The Asia Pacific Snow Conference at Ispo Beijing had an extra attraction this year with the publication of a report about the Chinese ski industry. As reported by Ispo.com, the report was authored by Bin Wu, chief strategy officer of the ski resort division at Vanke, who previously worked as a distributor for Rossignol and Tecnica, among others. The number of ski resorts in China reportedly increased to 568 last year, compared with 453 the previous year. As pointed out in our market report on the Chinese sports industry, however, the description of a resort is not quite the same in China as in European countries. Wu told Ispo.com that only about 3 percent of the resorts in China could offer the same standards as resorts in Europe or North America. Yet still, the report estimates that 12.5 million ski and snow enthusiasts travelled to Chinese ski resorts in 2015 and that the number of rentals increased by almost 25 percent to 122,700 pairs. Sales only amounted to an estimated 20,000 pairs (presumably referring to new skis bought in China). The research is all the more relevant since Beijing was picked to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The White Book is to be translated into English, although the timing remains uncertain.

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