Original title: Qian Jiannong, Chairman of Fosun Tourism: The “ice and snow effect” of the trillion-dollar Winter Olympics is only the beginning of the industry
On the evening of January 18, at the foot of the Oriental Pearl Tower, a landmark building in Shanghai, a newly opened ice rink attracted the attention of passers-by. This is the venue of the Oriental Pearl Ice Carnival.
Under the pressure of the epidemic and the opportunity to welcome the opening of the Winter Olympics, more and more indoor and outdoor ice rinks have appeared in shopping malls and landmark buildings in Shanghai. Many citizens have walked to the ice surface to experience the joy of ice and snow sports.
Qian Jiannong, chairman and CEO of Fosun Tourism, was not surprised by such a scene. In an exclusive interview with a 21st Century Business Herald reporter, he said that this is the most distinctive manifestation of the rapid growth and expansion of China’s ice and snow industry.
There is still half a month before the opening of the Winter Olympics, and a “ice and snow fever” is emerging in many parts of the country. As early as 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly issued the “Opinions on vigorously developing ice and snow sports by taking the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as an opportunity”, pointing out that it is necessary to vigorously popularize mass ice and snow sports, extensively carry out youth ice and snow sports, and accelerate the development of the ice and snow industry. . The “14th Five-Year” Sports Development Plan also clearly stated that the preparations for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics should be taken as an opportunity to realize the leap-forward development of ice and snow sports.
“The holding of the Winter Olympics will undoubtedly drive the development of the entire Chinese ice and snow industry.” Qian Jiannong emphasized that on a global scale, the development of the ice and snow industry in the Chinese market is quite rapid. Statistics show that from 2010 to 2019, the number of domestic ice and snow sports enthusiasts increased by 231%.
In Qian Jiannong’s eyes, the effect of the Winter Olympics is just the beginning. By 2025, the scale of the domestic ice and snow industry will exceed one trillion yuan.
The ice and snow economy is moving towards a trillion scale
On January 18, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released 10 national ice and snow tourism boutique routes, and required the cultural and tourism departments at all levels along the route to strengthen cooperation with relevant departments, and implement them on the basis of strict normalization of epidemic prevention and control. Good “Ice and Snow Tourism Development Action Plan (2021-2023)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”), and increase the number of tourist attractions, tourist resorts, self-driving car camps, ski resorts and other tourist public places along the ice and snow tourism routes that meet the requirements. Support for the construction of infrastructure and service facilities.
The “Plan” proposes that by 2023, promote ice and snow tourism to form a more reasonable spatial layout and a more balanced industrial structure, assist the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and achieve the goal of “driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports“. Its key tasks include five aspects: expanding the supply of high-quality products for ice and snow tourism, digging deep into the consumption potential of ice and snow tourism, promoting the integration of ice and snow tourism with related industries, improving public services for ice and snow tourism, and consolidating the foundation for ice and snow tourism development.
“China can be said to be the fastest growing market in the ice and snow industry. It is estimated that in the next two to three years, the number of people participating in ice and snow sports in my country will exceed 500 million.” Qian Jiannong told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the development scale and potential of the domestic ice and snow industry They are very huge, which is reflected in three aspects: first, China is very rich in ice and snow resources, and the Northeast and other places have become world-renowned ice and snow resources; second, the potential target group has a large base and rapid growth rate, especially young people. ; Third, it will help to promote the transformation of industrial structure in some regions.
Some people in the industry have pointed out that the northeastern region, which was once dominated by resource export, is gradually transforming another form of resources, such as green food, winter tourism, and ice and snow industry, from a “supporting role” to a “protagonist”, and it is very likely to become a “protagonist”. Change the new kinetic energy of the Northeast economy.
“The ice and snow industry can actually play a very important role in the transformation of the industrial structure in northeastern my country.” Qian Jiannong believes that the development of the ice and snow industry in the French Alps is a sample worth learning from. Seizing the development opportunity of the ice and snow industry, the spillover effect brought by this industry will be huge.”
It is undeniable that the possibility of boosting economic development and transformation in some regions with the help of the ice and snow industry is rooted in the strong domestic ice and snow industry foundation and consumption potential.
The “China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report (2022)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) recently released by the China Tourism Academy shows that despite the impact of the epidemic, the number of ice and snow tourism in the Beijing Winter Olympics, the return of ice and snow outbound tourism, the upgrade of tourism consumption, and ice and snow facilities nationwide Stimulated by both supply and demand, such as the layout, the number of national ice and snow leisure tourists increased from 170 million in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season to 254 million in the 2020-2021 ice and snow season. The report further predicts that during the ice and snow season from 2021 to 2022, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in my country will reach 305 million. At the same time, by 2025, the number of ice and snow tourists in my country will exceed 500 million, and the domestic ice and snow tourism revenue will exceed 1.1 trillion yuan.
“If you analyze the income structure of this 1 trillion yuan, you can find that in addition to ice and snow-related income, it is also mainly composed of accommodation, transportation, catering, etc. At present, the income potential related to the domestic ice and snow industry is far from being released. Similar to the tourism industry, its industry is highly permeable.” Qian Jiannong further explained the reasons for the spillover effect of the ice and snow industry, “The superimposed target groups are basically middle and high-end income groups, and the potential customer groups are younger, and these groups are all It has strong spending power and willingness to spend.”
High-quality ice and snow products are not yet saturated
The Winter Olympics ignited not only the public’s consumption intention for the ice and snow industry, but also the investment enthusiasm of trillions of funds in the ice and snow industry.
According to the statistics of the “Report”, in the field of major projects, there are 157 heavy-asset ice and snow construction projects with large investment scale completed from 2018 to 2021, and the scale of heavy-asset projects is close to 1 trillion yuan. During this four-year period, the investment amount absorbed by the Three Norths (Northeast China, North China, and Northwest China) accounted for 47.9%, and the investment amount of the other four regions (Southwest China, South China, Central China, and East China) accounted for 52.1%.
“In fact, a few years before the Winter Olympics, the investment boom in my country’s ice and snow industry has already appeared.” Qian Jiannong told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the overall investment in the industry chain is still in the early stage of development, mainly focusing on snow fields and accommodation. In the future, deeper links in the ice and snow industry chain will attract capital to enter, and more domestic independent brands will emerge.
However, Qian Jiannong reminded that the intensity of investment depends on the size of the market. If you blindly follow the trend or repeat low-quality investment, you will often suffer losses.
The “Report” also pointed out that in recent years, my country’s ice and snow industry investment has become more rational, and it is changing from scale expansion to connotative development of quality and capacity expansion. “Ice and snow investment is a ‘good business‘. It not only has great development potential in China, but also has obvious economic boosts in some regions. It is an industrial investment worth promoting.” Qian Jiannong believes that, unlike some tourism products, the ice and snow industry The development of the company is by no means “to win with low prices”, “in this industry, quality is more important than quantity”.
In Qian Jiannong’s view, domestic high-quality ice and snow products are far from saturated. “The main consumer groups in the ice and snow industry are middle- and high-income people. They must be concerned about quality, because it is related to safety factors.”
“Taking the most popular indoor ski resorts as an example, how to make snow is an aspect that can most directly reflect the quality of the product.” Qian Jiannong believes that different qualities of artificial snow will affect the skiing beginners and enthusiasts. Experience and even safety issues, “In particular, investment in the ice and snow industry should not only focus on immediate interests.”
In fact, when we see the rapid development of the domestic ice and snow industry in recent years, we also need to recognize the existence of challenges. For example, the efficiency of domestic ice and snow public service facilities is insufficient, and the regional development level of ice and snow tourism facilities is uneven. The 21st Century Business Herald reporter noticed that the “Plan” clearly stated that it is necessary to expand the supply of high-quality products for ice and snow tourism, including promoting the construction of ice and snow-themed tourist resorts and scenic spots, launching national-level and provincial-level ski tourism resorts, and supporting ice and snow tourism routes and bases. building. At the level of standardization construction, the “Plan” proposes to continue to carry out the formulation and revision of standards for ice and snow tourism equipment and equipment, ice and snow tourism facilities and equipment, ice and snow tourism venue construction, management and services, and to guide the quality of ice and snow tourism products and services with standards. keep improving.
“The sustainable development of the ice and snow industry is inseparable from the popularization of ice and snow sports on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to strengthen the supply guidance of enterprises for high-quality ice and snow products.” Qian Jiannong believes that “high-quality supply can create more demand. Yes, and the actual situation is that the supply of high-quality products needs to be further increased to better meet the needs of the Chinese people.”
(Author: Cao Enhui Editor: Lin Hong)