First take an existing skiing infrastructure, add a rapidly rising number of winter sports visitors, then mix in a sporting renaissance on the back of a successful Olympic Games. Now season with a growing, aspirational middle class who have top-of-the-range property demands.
The result? A perfect recipe for on and off-piste luxury fit for 21st century China.
All that is needed is a master chef to bring the elements together – and Lawrence Ho’s Melco reckon they are just the operation to cook-up a transformation of the mainland’s ski industry.
Through their Vancouver-based, Toronto Stock Exchange listed arm, Melco China Resort (MCR), they are in the process of dramatically upgrading five ski resorts which they already own across the north of the country.
Utilising their mainland contacts and leveraging expertise from the successful Canadian winter sports and leisure industry, MCR has set out out its committment to create world-class, year-round luxury mountain resorts.
They will not only offer state-of-the-art winter sports faclities but also a variety of executive class real estate-buying opportunities, for year-round use.
Melco chairman Lawrence Ho has told Macau Business that the programme of developments is already underway with Sun Mountain Yabuli, near Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, which is due to re-launch with three new five-star hotels at the end of this year.
“I am very optimistic about the prospects of China’s leisure and entertainment sector, given the rising spending power of the country’s urban population,’’ he said.
In addition to ski facilities and year-round activities, MCR’s plans for China include the development of four and five star accommodation, including full service hotels, apartment hotels and slope side luxury resort vacation homes.
There will also be pedestrian-only villages offering restaurants, shops, spas and entertainment venues.
MCR’s first mountain home project – real estate properties in stunning hillside locations – will be available for sale later this year. (Please see breakout story for individual developments).

The right time

Mr Ho and MCR are convinced that the economic and sporting conditions in post-Olympic China are now in place to make their multi-billion dollar ski resort investment money well spent. They are also confident that the buzz created by the Games will bring benefits to projects across the wider group.
The Melco chairman said: “The 2008 Olympic Games has been viewed as more than a prestigious event, but widely as China’s debut onto the world stage.
“It has brought tremendous business opportunities and employment to China, but also encouraged significant infrastructural developments.
“Rapid economic growth has improved the overall living standards and raised the disposal income of the Chinese middle class.
“Along with this has come improved convenience and efficiency with the building of new roads, expressways and rail systems. Melco has full confidence in the vibrant economic growth of the PRC. This economic boom will bring a series of advantages to the Group’s current and future development projects.
“We believe MPEL’s development in Macau, MCR’s ski resorts and Melco LottVentures’s lottery business in the Mainland, are all going to benefit from PRC’s economic growth,’’ said Mr Ho.
All the experts agree that the biggest spin-off from China’s successful staging of the Olympic Games will be the boost to tourism.
Acccording to a World Travel and Tourism Council country report, China’s tourism industry generated US$353.7 billion in 2006 and this is expected to grow to US$1.3 trillion in 2016.
More specifically, skiing has been popular in northern China for years.
According to the China Ski Association, the total number of ski visits to China increased at a rate of 109 percent per annum to over 4 million between 1999 and 2004 and is expected to increase to 10 million by 2010.
As Mr Ho points out: “To address the growing need for up-market recreational activities among the country’s fast growing middle and upper classes, MCR is lifting the standard of offerings to an international level which is suitable for today’s modern Chinese customers.’’

The real thing

Several of MCR’s directors have held key positions in the world’s leading resort and hospitality company, Intrawest – the developer behind the iconic Whistler Blackcomb and Mont Tremblant resorts in Canada.
But as Graham Kwan, MCR’s chief executive officer told the Vancouver Sun recently, this will be a very Chinese set of developments.
“What we are doing in China may have started with what Intrawest did here, but our business model is entirely different. They will truly be like a theme park. When you come in, we run everything – the restaurants, the retail, the hotels – like at Disney or on a cruise line,” Kwan told the paper.
MCR has alread topped out two new hotels at the Yabuli resort. It is also building a 24-suite mountain top boutique hotel there. Hotel and condominium units are also coming on stream at Yabuli.
Another 5,600 are in the pipeline over the next 10 years across all its resort destinations. MCR also plans to build some 1,000 luxury homes at Yabuli.
As it was with the successful Canadian model, one of the biggest focuses will be on selling prime real estate within the resorts. MCR are clearly hoping to be a big hit both on and off the piste.

Five of the best

Sun Mountain Yabuli
By newly completed freeway, China’s premier and most well known ski resort is two and a half hours south east of Harbin, a city of 9.8 million people. A dedicated train between Harbin and the resort was opened in December 2007 and reduces travel time to just ninety minutes. Sun Mountain Yabuli will host the World Winter University Games in early 2009.

Sky Mountain Beidah
As host of the 2007 Asian Winter Games, Sky Mountain Beidahu, in Jilin Province, is already internationally known. Just forty minutes from Jilin City, it is connected to a new freeway and has easy air access through Changchun and Shenyan. It boasts some of the longest and steepest ski runs in the country and a 760-metre vertical drop. Recent additions to the resort include new ski trails for all abilities, high-speed chair lifts and a new gondola, state of the art snowmaking facilities and slope side lodging, restaurants, rentals and shops. In the summer, hiking trails, mountain biking, horse riding, a unique alpine slide, tennis, fishing and more are available.

Adventure Mountain Changchu
Located just 45 kilometers southeast of Changchun City in Jilin Province, the resort serves as a training venue for the China’s Olympic aerial ski team, is host to the only officially-sanctioned aerials competition in the World Cup and was a host venue to the 2007 Asian Winter Games.

The Lotus Mountain Club Panshi
Near Panshi, Jilin Province, this resort boasts year-round outstanding natural beauty and excellent mountain terrain with a vertical drop of 575 metres. Ranked by international ski enthusiasts as having some of the best mountain terrain and natural snow in China. Accessible from Changchun’s new international airport, the Lotus Mountain Club is currently under redevelopment. When complete it will offer an exclusive, super luxury, private mountain club experience on a members only and VIP invitation basis

Star Mountain Beijing
This has an excellent location in China’s capital city and is approximately 30 minutes from the international airport and in close proximity to the city’s affluent, north east and eastern suburbs.

by Jack Regan in Hong Kong