Austria – a winter sports nation冬季运动——奥中合作潜力无限

Austria, famous for its classical music and beautiful scenery, is also a leading winter sports nation. Two thirds of the Austrian countryside are covered by the Alps, making it a renowned destination for both winter sports and a large number of famous winter sports events. However, no other sport in Austria has contributed as much to the economic boom as alpine skiing.

In the early 20th century, an Austrian pioneer became the first person to slide down steep mountain slopes on wooden planks. He used a long pole to change direction. It was not long before the first ski races were being held – downhill, uphill, and across flat terrain. Austria quickly became the new Alpine Ski Circuit. The “Austrian Way of Skiing” even spread as far as Japan and the USA. The Austrian Alpine city of Innsbruck hosted the Olympic winter games twice, in the years 1964 and 1976. Nowadays, the country wows everyone with its ideal infrastructure and takes pride in its skiing expertise.

Before the COVID-pandemic the Alpine nation welcomed over 20 million arrivals of winter sports guests. Winter sports tourism and ski equipment manufacturing contribute around 5% to Austria’s GDP. Austria is home to many winter sports pioneers. Did you know for instance that the two world market leaders in ropeways are located in Austria? From America, to Europe and the Far East, all the way to Asia: Austrian ropeways cross the skies over ski resorts and urban metropolises alike. Do you need more proof? Every other ski sold worldwide carries Austrian DNA. Well-known international skiing professionals, such as Mikaela Shiffrin, as well as Austria’s ski stars, rely on Austrian ski brands. High quality ski gear and services, such as personalized boot fittings and customized skis, are nothing new to the Austrian experts. Every year domestic companies enhance competition with interesting innovations. An export rate of 80 percent confirms, there is an important demand from foreign markets! Austrian winter sports expertise is part of infrastructure and tourism projects all over the world. You can read more about the Austrian winter sports pioneers, their innovative solutions in the latest FRESH VIEW publication.

Cooperation with China in the winter sports field
China is one of the most important markets for products “Made in Austria”. After the COVID-related decline in 2020 (EUR 14 bn), the trade volume between China and Austria recovered fully and hit a new record high with almost EUR 18 billion in 2021. This makes China Austria’s second most important sourcing destination (after Germany) worldwide and its most important trading partner in Asia.

Particularly the winter sports sector bears great potential for co-operation between China and Austria. In total, Austria exported winter sports items to China worth over EUR 200 million over the past 4 years. Certainly not everything for the Olympics, as part of it went to the rapidly expanding markets for new winter sports facilities across the country.

During the State Visit of the Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen to China in April 2018, Austria and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding between China´s General Administration of Sports and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Civil Service and Sports on sports cooperation and exchange. The Olympic Committees of Austria and China have already been cooperating since 2014 as well as the winter sports cities Zhangjaikou and Kitzbuehl.

The Austrian school of skiing and its techniques are internationally renowned, not least because of Austrian ski instructors. In their red anoraks they have been a symbol of quality for decades. With the rise of skiing in China, there is a severe shortage of highly qualified ski instructors. Thus, Austria is also cooperating with China in ski instructor education.

The “1,000 ski instructors for China” project, supported by the Austrian government, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, and the Austrian ski industry is supporting the training of Chinese ski instructors to meet the demands of the growing Chinese winter sports market.

Even during the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing many Austrian innovators were at the starting blocks: From the ice surfaces, to state-of-the-art access systems, all the way to tube systems for snow production – Austrian expertise was in play at almost every corner in Beijing during this year’s Winter Olympics.

Austria also assisted Chinese athletes in the preparation of the games. The Chinese alpine ski and snowboard team travelled several times to Austria for training. They were coached by Austrian experts, on Austrian slopes equipped with Austrian clothing and skis.

Since the Chinese winter sports market is still in its infancy, there are opportunities for cooperation between Austria and China in almost all market sectors. Mainly for ski resort equipment, ski resort upgrade and safety equipment. Due to the fact that around 70 percent of Chinese skiers are beginners, the rental business plays a major role. As a result, there is also a great need for winter sports equipment from resorts, ranging from skis, snowboards, ski boots, functional clothing to waxing machines. Moreover, services also play a very important role. Besides the technical equipment, there is potential for training and consulting activities in resort management, gastronomy, safety training, as well as in mountain rescue and ski instructor training.

Austria has a long tradition and experience in anything related to winter, winter sports and the winter industry and is eager to deepen its cooperation with China in this regard. Austrian companies and associations maintain excellent relationships with China’s winter sports industry and are willing to share their experience, expertise and passion. Even though there is still room for improvement in certain aspects of winter sports, it is impressive how quickly the Chinese winter sports industry is evolving.

Austria as a (winter) tourism destination for Chinese

In the tourism industry an increased interest of China in snow and ice sports can be observed. In 2019, Austria welcomed 1 million Chinese guests who spent over 1.5 million nights in the Alpine nation. Approximately 30 percent of them travelled during the winter season. Between 2010 and 2019 those figures quintupled.

Most Chinese tourists are visiting the capital Vienna and the alpine cities of Salzburg and Innsbruck. Some major ski resorts such as Arlberg, Ski Amadé and Ötztal-Sölden could register a remarkable growth in numbers of Chinese guests. This underlined the growing trend toward winter sports in China.

Over 300 million Chinese people have actively participated in winter sports activities since Beijing’s successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics in 2015. China is a highly attractive winter sports market for both tourism and the winter sports industry. For Austria, a winter sports nation, this creates an enormous opportunity to attract Chinese winter lovers and to show the positive effects of winter sports. Chinese people will gradually change from just enduring winter to enjoy ice and snow through winter sport activities. 

The Austrian Winter Wonderland during the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing

On the occasion of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (4.2.-20.2.2022), the Austrian Embassy, the Commercial Section of the Austrian Embassy as well as the Austrian National Tourist Office converted the Embassy premises into a snow-covered Winter Wonderland, with the intention to emphasize the great importance of winter sports in Austria for tourism and the economy alike.

The “Winter Wonderland” was a flagship event for Austria’s hospitality, culture and cuisine, as well as a meeting place for business people, tourism managers, officials, sports enthusiasts and winter lovers. Many Austrian winter sports companies supported the initiative, so guests could experience an authentic Austrian winter feeling already when entering the Embassy through an access system produced in Austria and while taking a spectacular 3D gondola ride. In the garden one could follow the Olympic competitions on a large LED screen and live interviews with the athletes complemented the experience.

During these two weeks, the embassy welcomed in 14 events more than 1,500 guests and 120 journalists to enjoy the Austrian winter atmosphere. This resulted in a wide echo in Chinese and international media and social media.

奥地利以其古典音乐和优美景色而闻名于世，同时也是一个在冬季运动领域领先世界的国家。境内三分之二国土面积被阿尔卑斯山覆盖，由此成为举世闻名的冬季运动的目的地和众多著名冬季赛事的举办地。而且，高山滑雪运动为奥地利的国民经济所做的贡献是没有任何一项体育运动可以比拟的。

20世纪初，有位奥地利人是第一个使用木板、用长杆控制滑行方向，滑下陡峭山坡的人，成了现代高山滑雪运动的开拓者。此后不久，滑雪比赛诞生：滑降、上坡和穿越平滑。奥地利很快有了新的高山滑雪场，奥地利滑雪技术甚至传到了日本和美国。奥地利的阿尔卑斯之城——因斯布鲁克于 1964 年和 1976 年两次举办过冬季奥运会。如今，奥地利的滑雪基础设施令人赞叹，他们也因为拥有滑雪领域领先的专业知识而感到自豪。

在新冠疫情大流行之前，奥地利迎来了2千多万前来从事冬季运动的客人，冬季运动的收入和滑雪装备制造占了奥地利整个国内生产总值的约5%。许多冬季运动领先产品来源于奥地利，例如两家领先世界的索道生产商就出自于奥地利。从美洲到欧洲、西亚直至东亚，奥地利的索道穿越在各地的滑雪场和世界大都市的上空。全世界销售的滑雪板50%就带有奥地利“基因”，如米凯拉·希夫林等世界滑雪冠军以及奥地利的滑雪明星对奥地利的滑雪品牌都充满信心。高品质的滑雪装备，例如个性化滑雪靴配件和定制的滑雪板，对奥地利制造商来说都不是什么新鲜事。他们每年投入大量资金研发新产品来加强市场竞争力。这些产品80%的出口率，足以证明绝大部分的需求来自国外市场。奥地利在冬季运动领域的专业诀窍是与世界各地进行滑雪设施建设和旅游合作项目的一部分。您可以在最新一版的FRESH VIEW中了解更多关于奥地利冬季运动先驱及其创新解决方案的信息。

与中国在冬季运动领域的合作

中国是“奥地利制造”产品最重要的市场之一。2020年由于受到新冠疫情的影响，两国贸易额有所跌落（140 亿欧元），但不久之后，中国与奥地利之间的贸易迅速得到全面恢复，并在 2021 年创下近 180 亿欧元的新高。中国由此成为奥地利在全球（仅次于德国的）第二大及其在亚洲最大的贸易伙伴。

特别是冬季运动领域，中国和奥地利合作具有很大的潜力。在过去4年里，奥地利向中国出口的冬季运动产品总额超过2亿欧元。这不仅仅只是为了冬奥会，也为全中国迅速发展的冬季运动市场提供了新的装备。

2018年4月在奥地利总统亚历山大·范德贝伦对中国进行国事访问期间，中国体育总局与奥地利联邦文化艺术公共服务和体育部签署了关于体育合作与交流的谅解备忘录。奥地利和中国两国奥委会以及冬奥城市张家口和基茨比尔早已在2014年开始合作。

奥地利滑雪学校及其技术享誉世界，特别是奥地利的滑雪教练。穿着红色滑雪服的奥地利教练几十年来一直是品质的象征。随着中国滑雪运动的迅速兴起，高素质的滑雪教练严重短缺，因此，奥地利与中国也开展滑雪教练培训的合作。

由奥地利政府、奥地利联邦商会和奥地利滑雪行业支持的“为中国培训千名滑雪教练” 计划正在进行，以满足日益增长的中国冬季运动市场的需求。

许多奥地利创新者一开始就参与了北京冬奥会的筹备：从冰面到最先进的门禁系统，再到用于造雪的管道系统——奥地利的专业诀窍几乎渗透到了今年北京冬奥会的每一个角落。

奥地利还助力中国运动员进行冬奥会的赛前训练。中国高山滑雪和单板滑雪队曾多次前往奥地利集训，他们接受奥地利滑雪专家的指导，在奥地利滑雪场，穿着奥地利的滑雪服，使用奥地利滑雪板进行训练。

中国的冬季运动市场正处于起步阶段，奥中几乎在市场各个板块都具有合作机会，特别是在滑雪场设备、滑雪场升级和安全设备方面。鉴于70%的中国滑雪爱好者属于初学者，开展租赁业务具有重要意义。因此，滑雪区对冬季运动的一切装备，如滑雪板、滑雪靴、功能性服装、打蜡机等等需求都很大。此外，完善滑雪区的服务也非常重要。除了技术装备外，滑雪区的管理、餐厅、安全、山地救援以及滑雪教练都需要进行培训和指导。

奥地利在冬季产品、冬季运动和冬季产业相关领域有着悠久的传统和丰富的经验，并希望深化与中国在这方面的合作。奥地利企业和行业协会与中国一直保持着良好的关系，并愿意分享他们的经验、专业诀窍以及对该行业的热情。尽管中国在冬季运动方面仍有提升的空间，但其发展速度之快令人震惊。

奥地利是中国人（冬季）旅游的目的地

在旅游方面，人们可以看到中国人对冰雪运动的兴趣日益增加。2019年，奥地利接待了100万中国游客，在阿尔卑斯山区的过夜数超过 150万，其中约30%为冬季旅游。2010年至2019年期间，数字翻了5倍。

大多数来自中国的游客首先游览首都维也纳以及阿尔卑斯山城萨尔茨堡和因斯布鲁克。前往阿尔贝格、阿马德和奥茨塔尔-索尔登等一些主要滑雪区的中国游客数量也出现了明显增长，这表明了中国冬季运动的发展趋势。

自2015年北京成功申办2022年冬奥会以来，超过3亿的中国人积极参与冬季运动。无论从旅游还是冬季运动产业方面来说，中国都是一个极具吸引力的冬季运动市场。这为冬季运动之国的奥地利创造了一个吸引中国冬季运动爱好者和展示冬季运动积极作用的巨大机会。中国人的观念正在逐渐地从单纯地“熬冬”朝着通过冬季运动享受冰雪冬天的方向转变。

北京冬奥期间奥地利“冰雪世界童话王国”活动

在2022年2月4日至20日北京举办冬奥会期间，奥地利驻华大使馆、奥地利大使馆商务处以及奥地利国家旅游局将使馆馆舍变成了白雪皑皑的冰雪世界里的童话王国，目的是为了体现奥地利冬季运动对旅游业和经济的重要性。

 “冰雪世界童话王国”是展示奥地利人的热情好客、奥地利文化和美食的旗舰盛会，也是商务人士、旅游界人士、政府官员、体育和冬季运动爱好者的聚会场所。许多奥地利冬季运动产品商积极参与了此次活动。来宾们通过奥地利生产的门禁系统进入大使馆，并乘坐壮观的3D贡多拉缆车，体验真正的奥地利冬季的氛围。在使馆的花园里人们在大型的LED 屏幕前观看奥运会的比赛直播，并通过对运动员的现场采访，更增添了这种体验的乐趣。

在这两周内使馆共举办了14场活动，共接待了1500多名宾客和 120 多名记者，共同感受奥地利冬季情调和气氛。这在中国和国际媒体以及社交媒体上引起了广泛反响。