With the sheer size of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, it is only a matter of time until Chinese will spend their ski vacation in Europe, Beat Wittmann tells finews.asia in an interview.
Beat Wittmann, you spent a week in Beijing and Chongli, the ambitious site of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022. What are your key takeaways?
My efforts to get a grip on the unprecedented boost in popularity and growth in winter sports in China has a personal dimension as I spent my youth in a Swiss mountain resort. My first job was as a ski instructor and I've been a passionate skier ever since. So for me, it was a pleasure indeed to see this Chinese initiative in connection to the often-challenged winter sports industry.
My personal feeling is that the grand plan China has with the Olympic Winter Games 2022 is very much on track in all dimensions. It will be a big global boost for winter sports.
What's the impact of the 2022 Olympics on China?
Winter sports is part of a fast-growing sports tourism ecosystem driven by policy support. The 2022 Olympics will promote ski culture extensively, and push for respective infrastructure improvement. The rising middle and high-income population is upgrading their consumption habits and shifting towards a more natural and outdoor lifestyle.
From a sectoral perspective, winter sports can be split along the following categories: public infrastructure like construction, transportation, communication, healthcare; hospitality such as hotels and restaurants; personal equipment like apparel, hardware, accessories; skiing site equipment – snow machines, cableway, snowmobiles – and resort operation and skiing services like training, equipment rental, insurance.
As a result, it is a highly attractive business from a global and financial perspective, with corporate advisory and investment opportunities available. However, one must act decisively, consistently and in a timely manner.
How has China's skiing industry developed over the years?
France's Club Med opened at Yabuli in 1995, and the skiing industry is now entering a fast-growing, transformational phase. With the 2022 Olympics, the relatively high number of small resorts will be replaced by full service and large scale resorts.
The growth rate of spending in personal equipment is generally expected to beat all other categories by a vast margin, and the related business opportunities go mainly to international lifestyle and sports brands, which have a dominant market position.
Broadly speaking, the overall economic value creation of the ski market in China can be broken down into following categories: personal equipment (15 percent), skiing site facilities (10 percent), resort operations (25 percent) and skiing services, hospitality and games (50 percent). So in quite some ways, this is the next chapter in the long-time love affair of the Chinese consumer with European luxury brands in particular.
What are the key drivers in this development?
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