2022-02-16
Fabio Ries
Co-founder of RockRoc (Beijing) Sports and Outdoor Development Co., Ltd.
I will talk about two aspects. The first part is about ice and snow tourism development and I would like to review the history of this. A lot of people mentioned the ice and snow industry, but actually I do not think it is only about winter time. It is more about the mountains. And my second part is about DMO, which stands for destination management organization. This is very important because we need to have DMO, and also to have an effective DMO, so as to promote the upgrading of the tourism industry and especially the mountain tourism industry.
The ice and snow industry originated from the Alps in Europe. Why is that? Because the Alps are located in the very center of Europe. It is surrounded by well-developed areas and regions with highly dense populations. And all the elements, including climate, geography, are perfect for the ice and snow industry, so more and more people have explored into these regions. Gradually the tourist resorts have taken shape. Then there emerged organized, large-scale events, such as the Winter Olympics. And the first famous ski resort was taking its shape in Turin, Italy in 1932. And it was specially built up for the ice and snow industry.
Since World War II, France witnessed great development in the ice and snow industry mainly driven by the government policies. Because the government would like to attract more people to stay in the mountainous areas, the government also worked with local enterprises to develop large-scale and even super large-scale ski resorts, including some real estate companies and big hotels.
With the improvement of skiing technology and equipment, there is an increasingly prominent trend that ski resorts have returned to the old model of year-through operation. That is to say, the ski resorts also placed emphasis on the operation in the non-skiing, non-winter period, so they organized events and activities in summer time.
Successful mountain vacation destinations have built their own IP through various means. That is the main theme I wish to discuss with you. How to transform and upgrade skiing resorts and how we can change skiing resorts into year-round destinations for various events.
I would like to talk about the current situation of the ice and snow industry in China. China has a huge potential in the ice and snow market and China has its own advantages. Now, China enjoys a very favorable period for ice and snow sports. We need to seize this opportunity to grow our business. We all know that there are three major destinations in China. Or actually there are two. One is Beijing Chongli and Hebei and the other is Northeast China and especially Jilin. The visitors are mostly from the economically developed coastal regions. So that is kind of a contradiction. In other countries we can see that in the period of leapfrogging development of the ice and snow industry, ski resorts are located in the regions where there are a lot of skiers. That is the case for Europe and the United States and also for Japan. Most of the visitors are actually from the nearby regions. But China is different.
I think that in general tourism is a sustainable industry. It contributes to social stability as well as the sustainable economic growth of the region. The traveling brings good memories and good experiences for travelers. When we talk about skiing and mountain tourism, they involve a lot of sports of the whole family. Of course sports make people happy. For some mountainous communities at the base it is a way of poverty reduction as it provides local people with job opportunities. In fact, it can play an important role in environmental conservation. If we follow the current model which will protect instead of destroying the environment, it will protect and carry forward traditional living styles, it will be socially and economically sustainable, and it will contribute to the social stability for skiing.
We need to evaluate each destination, the natural conditions, the overall conditions, and the facilities, and we need to evaluate which model or which sports are the most appropriate in certain destinations. But the purpose is to provide unique and non-replicable experiences for the visitors. Through various means we can foster this IP and you can only have this experience in this destination. That is something we wish to achieve.
I think the DMO is to put all the resources together. The destination needs macroscopically unified planning; for visitors, the flow and the travel line must be clear; the policy and the culture dissemination must be as unified as possible so that we can bring the DMO to play its role.
And just now, a number of speakers shared with us the importance of data, so we can collect a lot of data and put it into different categories, and we can present and interpret the data. But ultimately, we need to tell a very good story on the basis of that data. That is the role of DMO.
There are spokespeople of skiing to drive related business, which is very common in foreign countries. When it comes to culture and nature, there are a lot of really good stories to explore. Besides the technical products we can also incorporate the non-technical considerations, like the internet-famous photogenetic spots and some architectural features which well fit the local culture and local context. We can also involve a variety of activities, local folk customs, competitions and performances to drive the development of the skiing industry.
Time is limited, and my point is that we need a platform to integrate resources. Thank you!