A delegation of Austrian outdoor sports companies shows their sporting goods at ISPO Beijing in February. Provided to China Daily

Austrian Outdoor equipment firms are taking advantage of China's growing interest in winter sports

With winter sports becoming more popular among China's outdoor lovers, it's only natural that they learn from the best.

Outdoor service providers from Austria, a major destination for hiking and skiing in the Alps, have immediate plans to market and manufacture their products specifically for China, which has seen an increasing number of skiers in recent years. According to the Chinese Ski Association, the number of skiers in the nation has increased from 1,000 in 1996 to more than 6 million today.

In February, a delegation of 12 leading Austrian outdoor sports companies presented their sporting goods at ISPO Beijing, an international tradeshow for professional sports fashion and gear.

Many are following the path laid down by Northland, an outdoor sports brand that was one of the first Austrian sporting goods companies to come to the Chinese market in 2003. To many Chinese consumers, the company created a lasting imprint of the Austrian outdoor lifestyle.

The complete Austrian winter sports lifestyle is what China is apparently getting. In addition to skiing and mountaineering equipment, companies in Austria are introducing their top-of-the-line ski resort ropeways, ski lifts and ice rinks.

Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH, which focuses on ropeway engineering, and AST Eis-und Solartechnik GmbH, a producer of ice rinks and solar-heating systems for swimming pools, are both expanding across China.

"We started business here in 1982 when we opened an office in Beijing and the subsidiary was officially established in 1995," says Michael Seitz, deputy general manager of Sanhe Doppelmayr Transport Systems Co Ltd, based in Hebei province.

Seitz says the company has completed 59 projects for its ski resort ropeways with eight currently underway. Doppelmayr Seilbahnen has constructed more than 14,300 ropeway systems in 33 countries. It has built ropeway systems for resorts in Taishan Mountain, Huangshan Mountain, Huashan Mountain and Lushan Mountain.

"China accounts for 5 to 8 percent of our total business now," Seitz says, adding that China is planning more ski projects instead of creating tourism areas. "We have had 10 ski projects since 1994, but six of them were in the past two years."

The company currently has a staff of 100 in China and is looking for higher sales figures to extend its products in China.

Company executives at AST Eis-und Solartechnik, like Sanhe, are seeing the increasing popularity of skiing in China over the past 10 years. The Austrian company set up a division in China in 2003. After three years of researching the market, the subsidiary AST Refrigeration and Solar Technology (Beijing) Co Ltd was established in 2006.

Initially, business was slow.

"We only had four projects from 2006 to 2009," says Cui Haijun, development director for the subsidiary, which creates solar heating systems for pools.

But with more Chinese taking up recreational sports, shopping mall operators are increasingly calling upon the company to install ice rinks. China Central Place in Beijing and the MixC Shopping Center in Chongqing are just two of many shopping mall clients.

"Twenty-two projects (for ice rinks) have been completed from 2010 to 2012 and 70 to 80 percent of the projects are for commercial properties. The China market accounted for 20 percent of the company's turnover in 2012," Cui says. "We are now looking to introduce multifunctional stadiums in China and our first project for a curling hall will open in Beijing at the end of 2014."

The curling hall will be located in Daxing district in suburban Beijing.

Franz Geidl, general manager of Activ Sport Design Handels GmbH, which produces outdoor and mountaineering equipment as well as clothing, registered 5 to 10 million euros in revenue in China, accounting for 50 percent of the company's total annual sales.

The 25-year-old company plans to introduce its fashion line, Schonmensch, in China, though no timeline was revealed.

"In the past years, we were more concentrated in Europe, but the growth rate in Europe is somewhat flat. China is the biggest promising market for us in the future," Geidl says. "(Schonmensch) specializes in sporty outer wear. The price for each piece of clothing ranges from 200 to 500 euros in Europe."

Geidl says the company's first step is finding a Chinese distributor who knows more about the market and understands how business is done here.

In Geidl's mind, the company is a latecomer to the market compared with other international outdoor sports brands, which include other Austrian companies that have been making a name for themselves in China for much longer.

But by far, the brand that many Chinese outdoor lovers think of when they want to buy outdoor equipment is Northland. Its success in China is a testimony to not only China's increasing interest in outdoor and winter sports, but an indication that high-end suppliers from Austria are paying attention to the country.

Oskar Andesner, the commercial counsellor of the Austrian embassy in Beijing, says the expansion of Austrian outdoor sports brands in China will help bilateral trade.

"Today, approximately 6 percent of our economy is linked to tourism. The passion and personal connection to winter sport drive our companies to excel in developing the most advanced, innovative and stylish products the industry has to offer," he says.

China is currently Austria's second largest overseas export market. Products from more than 500 Austrian companies can be found in China and more than 1,000 projects have been set up in China with a total investment of $1.2 billion (940 million euros), according to the Austrian embassy.

yaojing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/29/2013 page15)