World-class snow and ice vacation destinations have surfaced, and Fosun Travel and Culture is becoming “light” at an accelerated pace | Media Focus

On June 18, Taicang Alps International Resort Phase II was officially signed, funded by the Taicang Municipal Government Platform and managed by Fosun Travel and Culture. The total investment of the project exceeds 5 billion yuan. The signing of this agreement not only highlights Fosun Travel & Culture's leadership in the snow and ice industry, but is also an important milestone since the company comprehensively promoted its asset-light strategy in early 2023. Recently, the well-known domestic media “Securities Daily” signed an agreement for the second phase of the Taicang Alps project. Combined with the current cultural tourism industry background, they thoroughly interpreted the business logic behind Fosun Travel's asset-light strategy.

The content is reprinted from: Securities Daily “Taicang Builds a “World-Class Ice and Snow Industry City” Fosun Tourism and Culture Accelerates Implementation of Asset-Light Layout”

Author: Chen Xiao

$FOSUN TOURISM (01992.HK)$ The asset-light layout is another important step. On June 18, Fosun Travel & Communications announced that it will work with the Taicang Municipal Government to jointly build the second phase of Taicang Alps International Resort, a one-stop ice and snow-themed tourist resort destination. The project has a total investment of over 5 billion yuan. It was funded by the Taicang Municipal Government platform and managed by Fosun Travel and Culture.

Xu Xiaoliang, Co-CEO of Fosun International and Chairman of Fosun Travel & Culture, told the “Securities Daily” reporter: “Since opening in November 2023, Taicang Alps International Resort has quickly become a popular place for families and young people in the Yangtze River Delta region to check in. The signing of the second phase of the project was an important breakthrough for Fosun Travel & Culture in implementing an asset-light operation strategy. In the future, Fosun Travel & Culture will continue to utilize its global resources and industrial operation capabilities in the snow and ice industry to bring deeper and more diverse snow and ice vacation experiences to visitors from all over the country and promote the upgrading of the Yangtze River Delta cultural tourism industry.”

Build multiple “the best snow resorts in the world”

With the successful holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the pace of China's snow and ice sports “south exhibition, west expansion and eastward movement” continues to accelerate. The snow and ice program is moving from the north to all regions, and from winter to the four seasons. On June 18, the Taicang Alps International Resort Phase II project, a one-stop ice and snow-themed tourist resort funded by the Taicang Municipal Government Platform and managed by Fosun Travel & Culture, held a grand signing ceremony at Club Med Mediterranean Daylight Ark Taicang Resort to announce the official launch of the Taicang Alps International Resort Phase II project.

According to information, Taicang Alps International Resort officially opened in November 2023. The resort is close to Taicang South Railway Station and Shanghai's Jiading District. It can be reached in less than 30 minutes from Shanghai. Since opening, it has quickly become a place for “influencers” in the Yangtze River Delta region to check in, with a total of 320,000 visitors.

The successful operation of Alpine Snow World also provided confidence and impetus for the second phase of the project to help Taicang become a “world-class ice and snow industry support”. The Taicang Alps International Resort Phase II project is expected to create many of the “world's largest ski resorts”. Among them, the ski resort covers a total area of about 190,000 square meters, and is expected to become the world's largest indoor ski resort after completion. The ski resort will also build a snow hotel, a water park, a land park, a special hot spring, etc., and combine a series of leisure and entertainment activities such as dome walking, snow-top bungee jumping, and shuttling through light and shadow ladders, aiming to become the largest one-stop ice and snow-themed tourist resort destination.

At the same time, the resort will actively develop the upstream and downstream industries related to ice and snow, lay out the construction of the entire ice and snow industry chain, promote Taicang to form a new two-wheel drive pattern of “the hometown of German companies” and the “city of ice and snow”, and create a world-renowned one-stop ice and snow-themed tourist resort destination.

According to many industry insiders, the consumer cohort of China's ice and snow industry continues to grow. Indoor skiing has become one of the most promising tracks in the Chinese ski industry, yet holiday products that integrate sports, travel, and entertainment attributes are still scarce. This time, Fosun Travel & Tourism is another masterpiece of snow and ice vacation products, and it may also become a typical sample of holiday ice and snow products in China.

It is worth mentioning that Club Med, a subsidiary of Fosun Travel & Culture, already operates 25 mountain ice and snow resorts around the world, distributed in snow and ice resorts such as the Alps, Hokkaido, and Quebec. The brand currently operates 3 outdoor snow and ice resorts in China, including Yabuli, Beidahu, and Changbai Mountain, forming an indoor-outdoor, skiing-snow entertainment layout with Taicang.

Accelerate implementation and asset-light layout

Asset heavy investment and long payback cycles have always been problems that cannot be avoided when investing in large-scale tourism projects. Today, as real estate dividends subside, Chinese travel companies are gradually de-real estate, fully focusing on the creation and operation of travel IP, and focusing on the profitability of tourism projects themselves.

As early as the beginning of 2023, Fosun Travel & Communications announced its strategy to focus on asset-light operations. In the future, it will mainly develop new projects using an asset-light operation and output model, and continue to focus resources and attention on improving asset-light operation capabilities such as products, brands, services and experiences to build a more sustainable growth engine.

In 2023, Fosun's travel and culture revenue structure also continued to be optimized. Among them, the share of real estate revenue fell sharply to less than 7%, tourism operations accounted for the majority of revenue, and the company is developing into an enterprise focusing on asset-light operations.

Since first investing in Club Med Club Med in 2010, Fosun Travel & Culture has accelerated the layout of this famous French resort chain in China. Currently, the brand operates more than 10 resorts in China, and the number of customers in China has increased from 20,000 to nearly 300,000 in 2023, making Club Med the second largest customer base in the world after France. Among them, Heilongtan Resort, a neighboring Mediterranean resort, just started pre-sale on June 12, and achieved a pre-sale GMV of 30 million in two days.

In addition to Club Med, Atlantis Sanya is another masterpiece of Fosun Travel & Culture's introduction and operation of an internationally renowned IP. Atlantis Sanya has a turnover of nearly 1.7 billion yuan in 2023 and receives more than 6 million visitors a year.

“Fosun Travel & Culture has high brand influence and market recognition in the cultural tourism industry, and can attract more partners and customers.” Tian Lihui, dean of the Financial Development Research Institute at Nankai University, told the “Securities Daily” reporter that more importantly, the asset-light operating model allows Fosun Travel & Culture to focus more on the core business of cultural tourism projects, such as brand building and service improvement, thereby enhancing competitiveness.

“The introduction and operation of IP is our 'light' ability, and it is also our advantage; however, in 'heavy' aspects, such as capital cost, capital scale, etc., we must actively establish a circle of friends to complement and grow with partners with 'heavy' capabilities, so that 'light' can share the benefits of 'heavy', and also allow 'heavy' to benefit from 'light' ability.” Xu Xiaoliang said so.

“Looking at the world's leading travel brands, including the French Club Med Club Med, a subsidiary of Fosun Travel & Culture, they are expanding their layout in an asset-light way with strong brands and mature operating systems. At the same time, thanks to our investment in projects such as Atlantis Sanya and Taicang Alps International Resort over the years, we have gained valuable operational capabilities and experience, and are also emboldened by today's asset-light transformation.” Looking forward to the future, Xu Xiaoliang said that consumers' requirements for the quality and experience of travel consumption are increasing, which has accelerated the upgrading and structural transformation of the tourism industry. Asset light is an inevitable trend in high-quality tourism development.

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