Who is paying for the snow season ?

Text|Value Planet Cheng Jia.

Edit|Tang Fei.

The mood of the migrant worker Pan Xue seems to be more exciting than the New Year. As of 16 o'clock on December 11, the city's parks received more than 100,000 tourists enjoying the scenery in the snow.

The 2023 ski season comes one step ahead of Beijing's heavy snowfall.

Since November, outdoor ski resorts in various tourist destinations in China have been opened. The first skiers have already rushed to fill the slopes, dressed in brightly coloured ski suits, pole in hand, and pedal on snowboards, speeding down the slopes, enjoying the speed and excitement of the snow and ice.

Data can more intuitively reflect everyone's enthusiasm. Data from platforms such as Fliggy and Qunar all show that in November, the popularity of "skiing"-related searches on the platform has increased by more than 100% compared with the previous month. Among them, the popularity of Changbai Mountain skiing, Chongli skiing, Yabuli skiing, Wanlong skiing, Anji skiing, Xinjiang skiing, Songhua Lake skiing, and Shennongjia skiing has all doubled. Ticket bookings for ski resorts nationwide also increased by 147% in November compared to 2019.

Entering December, players are even more enthusiastic about skiing.

According to data from the Ctrip platform, as of December 6, the search popularity of "ski+" related products on the platform during this year's snow season has more than doubled year-on-year. At the same time, the decision to ski travel this year has also been greatly advanced. According to Ctrip's order data, the current number of orders for ski group tours during the New Year's Day and Spring Festival has increased by 6 times and 16 times respectively compared with last year.

The boom in ski consumption has also driven the boom in entrepreneurship and investment in the ski field. According to the "Research Report on the Development of China's Ice and Snow Industry", the scale of China's ice and snow industry will reach 890 billion yuan in 2023 and 1 trillion yuan in 2025, accounting for one-fifth of the total output value of China's sports industry.

According to the data, a number of listed companies have begun to actively deploy, and their fields include tourism, sports, cultural and creative, real estate sales and leasing, etc. Who makes money in the ice and snow market where the gods are fighting?

01 A month ago, skiing was already hot, and most of the ski resorts had been open for less than a month, and there were already many ski enthusiasts who had completed the first "check-in".

Some time ago, I swiped it short** and saw that there were advance tickets, so I bought them casually. Sigma, who works in Beijing, told Value Planet that Changchun Snow Lotus Mountain Ski Resort had just opened in early November, and it happened that he was on a business trip in Changchun at that time, and he went skiing on the weekend, "When I bought it, it was 98 yuan a ticket, which was quite cheap anyway." ”

Changchun Snow Lotus Mountain Snow Resort. Source: Photo by Sigma.

On the other hand, when the whole network was complaining about the crazy rise in the ticket price of Beidahu Snow Resort and the 1,000 yuan a night, Mu Qing, who enjoyed the early bird price, had already returned.

On the first day of returning to work after skiing, many young colleagues around Mu Qing came to ask him about skiing-related matters one by one, from equipment to ticket prices, to food and accommodation, and asked, "After all, there are only indoor snow resorts in the south, and everyone wants to take advantage of this snow season to go outdoor skiing in the Northeast, so those who have travel ideas come to me for a strategy." ”

Mu Qing's week-long "live and slide", due to the superposition of factors such as advance booking and non-peak season, compared with the current travel in the same period, it cost a lot less, "The round-trip air ticket and the transportation cost of the transit place are almost 3,000 yuan, which is the biggest expense of this trip." A few months in advance, the mountain and lake house was booked on the 5th, and the early bird lived in the slip**, which was only 499 yuan a night. ”

Source: Weibo @CCTV Finance.

Compared with Mu Qing, who "went to the snow season across provinces", Atian, who lives in Jilin, enjoys a unique "geographical advantage": "Jilin originally had many outdoor ski resorts, and my earliest contact with skiing was in 2017, when skiing was not yet popular. Especially at the end of last year, after building a large ski resort near my house, I started 'special forces' skiing, and I would go to the ski resort whenever I had time during the snow season. ”

This year, the snow resort near Ah Tian's house opened on November 18, and Ah Tian went to the ski resort on November 20 to start skiing, "as a hobby, after all, it is convenient to commute back and forth." It is close, the round-trip fuel cost is 200 yuan +, the toll fee is 50 yuan +, and the transportation cost is not high. ”

Unlike the "middle-class game" that was called in the past, "popularization" and "youth" are the sport of skiing, which has left a new impression in recent years.

"Rejuvenation" is easy to understand, after all, skiing is also an extreme sport after all. The transformation of skiing from a "middle-class game" to a "popular" sport is the result of multiple factors.

According to Yuan Shuai, executive vice president of the China Urban Development Research Institute and the Institute of Agricultural, Cultural and Tourism Industry Revitalization, in addition to the general environmental background of social and economic development and the improvement of people's living standards, it is also due to the holding of the Winter Olympics and the promotion of ice and snow sports, which has attracted more attention and recognition to skiing and attracted more people to participate in it. ”

Lin Xianping, secretary general of the Institute of Cultural Creativity of Zhejiang University City College, directly pointed out that skiing is changing to popularity and youth, which is both a trend and an inevitability, "On the one hand, the excitement and challenge of ice and snow sports itself attract more and more young people to participate;On the other hand, the promotion and popularization of ice and snow sports also gives more people the opportunity to contact and understand ice and snow sports. Therefore, it can be said that skiing is moving in a direction that is more suitable for young people, or rather that young people are more willing to try. ”

02 If you want to ski well, you need to spend 10,000 yuan on equipment firstHowever, although skiing is becoming "popular", the cost of skiing is not "popular" at all.

As mentioned above, Mu Qing, who bought an "early bird ticket", even though the "cost performance" of this ski trip was full, it still cost Mu Qing most of the month's salary, "plus insurance, meals and other expenses, the total expenditure is close to 6,000 yuan." This is still I didn't buy ski equipment, and the snow clothes are also the second-hand expenses that Xianyu bought, if you want to configure a complete set of equipment, you don't have one or two thousand yuan, and you can't hold it at all. ”

Ah Tian, who has a large snow resort near his home, saved the cost of going to large ski resorts such as Songhua Lake and Beidahu in previous years, "I used to save a weekend to go to Songhua Lake and Beidahu, but now I don't go there if I have them nearby." But now the price increase is really powerful, a few years ago, the ticket to Songhua Lake was only more than 100 yuan, and the Vanke apartment was only more than 100 yuan a night. ”

Ah Tian, who spends less on road expenses, spends a lot on "skiing" events. "The ticket is 350 yuan in the off-peak season, and the round-trip fuel and toll fees are equivalent to 150 yuan, which is 500 yuan. Ah Tian, who is self-deprecating and "addicted to food", goes to the ski resort to ski very often, almost once a week, which means that the monthly ticket and transportation costs will be 2,000 yuan.

And this is far from Ah Tian's big expenditure on skiing, and his own ski equipment is the biggest expense.

Ada in skiing. Source: Courtesy of Atian.

Ah Tian took out a ** skiing last year and introduced it to the value planet, "The snow suit is a domestic nobaday, which is cheaper, but the coat and vest also cost 3000 yuan +, and then the snow goggles are Oakley's, which costs 1500 yuan, and the helmet and gloves add up to 2000 yuan." The quick-drying clothes worn inside are domestic, 1200 yuan, and the rest of the armor, hip pads, and knee pads add up to 2500 yuan +. ”

Ah Tian explained that the reason for emphasizing domestic production is mainly because of "cheapness", "The equipment I bought can only be regarded as the middle and lower level, and if all of them are replaced by foreign high-end brands, they will have to be multiplied several times." ”

For the "three major pieces" of ski equipment necessary for skiing, Ah Tian chose the best one as much as possible out of safety needs, "I forgot how much the bindings, snowshoes and snowboards I bought, but 10,000 yuan is definitely not enough." This year, Ah Tian also spent nearly 10,000 yuan to replace the helmet, snow goggles and armor, "Anyway, the equipment is consumables, and the update speed depends purely on the personal balance." ”

It's true that skiing is not an affordable sport, but there are expensive experiences and cheap ways to play. Rent equipment like Mu Qing, buy second-hand, or go to the nearest ski resort like Sigma, and it's all up to you.

For example, Sigma, a self-proclaimed "amateur", bluntly said, "I only bought ski clothes, gloves, protective gear, etc., and it cost about 1,000 yuan in total." The rest of the helmets, snow goggles and ski gear are rented. ”

But to advance from an amateur to a professional player, it still costs money. "I'm still interested in skiing, and I want to spend some money on training, and when I return to Beijing from Changchun after the project, I will plan to complete the equipment. Sigma said.

03 Hottest ski season?With the growing army of skiers, there are countless practitioners who want to get a piece of the pie.

The industry generally believes that the 2023-2024 snow season is the first full snow season in the post-Winter Olympics era, and the domestic ski market will usher in a strong recovery in the new snow season, and even more, this winter is called the "hottest ski season".

In this regard, Lin Xianping said that whether this winter is the "hottest ski season" still depends on the specific market situation and consumer demand, "However, with the promotion of the Winter Olympics and the popularity of ice and snow sports, the prospects of the ski market are indeed very optimistic." ”

Shanghai ** also analyzed that the convening of the Winter Olympics and the country's support for the development of the ice and snow tourism economy have made ice and snow tourism a hot spot for the development of China's tourism industry, and the ice and snow tourism destinations and service reception facilities in various provinces and cities in China continue to be built and upgraded, diversified products continue to be launched, and consumers' enthusiasm for ice and snow tourism continues to rise, and it is expected that the number of trips and tourism consumption in the 2023-2024 ice and snow season will usher in rapid growth.

With the significant growth of the number of people and consumption of ice and snow tourism, preferential policies have also been introduced to attract more tourists.

Among them, Jilin, which has more than 70 ski resorts of different sizes, has issued the "2023-2024 New Snow Season Ice and Snow Policy of Jilin Province", which has formulated and issued 11 preferential policies in 3 aspects for tourists, travel agents, clubs, investment enterprises and other business entities, from the aspects of consumption vouchers, through trains, routes, project investment, loan discounts, etc. Among them, 30 million yuan of consumption coupons were issued to tourists inside and outside the province, and 10 million yuan of ice and snow transportation subsidies were also set up.

According to statistics, the cumulative number of skiers in the region has reached more than 86,000 since the opening of the board, and the turnover has reached 23.59 million yuan.

In addition, on Internet platforms such as Ctrip, Tongcheng, Meituan, and Douyin, as well as on the ** of major airlines and travel agencies, new cultural tourism products and one-stop services launched in cooperation with various places can be seen everywhere. There are more and more consumption scenarios combined with ice and snow, such as ice and snow festivals, ice sculpture festivals, ** festivals, etc., as well as ice and snow teaching, ice and snow competitions, and ice and snow research that are launched in combination with different regional characteristics.

In addition, services such as homestays, coaches, and travel photography have also attracted a wave of practitioners to embrace the "ski season".

Listed companies are also aiming at this opportunity and have entered the game. When combing the latest public information and transactions of major listed companies, Value Planet found that companies such as Changbai Mountain, Yuyuan Co., Ltd., Rheinland Sports, and Tianqiao Crane all have business layouts in "skiing".

Among them, Changbai Mountain focuses on "snow appreciation, skiing, snow play, and snow season must visit" to create ice and snow tourism season productsYuyuan shares at the beginning of the year ** "Japan Ski Resort", the latest financial report data shows that its Hokkaido ski resort "Hoshino Tomamu" benefited from the recovery of tourism consumption ushered in revenue growth;Through asset restructuring, Rheinland Sports has added tourism-related businesses such as ice and snow mountain tourism and sportsTianqiao Aoyue, a subsidiary of Tianqiao Crane, has provided equipment for many large ski resorts such as Chongqing Jinfoshan North Slope Ski Resort, and is exploring the ice and snow carnival tourism project.

At present, it seems that the development trend of the ski market is continuous, and it will not be a temporary craze. Over time, the ski market is likely to become more mature and refined, offering better services, facilities and experiences to attract more people to participate in and love ice and snow sports. Lin Xianping believes that the development of the ski market will always be hot.

But on the other hand, the ski market is also facing obvious seasonal attributes, how to "grasp sales in the peak season, grasp management in the off-season", how to increase repurchase, retain customers are all problems in front of ice and snow practitioners. At the same time, the ski fever has driven many domestic related equipment (equipment) manufacturers to join it, but limited by problems such as technology and core technology, the industry has ushered in a wave of reshuffle. According to the data, in the past two years, more than 200 ski brands have been established in China, but less than one-third of them are still operating healthily.

It can be seen that although the public's enthusiasm for ice and snow projects is high, relevant enterprises and practitioners are actively entering, and the integrated consumption of ice and snow "culture, sports and tourism" is also showing a hot trend. However, for the ice and snow industry itself, there is still room for improvement of "intensive cultivation".

Mu Qing, Sigma, and Ah Tian are pseudonyms.