The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics have concluded wonderfully, while the development of my country’s ice and snow industry has just begun, and we look forward to performing more exciting movements.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, “The Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics are like a catapult that can promote the rapid development of my country’s ice and snow sports and ice and snow industry.” Taking the opportunity of Beijing’s successful bid to host the Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics in 2015, in just a few years, with the development of ice and snow sports, my country’s ice and snow industry has “left the mountain customs”, “crossed the Yangtze River” and “crossed the Qinling Mountains”, expanding southward and westward. Dongjin, from its inception to its development, has experienced a period of rapid growth.
“300 million people participating in ice and snow sports” is a sign of the times. Recently, reporters visited ice and snow sports venue operators, ice and snow equipment manufacturing companies, and sought advice from sports economics experts, scholars and government officials. We are all happy about the boom of the ice and snow industry, and we are also “asking” how this emerging industry can achieve stability and long-term development.
Why can the ice and snow industry develop rapidly?
The weather is cold and turns to ice, and the winter snow is covered with silver. This is not unfamiliar to many places. Data show that among my country’s 9.6 million square kilometers of land, 4.2 million square kilometers have stable seasonal ice and snow. Despite this, ice and snow did not become an “industry” for a long time. Peng Weiyong, deputy director of the Sports Economics Department of the State Sports General Administration, said that in the past there were some entertainment-based ice and snow projects such as skiing and ice sculpture exhibitions in Northeast China and other places, but people did not view ice and snow from an “industrial” perspective.
Why has the ice and snow industry emerged in the past six or seven years and entered a period of rapid growth? People naturally think of the successful bid and hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics. In fact, the rapid development of the ice and snow industry has the “catapult” effect of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, and also has the inherent logic of economic and social development.
In a sense, industrial form is a manifestation of the staged characteristics of the economy. The new stage of economic and social development gave birth to the ice and snow industry. Bai Yufei, a professor at Beijing Sport University, has long been concerned about sports economy. He said that research shows that after a country’s per capita GDP exceeds US$8,000, it will usually usher in consumption upgrades. US$10,000 is an important threshold for the explosion of the sports industry. During the same period, the ice and snow industry will achieve rapid development.
In 1976 and 1978, the per capita GDP of the United States exceeded US$8,000 and US$10,000 respectively. Subsequently, sports industries such as competition performances, fitness and leisure grew rapidly; in 1978 and 1981, Japan’s per capita GDP exceeded US$8,000 and US$10,000 respectively. , skiing has developed rapidly since the mid-to-late 1980s.
From the perspective of economic development, my country’s per capita GDP in 2015 was approximately US$8,000, which happened to be the year it successfully applied for the Beijing Winter Olympics. In 2019, my country’s per capita GDP exceeded US$10,000. This shows that our country’s economic development level has reached a new stage, and also marks that it is “time” for the development of the ice and snow industry.
The signs that appear “at this time” can be viewed from two aspects. First, people’s living standards have improved and their demand for sports consumption has continued to increase. The “2022 Spring Festival Holiday Consumption Observation” released by JD.com shows that during this Spring Festival, the overall transaction volume of ski sports products increased by 322% year-on-year; the overall transaction volume of ice sports products increased by 430%. The increased demand for sports consumption is an important reason for the birth of the ice and snow industry. Second, the overall development level of sports has improved. At the end of last year, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Sports General Administration showed that in 2020, the total scale (total output) of the national sports industry was 2,737.2 billion yuan, with an added value of 1,073.5 billion yuan. From the perspective of internal composition, the added value of the sports service industry was 737.4 billion yuan, accounting for 68.7% of the added value of the sports industry. The manufacturing added value of sporting goods and related products was 314.4 billion yuan, accounting for 29.3% of the added value of the sports industry.
Sports and economic and social development promote each other. The increase in sports consumption demand is promoting the improvement of the development level of sports undertakings. Ice and snow sports have enriched sports needs, satisfied people’s pursuit of a better life, and become a direct driving force for the development of the ice and snow industry.
On March 7, 2016, when General Secretary Xi Jinping participated in the deliberation of the Heilongjiang delegation at the Fourth Session of the 12th National People’s Congress, he proposed that clear waters and lush mountains are valuable assets, and Heilongjiang’s ice and snow are also valuable assets. In September 2018, when presiding over a symposium on further promoting the revitalization of Northeast China in Shenyang, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that it is necessary to implement the concept that clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and that ice and snow are also invaluable assets, and to make full use of the unique resources and advantages of the Northeast region. , to promote the accelerated development of the ice and snow economy in cold regions.
Driven by the development concept of “ice and snow are also mountains of gold and silver”, people’s understanding of ice and snow has undergone a turning change. In recent years, the state has successively issued a number of documents related to sports consumption and the development of the ice and snow industry.
In November 2016, four departments including the State Sports General Administration jointly issued the “Ice and Snow Sports Development Plan (2016-2025)”, in which “the initial formation of the ice and snow sports industry system” is one of the planning goals. In September 2019, the General Office of the State Council’s “Opinions on Promoting National Fitness and Sports Consumption and Promoting the High-Quality Development of the Sports Industry” proposed requirements for accelerating the development of the ice and snow industry. In the same year, nine departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the “Ice and Snow Equipment Industry Development Action Plan (2019-2022)”.Endowment, construction of ice and snow venue facilities according to local conditions. ”
Developing the ice and snow industry on the premise of respecting nature, complying with nature, and protecting nature is a practice explored in various places. Heilongjiang Province, which is rich in ice and snow resources, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly conducted a census of ice and snow tourism resources in the province. Li Qingjiang, from the Resource Development Division of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, told reporters that the resource census is to find out the family background. Only when the family’s financial resources are cleared can we achieve high-quality, differentiated development of the ice and snow industry, adapt measures to local conditions, and avoid disorderly development and homogeneous competition. Jilin Province proposed that the core of ice and snow development is that the development of ice and snow and the protection of ice and snow ecology should complement each other.
The mismatch between ice and snow resources and demand is also a “growing pain”. my country is rich in ice and snow resources, but there is an imbalance of more ice and snow in the north and less in the south. The north has good ice and snow resources but limited consumption capacity, while the south has limited ice and snow resources but strong consumer demand. Han Yuanjun believes that the development of ice and snow industry in some northern places should focus on the “outside world” and strive to attract more people from outside to enjoy the joy of ice and snow. Peng Weiyong also believes that “to develop the ice and snow industry, local people should not be ‘spectators’, but should be professional service personnel to truly realize resource transformation and transform ice and snow resources into a driving force for economic development.”
The ice and snow industry has created employment, but the lack of talent is still an important factor restricting the high-quality development of the industry. “Ice and snow sports require high professionalism from practitioners. From the use and maintenance of ice and snow equipment to the design and development of ice and snow tourism products, from the organization and operation of ice and snow events to the efficient operation of ice and snow venues, professional talents are needed to support them.” Zheng Min explain.
Heilongjiang Province has built an ice and snow sports vocational college and established an ice and snow industry research institute; Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province has focused on building an ice and snow sports training system, created 59 ice and snow sports training bases, and opened ice and snow sports and ice and snow sports courses in more than 10 local colleges and universities. There are more than 20 majors related to the ice and snow industry. Despite this, the development of the ice and snow industry still urgently needs to make up for the shortcomings of talents. There is a large shortage of ice and snow athletes, coaches, instructors/counselors; most ski resort management personnel are investors, and management personnel are scarce; creative talents for ice and snow sculptures and ice entertainment projects are hard to find… When it comes to talents, whether it is Ice and snow industry researchers and industry operators have listed many. Experts suggest that on the one hand, we should speed up the introduction of high-end professional talents, on the other hand, we should support qualified universities to open relevant majors and speed up the pace of talent training.
The pattern of “three pillars, two belts rising, and full bloom” of ice and snow tourism has been formed. But “embroidery work” still needs to be done. The construction of transportation networks in cold regions has injected new impetus into ice and snow tourism. High-speed rail transportation between regional central cities is convenient, forming an “intercity tourism circle.” However, the supporting transportation services for ice and snow sports and ice and snow tourism cannot keep up. In some cities and towns, direct public transportation systems to ski resorts have not been established, and transportation between accommodation hotels and ski resorts is inconvenient. Outside the lobby, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, shopping and other services are lacking, and only simple fast food services can be provided. In some ski resorts, public toilets are still the focus of infrastructure construction. All this shows that drawing a picture of the ice and snow industry that “expands south, expands west, and moves east” will require a lot of detailed work after the Winter Olympics.
Ice and snow culture is an important part of the core competitiveness of the ice and snow industry. In recent years, various places have become conscious of developing ice and snow culture. Qiqihar of Heilongjiang Province filmed the ice hockey-themed cinema movie “Flying Ice Hockey”, and Qitaihe City created the movies “Breaking the Ice” and “On the Ice” reflecting the deeds of skating coaches; Jilin Province proposed to landmark ice and snow culture and internationalize ice and snow stories. , planning to build a National Ice and Snow Museum. However, there has yet to be an influential work on the construction of ice and snow culture. How the ice and snow industry can use culture to enhance its competitiveness still has a long way to go.
“China has achieved the goal of more than 300 million people engaging in ice and snow sports. This is an unprecedented great achievement. It will become a major contribution of this Winter Olympics to the Chinese people and the international Olympic movement, and will also open up the global A new era of ice and snow sports.” After seeing the preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics with his own eyes, International Olympic Committee President Bach said with emotion.
“300 million people participate in ice and snow sports.” This is not only a new number of sports people, but also a dimension that marks an era. The Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics have opened a new era of global ice and snow sports, and we will also usher in a new era of China’s ice and snow industry.
(Members of the Economic Daily Research Team: Wei Yonggang, Zhang Xue, Changli Kang Qiongyan)
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