Industry News
Having been awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics, it seems like China is taking this winter sports thing seriously. After yesterday’s announcement of a possible acquisition of Amer Sports by a Chinese consortium, it emerges that KOP Properties is building the world’s largest indoor ski resort in Shanghai.
The park, called Wintastar Shanghai, will cover almost 1 million square feet of land. The current world’s largest is Harbin Wanda Indoor Ski and Winter Sports Resort in Harbin, China, and stands at 869-thousand square feet.
The Wintastar resort, to be modeled on the Alps, will provide residents and visitors with year-round access to the world’s largest indoor Ski & Snow Park, featuring a combination of three ski slopes of varying gradients including a slope of Olympics standard for training. There will be retail and entertainment facilities on-site including movie and production theaters, an ice hotel, four themed hotels, a giant water park, and more than 25 on-snow activities for non-skiers.
“We’re confident this represents the beginning of an extensive international footprint when it comes to indoor snow entertainment facilities,” said Ahmed Galal Ismail, the chief executive officer of the ventures division of Majid Al Futtaim, in the release.
The Chinese government is trying to encourage citizens to ski. According to a 2017 CNN report, only 12.1 million Chinese people (less than 1% of the 1.38-billion population) have tried skiing at least once, which is less than 1 percent of the population. Officials are encouraging businesses to open ice rinks and ski resorts with the goal of having 300 million citizens playing winter sports by 2025.
