Austrian ski producer expects massive sales growth in China

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Tyrolia - the world's biggest ski binding producer - expects Chinese customers will buy at least twice as many skis in the upcoming years as they did during the record season 2016/17. The company's sales director Horst Tschida estimates that between 100 and 150,000 pairs of skis will soon be sold in China each year.

A hopeful outlook for a declining sector. After a sales peak in the 1980s, ski producers consecutively lost more than half of their customers as the sport became too luxurious and difficult to access for many. Reason enough for Tyrolia to expand its business in China.

In 2016, the world's major ski brands sold 56,631 pairs in China, according to the Federation of European Sporting Goods. Then - during Covid - sales figures plummeted to only 13,979 pairs. After a long break due to the pandemic, Chinese ski resorts are now getting busy again. The latest numbers show signs that this winter season could reveal the highest sales so far.

"China is definitely a very important market for us," Tschida told CGTN Europe. "It's the only market where we expect growth in the future, whereas all the other markets are stable or even slightly declining. So we hope to be back on pre-Covid levels this season, and then we expect another growth of two or three times in the next five to 10 years."

For almost a 100 years, Tyrolia has been producing ski bindings at its headquarters near the Vienna airport. Every third binding on the market is produced at these premises. Together with HEAD, the company is part of the HTM group. While millions of bindings are sold in Europe and North America, the Chinese market is still relatively small, but a very promising one.

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