The southern ice and snow economy has a broad market—
Four Seasons Can Come to Changsha "Hi" Ice and Snow
Our reporter Liu Lin Xie Yao
The Beijing Winter Olympics are in full swing, and the citizens of Changsha, thousands of miles away, have reached a "boiling point" for their enthusiasm for ice and snow sports.
Enter ordinary people's homes
During the Spring Festival holiday, Xu Zhe, a Zhuzhou citizen who has never been in contact with ice and snow sports, and his family of three made a special trip to Changsha Xiangjiang Happy City for skiing.
It is exciting and refreshing to get on a skateboard and gallop down the 130-meter-long ski run.
"I used to think that skiing was far away from our southerners' lives. Now that there is such a good ski resort in front of our home, we have found a new place for family consumption, and also provided a new scene for cultivating children's hobbies." Xu Zhe told reporters , With the holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics, ice and snow sports have become a new consumption trend for young people.
In his circle of friends, ice climbing, curling, snow extreme sports, etc. have also attracted more and more attention.
Xiangjiang Happy City, located in the Dawang Mountain Tourist Resort in Changsha, Hunan, is located 36 meters underground and maintains a temperature of minus 5°C all year round. It attracts many skiers all year round.
"This year's Spring Festival coincides with the Beijing Winter Olympics, and ice and snow sports are becoming more and more popular. In the past, because there were no ski resorts built, consumers in the south wanted to ski, so they could only run to the cold northeast in winter. The citizens of Changsha in the south have included skiing as a frequent favorite." The relevant person in charge of Xiangjiang Happy City Happy Snowland introduced that in the past month, the number of tourists visiting Xiangjiang Happy City Happy Snowland has increased by nearly 200%.
Zhou Ying, Secretary of the Party General Branch and Chairman of Hunan Xiangjiang Group Huanian Cultural Tourism Company, said that since the successful bid for the 2015 Beijing Winter Olympics, ice and snow sports have made great strides in "south expansion, west expansion and eastward progress", which has promoted the popularization of ice and snow sports, which was relatively small in the past. The public ice and snow sports have now entered the homes of ordinary people.
The Daling Ice Rink, located in Changsha IFS, the tallest building in Hunan, officially opened on May 7, 2018.
This is a professional and comprehensive ice skating rink built to international standards. Since its opening, it has been very popular every day, with 400 passengers per day on weekdays and 800 per day on weekends and holidays.
Due to its location in a large shopping mall, in addition to its own consumption, the ice rink has also brought a large number of high-quality tourists to IFS's accommodation, catering and shopping.
Restricted by natural conditions, most of the ski resorts in Hunan mainly use indoor artificial snow making, but in this way, tourists can experience the fun of being with snow all year round.
"With the advancement of ice-making and snow-making technology and the decline in consumption costs, more and more southerners are joining the skiing and entertainment teams." Zhou Ying said that according to incomplete statistics from the Hunan Provincial Sports Bureau, there are more than 10 ice and snow schools in Hunan. Sports venues are blooming in various cities and states, and the ice and snow industry is increasing year by year at a rate of 15%.
"The market for ice and snow sports in the south is very large. In the future, we will vigorously build an ice and snow sports tourism industry system based on the operation of ice and snow venues in Xiangjiang Happy City, and the core of ice and snow mass leisure and fitness." Hu Jing, secretary-general of Changsha Sports Industry Association According to the introduction, Changsha currently has 4 large-scale skating venues and 3 skiing venues, with a total area of 52,100 square meters.
In 2021, 1 million people will go to these ice and snow venues for consumption, and the direct operating income such as ticket consumption and coaching fees generated by ice and snow venues will reach 152 million yuan, and the total secondary consumption driven by these ice and snow sports venues will reach 372 million yuan.
High enthusiasm in the arena
"The feet are parallel, and the wrists must be used to push the poles, and the center of gravity of the body cannot be moved backward, otherwise it may fall." "When turning the direction, lift the snowboard, otherwise it will step on the board"...February 12th, in Changsha On the nearly 200-meter-long ice and snow track in the Three Bears Ice and Snow Kingdom in Tianxin District, Li Li, an 8-year-old primary school student, slowly slid down the snow slope under the guidance of the coach, drawing a beautiful arc.
On that day, it was freezing rain outside in Changsha, but the "snow" was boiling in the Three Bears Ice and Snow Kingdom.
On the two primary ski tracks, more than half of the students who learn to ski like Li Li are in the field.
"Three Bears is the first indoor ski resort to be put into operation in Changsha. The students are mainly kindergarten children and primary school students. With the gradual warming of ice and snow sports, many middle school and college students have also joined the learning team during the winter vacation this year, and the number of students has increased by 30%." The head of the Three Bears Ice and Snow Kingdom said in mid-Wednesday.
"Young people are the main force participating in ice and snow sports." Gao Yongqing, principal of Xiangjiang Happy City Happy Snow Ski School, introduced that since the school opened in July last year, it has trained tens of thousands of students, mainly children and young people.
"The instantaneous reception volume is 1,500 people, and the maximum daily reception volume is 4,500 people." Gao Yongqing said.
In order to drive the enthusiasm of the whole society to participate, Xiangjiang Happy City has planned ice and snow experience activities suitable for all age groups and time periods, such as "Five-time Winter Olympics Card", "Five-time Private Lesson Card", "Special Offer Card", etc. The series of products of "Kuxue Junior Ski Training Camp" are specially aimed at teenagers from 6 to 17 years old. In conjunction with the Changsha Triathlon Sports Association, a triathlon training base is set up in Xiangjiang Happy City, and the "Snow Mini (Parent-Child) Little Iron Man" is held from time to time. Three" competitions.
"The enthusiasm of the public for ice and snow sports is unprecedentedly high, and ice and snow sports will still be a popular leisure method and a new excavation project in the south." Gao Yongqing said that at present, the proportion of tourists in happy snow areas has increased from 20% last year to 40%.
Hu Jing introduced that in 2020, there will be 2,062 ice and snow sports schools nationwide, and two schools in Changsha are shortlisted.
Today, 5,000 to 10,000 primary school students in Changsha participate in ice and snow sports more than once a week, with an annual training output value of 20 million yuan; 8,000 college students participate in ice and snow sports, with an annual consumption of more than 50 million yuan; within a year, only young people in Changsha City The total amount of ice and snow sports training and direct consumption amounted to 220 million yuan.
The vigorous consumption of ice and snow sports has promoted the development of ice and snow schools.
Tanzhou Experimental School in Yuelu District, Qingshuitang Jiangwan Primary School in Kaifu District, and Shazitang Chongde Primary School in Yuhua District have completed the reconstruction and expansion of the campus ice and snow roller skating site. Rilong Primary School and Shazitang Primary School in Yuhua District are planning to build ice and snow roller skating rinks.
Ice and snow tourism consumption is hot
Ice and snow sports are hot, and the consumption of related cultural and tourism products is also growing rapidly.
This year, Changsha has had three heavy snowfalls.
Snowflakes fall, bringing rare climatic wonders to natural scenic spots. Snow-watching, snow-playing, taking pictures, and rime viewing activities have become the most popular tourist items. Products bring new economic highlights.
During the Spring Festival, the bookings of ski-themed hotels in Hunan increased by 54% year-on-year, and the orders for tickets for ice, snow and ski resorts increased by nearly 40% year-on-year.
Various winter Olympic peripheral products are also on sale, with skate shoes, ski suits, and snowboards becoming the hot-selling "New Year's goods".
On February 11, at the Decathlon store located on Furong North Road in Changsha City, the reporter saw that many products had been snapped up on the shelves of ski sports products.
"People are enthusiastic about ice and snow sports, and the sales of ski suits, ski gloves and other equipment in the store have increased by 100% to 120% compared with last year." The store salesperson told reporters.
The reporter learned from Xiangjiang Happy City that the sales of ice and snow sports equipment and entertainment snow toys in Happy Snowland increased significantly. Among them, the sales of ski equipment increased by 60% year-on-year, the sales of ski gloves increased by 80% year-on-year, snow bucket toy sets, snow clips and other entertainment snow clips. Toy sales increased by 30% year-on-year.