Ice and snow "cold resources" have become the current hot economy

  This snow season, Xiaolong and the other 15 coaches in the club have few days off, and they are busy teaching at the major ski resorts in Changchun and Jilin every day.

Xiaolong, who founded the ski club for 9 years, experienced unprecedented skiing fever.

From December last year to March this year, the Zero Ski Club he founded trained more than 500 young skiers.

A few years ago, only 30 people asked him to learn to ski every winter.

  The "Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics Sports Heritage Report (2022)" released by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee shows that from the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics to October 2021, the number of national residents who have participated in ice and snow sports is 346 million people, and the participation rate of ice and snow sports is 24.56%.

The Beijing Winter Olympics has also driven the vigorous development of ski equipment manufacturing, infrastructure, and service industries.

Thanks to the upsurge of ice and snow sports set off by the Winter Olympics, a number of popular ski check-in spots across the country have emerged in Jilin Province.

According to data from the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, during the Spring Festival this year, Jilin Province received 9.3414 million domestic tourists, a year-on-year increase of 13.9%. Tourists from all over the country came to Jilin Province to experience powder snow.

In this snow season, the attention, pre-sale, and pageviews of ice and snow tourism in Jilin Province rank first in the domestic ice and snow market.

  Seeing that the "cold resources" of ice and snow have become the current hot economy, many young ski enthusiasts like Xiaolong have upgraded to become entrepreneurs of ice and snow projects, seizing a good opportunity to start a business in ice and snow in their hometown.

In the past 4 years, the number of members of Zero Degree Club has achieved rapid growth, and there are currently more than 2,000 stable members.

Xiaolong found that many friends from other industries switched careers and started ski clubs, providing training for beginners and advanced skiers.

In their view, ski training is a market that constantly releases consumption potential.

  Changchun snowboard coach An Fengchao is one of them. This year is his tenth year of skiing.

He used to do construction projects and had a lot of free time in winter, so he wanted to learn a sport suitable for winter.

The second year he learned to ski, he became a part-time ski instructor.

Four years ago, An Fengchao founded a ski club, which mainly conducts ski training and organizes ski activities. At present, the club has more than 30 coaches.

  "The ski resorts in the past few years were only full on holidays." An Fengchao said that this snow season, the major ski resorts in Jilin Province are overcrowded every day, and the queuing time for each link is about 20 minutes. He worked 12 hours until 21:30, after the night ski resort ended, he ended his day's work.

  Starting last year, he gave up his old job and devoted himself entirely to the ski training program.

Throughout the year, An Fengchao's work schedule is full.

In winter, he teaches at an outdoor ski resort in Changchun, and in summer, he transfers to an indoor ski resort in the south for training.

  "Skiing is not only liked by northerners." An Fengchao said that through the Douyin we-media platform, his ski club has attracted many southern skiers to join.

In the 2019 snow season, among the snow friends trained by An Fengchao, 80% of the snow friends from the south; this year, although affected by the epidemic, the snow friends from the south can also account for 30%.

  Xu Bohan, a Changchun native who is engaged in the automotive automation industry, and his partners founded outdoor sports companies in Guangzhou and Shanghai last year, and also built member camps at two ski resorts in Changchun and Jilin.

  Xu Bohan's family moved to Shanghai six years ago.

When he came to the south, he discovered that many friends from the south would go skiing in Jilin Province in winter.

In the winter of 2018, when he returned from Shanghai to Changchun to visit relatives, he took his family to experience skiing. He found that although the ice and snow tourism in his hometown became more and more famous in the country, he was not professional enough in skiing supporting services and guidance. Many ski clubs have skiing training. There are also ski shops, but most lack professional guidance.

As a "ski novice", Xu Bohan bought 5 pairs of snowshoes before buying the one that really suits him.

He wants to put his service concept in the field of auto automation more into the start-up of ski projects and provide professional supporting services for snow friends.

In order to better develop and serve the southern ski market, Xu Bohan's service team provides members with a series of ski matching services such as ski equipment selection, ski teaching, ticketing, travel and accommodation.

  In the eyes of many people, skiing is only the difference between "once" and "innumerable times", and the happy experience brought by skiing makes many skiers enjoy it.

Xu Bohan is optimistic about the broad market for "skiing whites".

He found that in many cities in the south, the number of people who experience and learn to ski through ski machines or indoor ski resorts is increasing year by year.

  Xu Bohan's company plans to focus on developing southern students this summer, first teaching on ski machines and indoor ski resorts.

During the snow season, we organize everyone to go skiing in the Northeast.

The sport that could only be played in winter has gradually become a four-season sport.

  Athlete "Uncle Bird in the South" is well-known in the southern snow friend circle.

He has been in the training industry for many years and has trained in English, diving and surfing.

In his view, young entrepreneurs want to take advantage of the east wind of the ice and snow economy, they have to start with easy-to-start projects, such as ski training, equipment sales, accommodation and so on.

  Southern Bird Uncle founded a ski club in Nanjing.

Two or three months before the start of the snow season, his club will focus on launching a variety of skiing activities and children's skiing winter camps, promoting and preheating in advance. Most of the activities are held in major ski resorts in Jilin Province.

This snow season, he has been leading a team to organize skiers from Jiangsu to ski and train at Beidahu Ski Resort in Jilin City.

In the past two years, the growth rate of his club membership has been around 30% per year.

He introduced that the club currently has elementary and advanced classes. The elementary class is 6,000 yuan for 15 classes, and the price of the advanced version is higher and the benefits are considerable.

  More and more people are skiing, and restaurants and B&Bs around the ski resort also usher in a peak passenger flow during the snow season.

On the way to the Beidahu Ski Resort in Jilin City, there is a street with B&Bs and restaurants on both sides.

When the snow season is approaching, due to the high prices of hotels around the ski resort, staying in homestays and eating Northeastern cuisine has become the first choice for many snow friends.

  Yang Rong, who originally worked in a first-tier city, returned to her hometown of Yongji County, Jilin City with her lover the year before, and took over her father's restaurant near the Beidahu Ski Resort. The couple also built a homestay in the backyard of the restaurant, with only 3 rooms from the beginning. It has grown to 36 rooms now.

Yang Rong made a rough calculation, and the turnover in the three months of the snow season can reach 700,000 yuan.

  "Although it is only a low-cost business, the income is much higher than that of working abroad." Yang Rong said that she is optimistic about the development of the ice and snow economy in her hometown. In the next snow season, she plans to launch some consumer discounts to attract more snow friends.

  On February 17, Jilin University released the "2022 China Ice and Snow Economic Development Index Report". The relevant data in the report show that China's ice and snow economy has shown a sustained and rapid growth trend in recent years. Driven by the conference effect, it showed explosive growth.

In 2021, the economic development of ice and snow tourism has doubled compared to 2016. It is expected that in 2022, my country's ice and snow economy will maintain a month-on-month growth of more than 30%.

  China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Wang Peilian Source: China Youth Daily