China 17-18 Ski Stats Released

19th September 2018

Category : News

A report detailing the latest jump in the size of the wintersports market in China has been released.

The report says Chinese ski areas received 17.5 million visitors in the 2017-2018 snow season, up 16 per cent from the previous season.

A previous report released earlier this year said that the number of ski areas in the country had passed 700, up more than 50 on the previous season.  However the number of operating ski lifts in China is reported to be less than 1400, giving an average of less than two lifts per centre – meaning most are small, single conveyor lift areas.

It estimates that the winter sports industry, now worth nearly 400 billion yuan (US$58/UK£45 billion), will hit one trillion yuan(US$146/UK£112 billion) by 2025.

The Chinese government has previously said it aims to attract 300 million people to practise winter sports in the years leading up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.  This is probably more than in the rest of the world combined, although the figure is meant to include ice sports as well as snow sports.