China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report (2023): Core Insights

To implement President Xi Jinping’s development philosophy that “ice and snow are also mountains of gold and silver,” and to consolidate and expand the achievements of “300 million people participating in ice and snow sports,” as well as to promote the sustainable development of China’s ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics era, the “2023 China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Forum” was successfully held on the morning of January 5, 2023, in Harbin. The forum was hosted by the China Tourism Academy and the Harbin Municipal People’s Government, and organized by the Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism. The theme of the forum was “Carrying Forward the Olympic Spirit and Achieving Sustainable Development of Ice and Snow Tourism.”

At the forum, Dr. Han Yuanjun from the China Tourism Academy, on behalf of the research team, released the “China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report (2023).”

The report comprehensively summarizes the new achievements, characteristics, and trends in China’s ice and snow tourism development, analyzes the challenges it faces, and offers recommendations for the sustainable development of ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics era. Key insights are as follows:

I. Ice and snow tourism is transitioning from “availability” to “quality,” and China’s ice and snow tourism market is entering a phase of capacity expansion, quality improvement, and restructuring.

The successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics greatly ignited the enthusiasm of the general public for participating in ice and snow tourism. During the 2021-2022 ice and snow season, the number of ice and snow tourists in China exceeded expectations, with many ice and snow enterprises experiencing their “best ice and snow season ever.” The national ice and snow tourism market achieved a win-win outcome in both market scale and economic benefits. According to comprehensive calculations by the Ice and Snow Tourism Research Team of the China Tourism Academy, during the 2021-2022 ice and snow season, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists reached 344 million, with revenue of 474 billion yuan. This number is more than double the 170 million tourists in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season, while revenue increased from 270 billion yuan in the 2016-2017 season to 474 billion yuan in the 2021-2022 season, marking a leapfrog development in ice and snow tourism. With the continued release of local market consumption potential and the recovery of long-distance ice and snow tourism, it is expected that the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in the 2022-2023 season will still exceed 300 million. By the end of the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, in the 2024-2025 ice and snow season, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists is expected to reach 520 million, with revenue of 720 billion yuan, making ice and snow tourism a core driver of winter tourism and the ice and snow economy.

II. Confidence in the recovery of ice and snow tourism is growing, and the rebound of the ice and snow economy is accelerating.

In the post-Winter Olympics era, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, and relevant ministries have actively consolidated the achievements of “driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports” by issuing or developing a series of policies to support the sustainable development of ice and snow tourism and sports. A special survey on ice and snow tourism by the China Tourism Academy shows that under the new epidemic prevention and control situation, 64% of surveyed consumers plan to engage in ice and snow leisure tourism activities, and 60.3% of respondents said they would increase the frequency of their participation in ice and snow leisure tourism this year. Among them, 40.7% of consumers are willing to engage in long-distance ice and snow tourism, while 55.6% are willing to engage in short-distance ice and snow leisure tourism. This indicates that the dreams and distant places of winter ice and snow are making a comeback. In the first year of the post-Winter Olympics era, consumers are more rational about spending on ice and snow tourism. Over 47% of consumers plan to maintain their past spending levels or increase their budgets, while only 33% plan to cut back on spending to prepare for emergencies. This shows that national ice and snow leisure tourism is already on the path to recovery.

III. Investment in ice and snow tourism remains robust, with new characteristics including a focus on efficiency, dominance of social capital, a return to the “Three Northern Regions,” a preference for resort-style integrated projects, and stable infrastructure investment.

In terms of investment in ice and snow tourism projects, trillions of yuan in investment support the people’s aspirations for high-quality ice and snow tourism experiences, effectively driving local economic and social development. Over the five-year period from 2018 to 2022, the total investment in heavy-asset projects for ice and snow tourism in China exceeded 1.11 trillion yuan. Of this, about 610 billion yuan was invested from 2018 to 2019, 300 billion yuan in 2020, 90 billion yuan in 2021, and about 110 billion yuan in new heavy-asset projects in 2022. In terms of growth rates, investment maintained a steady upward trend in 2018, 2019, and 2020. After a significant decline in 2021, it rebounded in 2022 with a growth rate of 22%. The concentration of national ice and snow tourism investment in the “Three Northern Regions” further increased. In 2022, in terms of investment activity (number of projects) and investment scale, the “Three Northern Regions” held an absolute dominant position in the national ice and snow tourism heavy-asset landscape. Compared to the previous four-year period when these regions absorbed nearly half of total investment, concentration in heavy-asset investment in the “Three Northern Regions” increased significantly, accounting for 88% in 2022. For ice and snow tourism infrastructure investment, total investment in ice and snow tourism infrastructure projects from 2016 to 2022 reached 2.88 trillion yuan, with stable annual investment levels continuing in 2022. Ice and snow tourism infrastructure investment has deepened in the “central and western regions.” In 2022, national ice and snow-related infrastructure construction showed a clear trend of “deepening” in the central and western regions. By region, central China accounted for 33.2% of investment, ranking first; southwest China accounted for 27.6%; northeast China accounted for 21.3%; northwest China accounted for 15.5%; and east, north, and south China accounted for smaller shares.

IV. The consumption structure of ice and snow tourism continues to adjust, with new characteristics of ice and snow sightseeing and leisure dominating, ski resorts on the rise, short-distance travel gaining an advantage, and long-distance tourism recovering.

The development model dominated by ice and snow sightseeing and leisure, with ski resorts emerging, is becoming the main model for China’s ice and snow tourism development. A special survey on ice and snow tourism by the China Tourism Academy shows that 73.5% of tourists travel for ice and snow sightseeing and leisure, while 26.5% travel for ski resort vacations. To develop ice and snow tourism, it is essential to seize the golden development period from January to February. Big data research on ice and snow tourism consumption, jointly conducted by the China Tourism Academy and Meituan, shows that ice and snow tourism is concentrated in the winter snow season of the first half of the year, peaking in February. January and February account for 85% of snow season travel. Compared to weekend skiing, winter snow season tourists enjoy longer holidays such as the Spring Festival and New Year, as well as winter breaks for students, giving them ample time to enjoy the fun of ice and snow. Southern provinces are enthusiastic about ice and snow tourism, with a clear trend toward local customer bases. Nationally, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Sichuan, Liaoning, and Hubei are the top 10 ice and snow tourist source provinces, while Xi’an, Chengdu, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao, and Suzhou are the top 10 ice and snow tourist source cities. Local residents remain the main consumers of ice and snow tourism projects. In 2022, local tourists accounted for 86% of total tourists, while out-of-province tourists accounted for only 14%, a decrease of 12 percentage points compared to 2019. For the 2022-2023 ice and snow season, 40.7% of surveyed consumers expressed willingness to engage in long-distance ice and snow tourism, indicating that remote ice and snow tourism is recovering.

V. The consumption capacity of Chinese consumers for ice and snow tourism continues to recover.

Under the influence of sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks, consumption upgrades, and the Beijing Winter Olympics, per capita consumption in China’s ice and snow tourism from 2016 to 2022 has shown a V-shaped development trend, with per capita consumption recovering. Per capita consumption in ice and snow tourism dropped from 1,577 yuan in the 2016-2017 season to 1,061 yuan in the 2020-2021 season. In the 2021-2022 season, it rose to 1,378 yuan. In comparison, the national per capita tourism consumption in 2021 was about 899.28 yuan, meaning that per capita consumption in ice and snow tourism in the 2021-2022 season was 1.53 times the national average per capita tourism consumption in 2021, highlighting the strong domestic demand-driving capacity of ice and snow tourism.

VI. Ice and snow tourism is moving from early-stage industry cultivation to building an industrial ecosystem, with the “ice and snow national trend” leading China’s ice and snow industry toward chain development, clustering, and globalization.

From the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2015 to the present, the cultivation of industries related to ice and snow tourism in China has evolved from initial cultivation to building an industrial ecosystem. In particular, in recent years, with the expansion of the ice and snow economy market centered on ice and snow tourism and the growing popularity of domestic ice and snow equipment among Chinese consumers, domestic ice and snow industry chains have been driven forward. A wave of “ice and snow national trend” national enterprises, such as Anta, Heilong, and Bainingdun, has begun to rise. By the end of 2022, there were nearly 9,000 domestically registered ice and snow-related enterprises in China. Among them, 1,460 new enterprises were registered in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 20.1%, with growth rates basically returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Among the newly registered enterprises in 2022, the top three provinces and cities were Beijing, Guangdong, and Shandong. Provinces such as Heilongjiang, Hebei, Jilin, and Xinjiang place high importance on the cluster development of ice and snow industrial parks, with nearly 20 ice and snow equipment industrial parks in China.

VII. Recommendations for the Sustainable Development of Ice and Snow Tourism in the Post-Winter Olympics Era

While acknowledging achievements, it is also necessary to note ongoing challenges: the institutional mechanisms for the sustainable development of ice and snow tourism

There is still room for improvement, and cultivating the mass market remains the main task. There is not enough new space for winter tourism that caters to the general public, and the range of winter tourism products is not diverse enough. Investment in winter tourism has yet to form a relatively stable model, with the phenomenon of hot government interest but cold commercial interest still prominent in some areas. A winter tourism brand system with Chinese characteristics has not been established, and domestic winter brands lack international competitiveness. The theoretical framework for winter tourism development is still insufficient, and winter tourism practices lack systematic theoretical guidance. International exchange and cooperation in winter tourism mainly focus on bringing in foreign elements, while the international interaction of going global needs to be strengthened. In the post-Winter Olympics era, it is necessary to strengthen top-level design, stick to a clear blueprint, and introduce a series of policies for the winter economy to support new developments in winter tourism. Efforts should be made to boost consumption quality and scale in winter tourism, optimize the consumption environment, and expand the consumer base. Accelerate supply-side structural reform in winter tourism, build a spatial carrier system for its development, and cultivate a complete modern winter industry chain. Continue to deepen reforms, solidify the foundation for winter tourism development, and establish a comprehensive commercial service facility system and a modern winter tourism market governance system.

Contributor | Han Yuanjun

Editor | Liu Xin

Reviewer | Yang Liqiong

Source | China Tourism Academy (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism)

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