China is under going a skiing boom. Official forecasts are predicting hundreds of new ski resorts across china and millions of new Chinese skiers by 2030. Here is a look at the current state of the Chinese ski industry as well as where it is headed.
- China is home to just under 600 ski resorts. In 2015 alone, 108 new ski areas were opened.
- Less than 200 Chinese ski areas have ski lifts. The rest are serviced by magic carpets or by just walking up.
- China is home to the world’s biggest indoor ski slope, which spans 800,000 square metres.
- China has 1.2 million skiers and snowboarders.
- Chinese ski market is currently an eighth of the size of the US’s, and one sixteenth of Europe’s.
- The 2014/2015 winter season saw a 21% increase in the number of visitors to China’s ski resorts from the previous year. Chinese ski areas received 12.5 million skier visits that year.
- One quarter of all skier visits in China are to indoor ski areas.
- The growth of skiing in China in the past two years has soared, which is attributed partly to the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics.
- More than a half a million Chinese skiers head overseas to Japan and Canada. Japan is by far the most favored destination for Chinese skiers, ahead of Switzerland, Italy and Canada.
- China aims to have 1,000 ski resorts by 2030.