China's winter sports industry is booming, with a target of 1.5 trillion yuan in revenue by 2030. The government is promoting the development of the industry's entire chain, including sports venues, services, and education. Cities like Harbin and Changchun are popular destinations for tourists, especially those from southern China.
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00:00China is looking to capitalize on a boom in its winter sports and entertainment industry.
00:06With more than 300 million people enjoying seasonal activities each year,
00:11the sector is expected to bring in $168 billion by 2027.
00:18CGTN's Zheng Songhu reports from China's Harbin City,
00:22one of the largest ice and snow theme parks in the world.
00:26China has huge potential for winter tourism.
00:29Experts say by the end of next year, the total volume of winter tourism will reach 1 trillion yuan.
00:35China's central government has also set goals like,
00:39by 2027, the total volume of winter tourism should reach 1.2 trillion yuan,
00:45and by 2030, increase to 1.5 trillion yuan, which is about $200 billion.
00:53The central government has introduced 24 measures to boost winter tourism.
00:58For example, China will promote the development of the whole industrial chain of ice and snow sports,
01:04culture, equipment and tourism.
01:06Sports venues and supporting services,
01:09winter sports and economic education in colleges and vocational schools will be enhanced.
01:15Financial support systems have also been introduced around the country.
01:19In Changchun City in Jilin Province,
01:23officials offered local enterprises subsidies to hold tourism activities.
01:28Xinjiang officials also provided the companies decent loans to develop the industry.
01:34Hosting big-ticket events is another way to boom winter tourism.
01:39And the Winter Games next year has also made Harbin or even the entire northeast China even more popular this winter.
01:47And the amount of visitors to Harbin City, 80% of them are from southern China,
01:55cities like Hangzhou, Chengdu, Changsha, Sanya, etc.
02:00Aside from Harbin City, the cities like Mohe in Heilongjiang and Yanbian and Changchun in Jilin Province
02:11and Shenyang and Dalian in Liaoning Province are also popular this winter for the tourists.
02:17Let's now hear from Justin Downs, President of Axis Leisure Management.
02:22Certainly the Harbin Ice Festival has become a global phenomenon.
02:26It always used to attract millions and millions of visitors, including a lot from overseas.
02:32And so there are still many millions of people in China,
02:35or tens of millions of people in China that have yet to experience it.
02:38So what it does is it exposes people to the winter environment.
02:43Then it triggers their interest in getting involved in the winter sport that comes as a result of that.
02:48So people go to Harbin, they experience the snow and the ice,
02:52and then they say, hey, mom and dad, I want to go skiing or ice skating or snowboarding.
02:57And it's a really important part of the whole ecosystem.
03:00Talk to me about winter sports and which ones are gaining popularity in China.
03:07Well, certainly skiing and snowboarding are the most user-friendly,
03:11easy for the mainstream population to pick up.
03:15It's not a specialist sport per se.
03:19It's not limited by time or space.
03:22So skiing and snowboarding is enjoying extreme popularity right across the country,
03:28from the northern ski resorts in outdoor ski destinations to the south in indoor ski domes.
03:37The pickup both from the youth and from the more senior, more mature population is quite phenomenal, really.
03:45How much of a boost has Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics been for the snow economy?
03:53Well, even well before the Olympics happened.
03:56So going back to 2015 when the Olympics were announced, the economy of snow sports or winter sports was already on the rise.
04:04The Olympics solidified that.
04:06And ever since the day that Beijing won the Winter Olympics,
04:10the government has thrown its full support behind anything to do with winter sport,
04:15whether it's education relating to people getting involved as a career in winter sport or participation or the media,
04:23culture, social well-being.
04:26The government has been 100 percent behind it.
04:29So the Winter Olympics really confirmed that the pathway for China being a dominant global force in winter sport was because of the Olympic Games.
04:39So no question that's been a phenomenal outcome.
04:43Is it possible to put a number to the value of the snow economy?
04:47It's not just tourist destinations, but it's also the manufacture of ski poles, for example.
04:53Oh, no question.
04:54I mean, it's a massive, as I said, an ecosystem.
04:57So China is now one of the world's leaders in development of chairlifts and snow making machines,
05:03whereas 15, 20 years ago it was all about importing from the international market.
05:09So the production and creation of retail clothing brands and ski equipment, ice skates,
05:16it's quite phenomenal really where China has come from to where it is now.
05:23Ten years ago, China used to watch what was going on in the rest of the world.
05:28Now the rest of the world is watching what China is doing because China is innovating
05:32because it's the most maturely advancing market for introducing new product into the market, new consumers to the market.
05:42So China has definitely become an industry leader, and the rest of the world is watching.