NZsnowboard.com

27th February 2007

The rapid growth in skiing in China has seen more than 300 ski areas, along with three indoor snow centres, open there in the past decade. Most have opened in the past few years and are relatively basic, with one or two short lifts and runs and no clear ambitions to develop to a larger size or provide facilities to give more variety and challenge for Chinese skiers who progress beyond their first few turns.

Now Xiling Snow Mountain which opened in 2004 is claiming to have taken the title of ?Leading resort in China? and appears to offer the potential to grow in to a major international resort.

The resort has a gondola, double and quad chairs, currently serving ten trails for all standards and up to a kilometre long, but significantly the famous Xiling Snow Mountain extends to over 5300m above giving plenty of scope to create one of the world?s biggest lift served verticals.

Xiling is positioning itself to attract international tourists from neighbouring countries who have so far tended to avoid China due to the reputation of resorts for having limited facilities and often basic standards. Xiling is a 90 minute drive by modern road from the regional capital, Chengdu, voted Best Tourism City in China (BTCC) in 2006 by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). For skiers from Thailand, for example, Xiling is only a three hour flight, compared to the six hour flight to the high quality resorts in Japan and South Korea. Average costs for a ski hoiliday are also reported to be 40% lower.

Xiling has also invested in more than 2000 sets of international quality skis and hgas purchase more than 30 snowmobiles, quad bikes and set up a tubing park.

China?s tourism industry is reported to have grown by 15% last year over 2005 and the country is now the world?s fourth largest destination for inbound tourism and has the largest domestic tourism market. Chengdu?s growth has outstripped even this rapid rise, attracting more than 40 million domestic guests and 580,000 foreign arrivals in 2006, 18.7% higher than in 2005.

Last month Xiling Ski Resort reported 80,000 visitors, including more than 10,000 foreign tourists, mainly from Southeast Asia and South Korea, 20% more than for January 2006.

Until now Yabuli, located in the North east of the country close to the city of Harbin,
And regarded as China?s original ski resort, established in 1 996, has been cited as the country?s main resort. Facilities here include a six person gondola built by Doppelmayr for the 1996 Asian winter games and two Norwegian built double chairs, one with a bubble cover, were added a year later.


Source: www.dailysnow.com