cost performance in the unit price of skiing, the increase in frequency made him spend more this year.

Hao Rui said that the bulk of the budget is actually in equipment. This year, he aims to improve the technology. As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses have not moved food and grass first, so more than half of the budget is spent on snow clothes, trousers and helmets, such as snow goggles.

The biggest expense this year is a ski jacket of Archaeopteryx, which costs more than 4,000 yuan after discount. "Compared with Archaeopteryx and Disante for a long time, it is almost expensive." Hao Rui said.

"Sometimes I reflect on whether I am drifting, but on second thought, skiing is not a very popular sport. In the final analysis, it is a minority extreme sport, which requires constant investment of money, time and energy, especially money." Hao Rui said.

Skiing is like playing a game, and enthusiasm will be expressed in krypton.

Yingying, who is skiing in Hokkaido, will continue to spend money this year. Even though she has spent more than 10,000 yuan to buy snowshoes+fixers+snowboards, and snow clothes that are not less than 10,000 yuan, it is impossible for a skier to have only one set of equipment. In Yingying’s view, skiing, as a niche sport, should contain social value to some extent, and it should be fashionable and fashionable wherever it goes.

In skiing equipment, what is the hottest?

The consumer platform "What is worth buying" lists three sets of skiing-snowboards, ski shoes and ski goggles. The data shows that in the snow season of 2023 (October 1-December 31, 2023), the GMV of ski equipment category increased by 166% year-on-year, among which the GMV of ski equipment such as "snowboard, ski shoes and ski goggles" increased the fastest, increasing by 566%, 483% and 367% respectively.

Professional ski equipment is growing, which means that skiers are moving up.

At the same time, there are many more initial ski products that are also growing. The brand "Sanfu Outdoor", which sells outdoor products including ski clothes and equipment, provided a set of data to the interesting report. The overall skiing-related products increased by 74% compared with last year, among which its own high-end brand X-BIONIC’s skiing functional underwear, ski clothes and other products increased by more than 140% compared with last year, far exceeding the average growth.

While purchasing equipment and clothes, the consumption upgrade of skiing can be described as "both internal and external".

Under the prosperous, undercurrent surging.

Skiing, an "expensive" national sport, inevitably costs a lot of time and money every time it goes, so it becomes popular so easily?

The answer may not be.

When I think back to my last skiing trip, it seems that I didn’t slip all the way. Apart from the "drag" of the baby, what’s more important is that the whole primary road has been like cooking jiaozi, with photos, dragging snowboards for a walk, and enjoying the magic carpet. I can’t even tell whether this is a ski resort or an amusement park in a trance.

Skiing is gaining popularity, but people who come here may just punch in for fun. In fact, the fun of this sport needs more practice and more technical blessings to be felt.

Wu Bin counted a set of data in the White Paper on Ski Industry in China. The total number of people in the 2018-2019 snow season before the epidemic was

20.9 million, while the total number of people in the snow season in 2022-2023 was only 19.83 million. He predicted that the number of people in the snow season in 2023-2024 may increase, but overall, enthusiasts who are keen on skiing are not big.

What is worth buying for the consumer platform? Li Na, a researcher at the Ice and Snow Research Institute, revealed a set of data. From what is worth buying for the platform, the ratio of experienced consumers and professional consumers in skiing is about 8:2, and most of them are "early adopters" at present.

In 2019, Wu Bin once said that China is currently in the primary market stage of skiing; Five years later, in 2024, Wu Bin thought that the whole had not changed. "China will probably remain a primary market for at least five years," he said.

From the perspective of penetration, according to the report "China Ski Industry Development" published by Sullivan Consulting in 2023, China’s ski penetration rate is about 1%, while Swiss ski penetration rate is as high as 34%, and neighboring Japanese ski penetration rate is 10%.

Compared with the penetration rate, we should pay more attention to the conversion rate-how many people can stay after skiing and become enthusiasts or enthusiasts who re-enter the snow field?

In Wu Bin’s view, the key to the development of ski industry in China is how much experiential consumers can settle down after they come and leave.

Can skiing consumption continue to develop, can skiing be geared to the needs of the masses, can skiing white fall in love with skiing smoothly, and what is stuck in his neck?

In Wu Bin’s view, the biggest threshold of skiing is actually the price. If you want experienced consumers to settle down, it is important to let them learn to ski and slide down the snowy road safely and smoothly. Therefore, the coach "leads the door". The role is very important. However, it has almost become a common phenomenon that ski coaches are expensive.

Ma Ling said that the coach of Chongli Ski Resort costs a minimum of 1,500 yuan for a pair of 3 or 2 hours, with an average of 500 people. The point is that 500 yuan spent it, but in fact he still couldn’t learn it in the end.

Ski coach Xiao Jiu also agrees with the current situation of skiing teaching-the price is high, and it is impossible to learn.

In his view, the price is high because the ski resort expects to make money by the coach’s fee. After all, the maintenance of the ski resort is a lot of money, and the income of the snow ticket is almost unsustainable, so it can only rely on the coach’s fee. Xiao Jiu said that about two-thirds of the coach’s expenses go to the ski resort.

The problem of not learning is more serious, on the one hand, the quality of coaches is mixed. Xiao Jiu revealed that among the coaches in the ski resort, there may be a lot of interns in sports schools who just got the ski instructor certificate, or even haven’t got the certificate yet, and their teaching experience is insufficient. Moreover, a good coach is probably a freelance coach, and his time is almost full early. It is not easy to be a good coach when you meet a random coach at the ski resort.

On the other hand, it is the irrationality of teaching time. Snow field teaching is mostly charged by the hour, but for skiing, an extreme sport, you can’t even learn fur for a few hours.

Xiao Jiu said that in higher quality teaching, coaches often charge by the day. If you want to really get started, you have to study for two or three days with the coach.

Especially this year, the popularity of veneer has soared, and many new skiers have decided to try veneer first.

"It is true that the veneer is very handsome, but it is more technically difficult, and it is not easy to learn, which makes it easier to abandon the pit." Xiao Jiu said.

Wu Bin concluded that it is imperative to improve the importance of skiing teaching, such as running a more professional ski school, especially reducing the cost of coaching and including it in the snow ticket.

"People come, learned, will come again. The supporting services of the snow field must be done well. " Wu Bin said.

(Source: China Newsweek)