"I miss you very much in the Guangzhou refrigerator" - the road sign text with white characters on the blue background is full of atmosphere. Under the road sign on the ski trail, young girls wear red ski suits and erect snowboards to take photos; Below the ski trail, a large number of skiing enthusiasts are waiting in line in front of the magic carpet. This is a daily scene of Guangzhou Hot Snow Miracle, the largest indoor ski resort in South China located in Huadu District, Guangzhou.
In recent days, as ski resorts around the country have been "opening up", outdoor ski resorts and indoor ski resorts at "Jiamenkou" have once again become the hot spots of ski lovers in the south. According to Meituan data, since November, the search volume of "indoor skiing" in Guangdong has increased by 295% year on year. Flying pig data shows that since November, the search popularity related to "skiing" has increased by more than 100% month on month compared with the previous month, the number of air tickets booked to fly to the northeast has increased by more than 1.3 times compared with last year, the number of train tickets has increased by more than 2.4 times, and the number of car rental bookings has increased by 1.6 times, of which Guangdong Province ranks first in the list of popular tourist sources.
As the first complete snow season in the post Winter Olympics era, the industry estimates that the 2023-2024 snow season will become the most prosperous season in the past five years. In this super skiing craze, the southern tourists led by Guangdong did not hesitate to show their high interest and consumption power.
"Home gate" experience: southern skiing is as enthusiastic as northern skiing
In recent years, indoor ski resorts have witnessed rapid development in China. According to the 2022-2023 White Paper on China's Skiing Industry, there will be 50 indoor ski resorts opened in China from 2022-2023, generating a total of 3.65 million ski trips, accounting for 18.41% of the total ski trips. According to relevant reports, China has accounted for half of the top ten indoor ski resorts in the world according to the size of the snow area.
Since the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the enthusiasm of the public to participate in ice and snow sports has continued to rise, and indoor ski resorts have become increasingly popular tourist destinations in southern China. This snow season, indoor skiing, ice and snow parks and other ice and snow tourism products in East China and South China are showing a higher degree of popularity. Taking Guangzhou Hot Snow Miracle as an example, since its opening in 2019, the total passenger flow of the ski resort has exceeded 3 million. In the two days of joining Meituan ticket live broadcast last month to launch the lowest price product of the year, the sales soared to four times the usual. "We hope that through the advantages of the platform in the local life field, we can combine online and offline, so that on the one hand, consumers can obtain more affordable tickets, and on the other hand, we can further mobilize everyone's enthusiasm for skiing," said Wei Jianyu, marketing director of Guangzhou Hot Snow Miracle.
The reporter learned that in order to meet the needs of trendy young people and parents and children families, in the first half of this year, Guangzhou Hot Snow Miracle added a number of snow entertainment projects, such as Tulip Flower Sea Snow Circle Road. At the end of the year, it also upgraded the street view of Ice and Snow Fairy Tale Town, and planned activities such as the end of the year lighting ceremony, snow floating to welcome the new year, and cross New Year DJ party. The reporter found that there were more comments on "wonderful performances", "the first choice for parents and children to walk their children", "large venues", "fun playing snow" and so on, according to nearly 20000 comments on the beauty group.
From the perspective of the industry, the ice and snow resources in the south are scarce, but in recent years, the enthusiasm of the people in the south to participate in the ice and snow tour is not less than that of the north. "Guangdong is the largest source of tourists, accounting for nearly 60%, and there are also many consumers in surrounding cities and Hong Kong and Macao." Wei Jianyu believes that ice and snow tourism is becoming a new consumption hotspot in cities in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and "skiing+sports" has become a popular lifestyle.
"In the past, there was no environment for skiing in the south, and I didn't know about this sport. When the ski resort opened in 2019, I went to try skiing for the first time, and I found the fun of skiing from then on." Ou Jiaqi is the manager of Shenzhen Deep Snow Ski Club, and also the first batch of skiing customers of Guangzhou Hot Snow Miracle. From joining a professional ski team to opening a ski club, he now cooperates with public comment and other platforms to attract more club members. Every winter, he takes members to the famous ski resorts in the north.
Ou Jiaqi said: "The number of ski lovers in the south is increasing year by year with the naked eye, and the level is also getting higher and higher."
Industry insiders point out that as more and more southerners join in, ice and snow tourism will become a real "national tourism". With the help of local service platforms, the demand for ice and snow consumption will be further released.
The "snow goods" in Northeast China are super attractive: it may be appropriate to divert them
"Southerners are obsessed with snow. In addition to playing with snow in Northeast China, they have to eat chicken stewed with mushrooms, pork stewed with noodles, and iron pot stewed with geese, live on the Northeast hot kang, watch Yangko, listen to Errenzhuan, ride a dog sled, and once again 'pour water into ice'."
In recent days, Wang Jun, the head of the flagship store of Orange Yi Travel, which runs local group tours in Sanya, has shifted his focus of work to the northeast. His first "6-day Pure Play Group of Yabuli in Harbin Snow Town" launched on the "Double 11" this year was popular, and the turnover of a single commodity exceeded one million yuan.
Flying pig data shows that since November, the search popularity related to "skiing" has increased by more than 100% from the previous month. Among them, the search popularity of Changbai Mountain skiing, Chongli skiing, Yabuli skiing, Xinjiang skiing, etc. has doubled.
It is worth noting that in previous years, the ice and snow tourism in Northeast China would not usher in explosive growth until mid to late December. This year, it was a full month earlier. "Recently, the number of tourists in Changbai Mountain and Snow Village has exceeded that in the first ten days of December last year!" Wang Yankun, the head of Mudanjiang Wolf Totem Tourism Franchise Store, said that tickets for the morning show in Changbai Mountain have been extremely tight recently, and many tourists can only make an appointment for the second visit to the mountain.
The platform side said that the booking rate of the ice and snow tour "stay+ski" hotel package launched on the "Double 11" this year has increased rapidly compared with last year, and at least one third has been written off. Since November, the number of air tickets, train tickets and car rental bookings for flights to Northeast China has doubled year on year. Among the popular tourist sources, Guangdong ranks first, followed by Zhejiang, Shanghai, Shandong, Beijing, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Henan, Hainan, Hubei and other places, and the southern region is more enthusiastic.
"In the second half of this year, we received a lot of inquiries at the back of the Flying Pig Flagship Store and the fan group. Tourists showed great enthusiasm for Snow Village, Mohe and Changbai Mountain. It is predicted that the three northeastern provinces will become super popular destinations in the snow season this year, and preparations have been started since September." Liang Zhipeng, the head of Miaohai Travel Flagship Store, has been focusing on local group tours in Yunnan, In order to launch "snow goods" more suitable for young customers, this year he specially went to Northeast China to set up a destination business department.
Wang Xue, who works as a coach in Jilin Beidahu Ski Resort, has also been extremely busy recently. After finishing skiing teaching every day, she has to rush back to the village without stopping to take care of the newly opened homestay with her family. Wang Xue's home is at the foot of the mountain in the ski resort of the North Lake. Seeing the ice and snow industry exploding, she became busy in the past slack winter. Being a coach and opening a home stay... Many villagers, like Wang Xue, gave up "Maodong" and joined the ice and snow entrepreneurship road.
In the face of the popularity of tourism in Northeast China, Wang Yankun, a native of Heilongjiang Province, put forward his opinion that everyone's attention to tourism in Northeast China should be diverted slightly, "If you want to play with snow, in addition to Yabuli, Xuexiang, Mohe, Yichun, Changbai Mountain, Yanji, Hulunbeier, Xinjiang and Hebei in Inner Mongolia, these places have good ice and snow resources, which can be purchased according to your own needs."
interview with an expert
Jiang Jinbo: Dean of the Southern Institute of Culture and Tourism Industry, South China University of Technology, Professor of Tourism Management Department
Indoor ski resorts face challenges
Yangcheng Evening News: Cantonese have always been "activists" in the ice and snow tourism market. How to view the special phenomenon that southern tourists prefer northern ice and snow tours?
Jiang Jinbo: As an economically developed area, Guangdong has always been an important tourist source of China. There are many tourist motivations, and "seeking difference" is one of the important motivations, that is, the difference between the source and destination of tourists. For Guangdong tourists, it is also winter. The warm winter in the south forms a sharp contrast with the cold in the north. Ice and snow are the most distinctive landscapes, and nature is the most attractive. In addition, the reasons for Guangdong tourists to pursue ice and snow sports are also the strong promotion of ice and snow tourism by the state and the promotion of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Yangcheng Evening News: As a new scene of southern sports tourism consumption, what opportunities and challenges does the indoor ski resort have in the new era?
Jiang Jinbo: The indoor ski resort provides Guangdong tourists who do not know what ice and snow are for in warm winter with a wonderful experience of northern customs at their home. It is an inevitable outcome of Guangdong tourists' expectations of the world of ice and snow around them for many years. Ice and snow landscape, ice and snow sports, ice and snow entertainment and other projects meet the curiosity of Guangdong tourists, and also greatly facilitate Guangdong tourists' yearning and demand for ice and snow landscape and ice and snow tourism in the far north. The indoor ski resort has not only become a new scene for the integration of sports and tourism in the South, but also a landmark project for the high-quality development of tourism in the South. It can satisfy the curiosity of the South about ice and snow tourism, improve people's understanding of ice and snow sports, and will also drive the development of a series of related industries.
Although Guangdong indoor ski resorts usher in a specific consumption outbreak period due to their novelty, initiative and other characteristics, there are still potential challenges: first, the decline of honeymoon period may lead to a sudden drop in consumption, especially in the case of lack of innovation; Second, the increase of homogeneous replication has brought about rapid saturation of marketization and triggered price competition. Therefore, ice and snow tourism projects need to constantly develop new products to meet new needs and lead new consumption.
