China’s ski resorts missing just one thing: skiers

On a bright day last winter, the managers of wan long ski resort in northern. China decided it was the perfect time to take aerial photos of the mountain. The bird’s-eye view revealed something strange: The parking lot was packed but the ski runs were empty. At ground level, the mystery was easily solved: Visitors had ditched their skis to dine on braised pork in the restaurant, play cards in the tea house and go for foot massages in the spa.

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On the face of things, the skiing industry has boomed in China. The country had fewer than 10,000 skiers and nine small skiable hills in 1996. That swelled to about five million skiers and 186 possible destinations at the end of last year, according to the Chinese Ski Association.

Those strong numbers are deceptive. There is still little in the way of a dedicated skiing community in China. So when it comes to selling lift tickets or chalets, it has been a painful decade for the developers of Chinese ski resorts.

They have had to learn the hard way that what might be considered après-ski activities elsewhere in the world must be in-lieu-of-ski activities in China if they want to attract crowds.

“Skiing in China is just at the point of takeoff. I’d say that 99 per cent of ski resorts are losing money. No one is making a profit,” says Zeng Mingsen, sales director at Wanlong, about four hours’ drive from Beijing.

Rather than throwing in the towel, though, developers are now upping the ante. Still clinging to the promise of the Chinese market, they are building bigger, better resorts that they believe are more in line with local tastes.

At Wanlong, construction crews have spent the summer and autumn giving the facilities a facelift. The lodge at the base of the mountain has added a sunroom and new restaurants to cater to those who prefer to spend their day inside eating rather than skiing. The main hotel has expanded its spa with a jade-floored steam room. The priciest mountainside villas have been spruced up with mahjong tables.

Those improvements are modest compared to the ambitions of other resorts in China. In the far north, Yabuli, the country’s biggest established resort, has partnered with Club Med and aimed for a broader customer base, plugging its horse sledding and yoga as much as the mountain itself.

“In the past, we concentrated on the skiing. Now we are mainly focused on being an all-round winter resort. Only 48 per cent of our visitors last year actually came for the skiing,” says Patrick CaoYue, executive vice-president of Mountain China Resorts, the developers of Yabuli.

That is also the approach at Chang baishan. On the border with North Korea, it might not seem the obvious choice for a winter resort but it is the tallest mountain range in northeastern China and already popular among tourists.

Wanda, a major Chinese property company, is developing a vast ski resort at Chang baishan that it says will be able to host Olympic-calibre events. But it is the extras – a shopping street, a conference centre, a theatre, a museum dedicated to mountain shamans – that it is counting on to draw the crowds.

Apart from the food coming out of their kitchens, there is little that marks the hotels and villas at China’s winter resorts as distinctively Chinese.

“Skiing vacations as a concept come from Europe and America. This lifestyle is not something that China invented,” Mr. Cao says. “People come because they want a taste of that.

“Getting a Canadian or an American visa might be too remote, but here they can see a place that looks a bit like Whistler – they can get that experience.”