Chinese Skiers Should Head to Japan

Skiing in Japan started off as a domestic pursuit for the Japanese market. Australians were the first to catch on to the amazing conditions on offer, and much Western accommodation was built for this market in the early 2000s. Increasingly there has been a trend towards visitors from Hong Kong and Singapore, together with other countries in Asia such as Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea. A huge increase in visitor numbers has also been observed over the last few years from North America. But visitors from mainland China are still relatively few given the country’s size and proximity, and there is every reason why this should soon change.

In 2015 China was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics and that has fueled the demand for skiing in China. The 2017 International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism reports that: ‘At this stage, the market potential mostly remains untapped. It was estimated at 27 million skiers by the UNWTO in 2003, revised to 120 million in the plans of the Chinese government to encourage winter sports (share of skiers in the global plan aiming to have 300 million Chinese participating in winter sports).’

In an effort to meet demand China is building ski resorts more quickly than any other country in the World with 78 ski areas being built in 2016 alone, but even this does little to keep up with demand. The total number of ski areas in China sounds impressive at 646, but only 12% of these have more than 5 ski lifts. The report observes that ‘Unfortunately, ski areas crowded by uncontrolled beginners do not offer ideal conditions for a good learning experience’, and if Chinese people do not start to have more positive encounters with snowsports, the huge surge in recent interest could wane instead of growing as predicted.

With a huge volume of flights arriving in Tokyo and Sapporo direct from many Chinese cities, and with more and more airlines offering low cost flights between China and Japan, people from mainland China have more reason than ever to ski in Japan. Not least because Japan offers around 300 ski resorts with more than 5 ski lifts, giving Chinese people the opportunity to experience fantastic snow conditions on uncrowded pistes. Japan also has many ski areas, especially resorts like Niseko on the Northern Island of Hokkaido, which have gentle pistes, perfectly suited to beginners.

Get in touch with a local company such as Japan Ski Experience, that can assist with booking Niseko accommodation, airport transfers, lift passes, ski rentals, and lessons to find out more.