Day 2 at  (WWSE) in Beijing kept everyone busy again…

BASI would like to thank Heathrow Airport for the “World of Opportunity” SME award that has helped BASI attend the World Winter Sports Expo 2017 in Beijing. BASI’s objective here is to raise the profile of the BASI snowsports instructor qualification and course programme in China and develop working opportunities with China’s developing snowsports industry.

Andrew Lockerbie interviewed by Chinese Central Television Sports Chanel 5

The Exhibition Forum Theme for Day 2 was Ski Resort Operation and Management. Key speakers included BASI CEO, Andrew Lockerbie along with industry CEO’s Andy Wirth, President and CEO of Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows and Benno Nager, CEO of Genting Resort Secret Garden.

Andrew Lockerbie’s presentation on “Safety is Good for Business” focused on the importance of giving customers great experiences, so that they want to repeat the experience and become life long advocates. Andrew’s focus was on the importance of the ski schools and instructors in delivering safe, enjoyable and memorable experiences as they are the employees who spend the most time with new entrants to the sport.

Following Andrew’s presentation, he was whisked off by Chinese Television to be interviewed for their Chanel 5 Sports Channel.

Currently, in China, there are over 400 ski resorts operating but only five of them made a profit last season! One of the contributory factors for the current state of play is that the investment in Chinese snowsports has exploded in the last eight years, big money has been invested and there is currently insufficient market participation to support profitability across all the resorts that are currently in operation.   The current situation is likely to change over the next five years with the arrival of the winter games in 2022 will raise awareness and interest in winter sports participation and FIS’s Get into Snowsports (GIS) programme being run in conjunction with the Chinese organising body.