Club Med opens its first China ski resort

Club Med (CU.Euronext) opened its first resort in China on Tuesday as it bids to cash in on a newfound love for winter sports among the country’s rich, AFP reported. The French leisure group has built an 18-slope ski village in Yabuli, an area in China’s northeast where winter temperatures often fall below minus 30 degrees Celsius. Justin Downes, who advises investors on the winter sports sector in China, said the country is one of few places in the world where the industry isn’t in decline. Downes is consulting on a Malaysian project three hours north of Beijing that is envisioned to become the largest ski resort in Asia. The resort will be able to accommodate 18,000 tourists a day and features a theme park and golf course for use during the summer months. There are currently over 200 ski resorts in China, most of them quite small.