Beginners become enthusiasts. What is the charm of skiing？
Once, I was trapped in Syracuse in winter; Today, the ice and snow is the Jinshan Yinshan.
This is Chongli-known as "the most ideal natural skiing area in North China", and many snow competitions of Beijing Winter Olympics are being held here.
The change of worshipping ceremony in small towns reflects the leaping development of ice and snow sports in China, and it is also a true portrayal of the welfare of the people in the Winter Olympics.
Many skiers who have been skiing for many years will have the same feeling: in recent years, more and more people like skiing.
Of course, this is not an illusion. Judging from the national statistics and the number of skiers received by various ski resorts, the number of skiers in China has indeed ushered in a blowout in the years when the Beijing Winter Olympics is approaching.
Why do people in China love skiing more and more? In an interview with reporters, industry analysts gave many reasons:
With the combination of better skiing facilities and convenience, the fun of skiing itself, and more and more fashionable and cultural attributes of skiing in social communication, skiing has become the next hot topic of sports.
Young people who love skiing.
The number of skiers has soared.
Many friends who are unfamiliar with skiing may have noticed in recent years that more and more people are exposed to skiing in the "circle of friends".
Statistically, it is true. Especially after the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2015, the skiing population has ushered in a wave of blowout.
According to the White Paper on Ski Industry in China in 2020 released in July, 2021, in the snow season of 2020-2021 (from May 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021), the number of skiers in China reached 20.76 million, a record high.
In the snow season of 2019-2020, because of the epidemic, the number of skiers dropped to 10.45 million, but it immediately rebounded and hit a new high.
According to historical data, the number of skiers in the snow season of 2007-2008 was close to 5 million, and it reached 10 million in the snow season of 2013-2014, an increase of 5 million in six years.
However, in the 2018-2019 snow season, the number of domestic skiers soared to 20.6 million. Compared with the 2013-2014 snow season, the increase in just five years exceeded 10 million.
In an interview with reporters, Li Yongtai, executive vice president of Zhangjiakou Chongli Taiwu Ski Town, revealed that since Taiwu Ski Town opened in 2015, "the passenger flow of skiing is basically increasing by 30% per year". If it were not for the impact of the epidemic, the overall increase could have been even greater.
Zhang Litao, general manager of Fulong Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd. also told reporters that Chongli Fulong Ski Resort was put into operation in 2016. "In the first year, the number of people we received was about 80,000, and this snow season, so far, we have received about 170,000 people two months before the start of the snow season."
Try skiing, it is more convenient and comfortable.
Why can skiing attract so many new enthusiasts? In the eyes of the industry, many people just haven’t had the chance to get in touch with skiing before.
Nowadays, with the increase of domestic ski facilities and convenience, there is almost no threshold for trying skiing, which naturally allows more people to enter the world.
According to statistics, as of 2020, the total number of ski resorts open to the outside world in China is 715. Although it is lower than the historical peak of 770 in the previous year because of the epidemic, it still has a huge increase of 165% compared with 270 in 2010.This means that it is getting easier and easier to find a place to ski.
After choosing the ski destination, the process of reaching the ski resort has become more and more convenient.
Chongli, Zhangjiakou, which was selected as one of the competition areas of Beijing Winter Olympics, is naturally one of the biggest beneficiaries. With the arrival of the Winter Olympics, high-speed rail lines connecting Beijing were opened here and new expressways were built. As Zhang Litao said: "It takes only 40 to 50 minutes to get from Beijing by high-speed train, which is very convenient, and there are also two stations, Prince City Station and Chongli North Station."
"There are also two expressways. If you drive, it only takes more than two hours from the Sixth Ring Road in Beijing, and the traffic arrival problem is solved. This is very good for the Chongli market."
Of course, not only in Chongli, but also in other domestic ski resorts such as Northeast China or Xinjiang, the traffic conditions for service skiing are becoming more and more convenient. In addition, all ski resorts are striving to upgrade their hardware facilities and service quality. For skiers, this is naturally the best time.
Mr. Zhang, who runs a ski shop in Chongli and is also a skier, has personally experienced the better and better changes in the ski resort:"At the earliest snow resort, the guests were pulled to the mountain by car and then slid down. Later, there were electric tow fibers, magic carpets, and later cable cars."
"At first, the cable car was non-enclosed and the speed was relatively slow. When the weather was cold, people would freeze up and sit around. Later, there was a closed high-speed cable car, and the facilities were getting better and better." He told reporters.
After contact skiing, it is too easy to "fall"
Better and more convenient conditions have undoubtedly greatly increased the "contact surface" of skiing for the general public, but there are naturally reasons why many people can really be "captured" by skiing.
In the opinion of ski instructors,The excitement and happiness that skiing itself can bring really makes people want to stop.
Shi Wei, who studied skiing at Chongli local school and became a senior coach at the Mountain Sports Institute of Four Seasons Town in Fulong after graduation, told reporters that skiing is definitely an exciting sport.
"Especially after the speed up, that kind of feeling is too cool, so it will make people linger. Moreover, skiers are more open-minded, lively and easy to get along with, and they will know more friends (through skiing) and get along more comfortably. "
Cui Yajie, president of Mountain Sports College in Four Seasons Town, Fulong, also said, "Even in the primary road, you can see many enthusiasts show their skills and’ fly everywhere’. Many people began to learn slowly in recent years because of the development of the ski market in recent years. After one or two years, two or three years, the level has made great progress. "
While many beginners have become enthusiasts, more and more beginners have come to experience it. As Cui Yajie said, "Groups such as family vacations and travel vacations will come to experience it, and the overall group (skiing) is getting bigger."
"People who love skiing will want to ski more and more, and then they will drive people around them to ski, which is also a feature of skiing."
Outside of sports, skiing has become a fashion culture.
Indeed, as Cui Yajie said, many skiers were actually "pulled" into the world of skiing by people around them, or learned about skiing from friends around them, thus becoming interested.
Compared with a sport, with the continuous promotion and spread of domestic ice and snow culture, skiing has already possessed more cultural attributes, and this trend has naturally attracted the attention of many people in the skiing industry.
“Skiing is a sport with strong social attributes.Many people will interact with each other when they see someone in their circle of friends skiing in winter, which is a boost to skiing. Cui Yajie told reporters.
"Now skiing is not just a sport, it has become a part of some people’s lives. Some people may work five days a week, and then they will make an appointment with friends to ski and chat and get together on weekends. Especially for young people today, this is very attractive. "
Zhang Litao also believes that after the spread of social media, the social image of skiing is very dynamic, so it is more attractive: "Nowadays, there are many young people skiing, because skiing is a very fashionable thing, and many people are also dressed very cool. It is both a sport and a communication space. "
Not only in the snow field, fans can show their skills, but also many people are willing to show their personalities through the media platform: "Now skiing has gone beyond the sport itself, and it is really no longer the same as before."
Previously, Zhang Litao from Jilin was a professional platform skier. In his memory, when he was an athlete, the concept of skiing was far from being popularized.
"At that time, it was very closed, and everyone didn’t understand what skiing was all about. In the 1980s, many locals in Northeast China had no concept of skiing."
"In the past, many ordinary people were not exposed to skiing, but now everyone knows about skiing, which is related to the affluence of our lives, the increase of income and the progress of society."
North ice spreads south, east expands and west advances.
Undeniably, in the process of skiing becoming more and more popular, the hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics is a great stimulus.
"For example, if it was said that ice and snow entered the campus before, it was very difficult. Because of the safety issues involved, now they are actively doing these things. The school and the ski resort are connected to let the children snow in winter. This is a social and ideological change." Zhang Litao said.
It is understood that in addition to the popularity of teenagers, some local governments will also give real money subsidies to skiers, so that the latter can ski at a more affordable price.
In addition, the popularity of skiing has also brought a most direct result, that is, skiing, which was originally the "main battlefield" in the north, has attracted a large number of fans from the south through years of publicity and promotion.
In Li Yongtai’s view, skiing is naturally attractive to southerners: "Tourism itself is curious and different. Northerners go to the south and southerners go to the north, and they all want to see something novel and different."
Nowadays, skiing is becoming more and more convenient, which greatly reduces the threshold for southerners to "try early". At the same time, the domestic ski resort is equipped with rich supporting facilities, which is more attractive to beginners.
"Many children who go to school abroad even feel better when they come back to ski than abroad, because foreign ski resorts have different ideas from ours. Some of them don’t have so many service facilities, and they even have to change clothes in the car, or they don’t have equipment to rent, and they don’t have rich catering. Domestic snow resorts have built many surrounding facilities to protect them. "
Coupled with the popularity of indoor ski resorts in the south today, it has sent the opportunity to experience to the doorstep of southerners.
"There are many indoor ski resorts in the south, which is precisely the primary stage of ski resorts, and it is also very easy to guide passengers." Li Yongtai said.
Zhang Litao also thinks: "The appearance of the (southern) summer ski resort has brought great help, because the summer ski resort, no matter how big it is, is also a primary ski resort. When these people practice almost in the resort, they will definitely want to’ fly themselves’ to feel the snow in nature and go to the big ski resort to’ shine’."
"Indoor ski resorts have trained a large number of basic skiers, which has played a decisive role in promoting the southern ski market."
With the promotion of hardware facilities, the popularization of skiing in the society and the spread of skiers to the whole country … With the stimulation and boost of the Beijing Winter Olympics, skiing has ushered in a golden age of development.
"The development of every industry needs big events to stimulate, and the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics is such a condition." Zhang Litao said, "Supporting facilities, reception capacity, venue facilities, including commercial formats and ecological environment … The core elements of prosperity in the post-Winter Olympics era have been formed. After the Beijing Winter Olympics, people will definitely enjoy the fruits of the Winter Olympics. We are full of expectations for the post-Winter Olympics era." (Reporter Pu Yilei)
Source: The Paper.
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