Rich man's sport? (2)

Booming business
As both the Chinese economy and urban residents' incomes grow, more and more people are becoming curious about trying out some snowy speed, and the business is growing.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the per-capita disposable income of urban households in 2010 was 19,109 yuan ($2,900), an annual rise of 9.7 percent, adjusted for price factors.
Meanwhile, according to customs data, ski resort equipment imports spiked by almost 300 percent year-on-year in 2009, to $57.4 million, more than one fifth of which was contributed by imports from Austria.
French, Italian and Canadian companies are also active players in the burgeoning skiing market, specializing in resort design, equipment manufacturing and maintenance.
Local governments have also made ambitious plans for winter sports tourism. Chongli county, which already has three ski resorts and another giant one under construction, has announced a $12.5-billion investment plan for the next five years, with 128 ski resort-related projects. Meanwhile, Kanas city amid the Altai Mountains in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region plans to invest $7.6 billion over the next 10 years to build a world-class ski resort for Olympics training as well as for commercial use.
The Austrian embassy expects more people to join in their charity ski race next year and forecasts continuous growth of the winter sport market in China.
However, Hu Kanping, an environmentalist at Beijing-based Friends of Nature, recently warned of potential ecological harm caused by over-use of underground water for snowmaking in ski resorts in Beijing and Hebei Province, where water is already scarce.
According to Hu's research, Beijing uses at least one million tons of water for commercial snowmaking in around 17 ski resorts which is equivalent to the annual water usage of 8,300 households combined and the water cannot be recycled.
Since last October China has been hit by one of the worst droughts in 60 years, but at least the weekend rainfall and snow have helped slightly.