China Tourism Academy: Development of China's Ice and Snow Tourism in 2023

The report comprehensively summarizes the new achievements, new features and new trends in the development of my country's ice and snow tourism, analyzes the challenges facing the development of my country's ice and snow tourism, and puts forward suggestions for the sustainable development of my country's ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics period. The core points are as follows:

1. Ice and snow tourism is changing from “ whether or not ” to “ how good ” . China’s ice and snow tourism market has entered a stage of expansion, quality improvement and redevelopment.

The successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the general public to participate in ice and snow tourism. The number of people participating in ice and snow tourism in China in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season exceeded expectations, and many ice and snow companies have achieved the " best ice and snow season in history " . The national ice and snow tourism market has achieved a double harvest of market scale and economic benefits. According to comprehensive estimates by the Ice and Snow Tourism Research Group of the China Tourism Research Institute, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season is 344 million, and the income from ice and snow leisure tourism is 474 billion yuan. The number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season is more than twice that of 170 million in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season . The income from ice and snow leisure tourism has increased from 270 billion yuan in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season to 474 billion yuan in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season . Ice and snow tourism has achieved leapfrog development. With the continued release of local market consumption potential and the recovery of long-distance ice and snow tourism, it is estimated that the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China will still exceed 300 million in the 2022-2023 ice and snow season. In the 2024-2025 ice and snow season at the end of the 14th Five- Year Plan , the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China is expected to reach 520 million. The revenue from ice and snow leisure tourism in China will reach 720 billion yuan, and ice and snow tourism will become the core engine of winter tourism and the ice and snow economy.

2. Confidence in the revitalization of ice and snow tourism is recovering, and the recovery of the ice and snow economy is fast-forwarding

Entering the post-Winter Olympics period, the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and relevant ministries and commissions have actively consolidated the achievements of " driving 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports " and have issued or are issuing a series of policies to support the sustainable development of ice and snow tourism, ice and snow sports, etc. According to the special survey on ice and snow tourism by the China Tourism Research Institute, under the new situation of epidemic prevention and control, 64% of consumers participating in the survey have plans to carry out ice and snow leisure tourism activities , and 60.3% of the respondents will increase the number of times they participate in ice and snow leisure tourism this year. Among them, 40.7% of consumers are willing to carry out long-distance ice and snow tourism, and 55.6% of tourists are willing to carry out short-distance ice and snow leisure tourism activities, which shows that the poetry and distance carrying the winter ice and snow dream are coming back. In the first year of the post-Winter Olympics period, consumers spent more rationally on ice and snow tourism. More than 47% of consumers will choose to maintain the consumption level of previous years or increase the budget, and only 33% of consumers are ready to cut spending in case of emergency, which shows that the national ice and snow leisure tourism is on the road to revitalization.

3. Investment in ice and snow tourism continues to be hot, with new features such as emphasis on efficiency, social capital dominance, investment return from the " Three Norths " , resort-type comprehensive projects being the most popular, and stable infrastructure investment becoming ice and snow tourism investment

In terms of investment in ice and snow tourism projects, trillions of yuan of investment supports the people's yearning for the beautiful experience of ice and snow tourism, and effectively drives the local economic and social development. In the five years from 2018 to 2022 , the total investment scale of China's ice and snow tourism heavy asset projects exceeded 1.11 trillion yuan, of which about 610 billion yuan was in 2018-2019 , about 300 billion yuan was invested in heavy asset projects in 2020 , and about 90 billion yuan was invested in heavy asset projects in 2021. The total investment in new heavy asset projects in 2022 was about 110 billion yuan. In terms of growth rate, 2018 , 2019 , and 2020 maintained a trend of uniform growth. After a large 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 North Regions " has further increased. In 2022 , from the perspective of investment activity (number of projects) and investment scale, the " Three Norths " regions are in an absolute dominant position in the national ice and snow tourism heavy asset map. Compared with the nearly 50% of the total investment in the previous four years, the concentration of heavy asset investment in the " Three Norths " region has further increased significantly, accounting for 88% in 2022. In terms of investment in ice and snow tourism infrastructure, from 2016 to 2022 , the total investment in China's ice and snow tourism infrastructure projects reached 2.88 trillion yuan, and the average annual investment scale will continue to be maintained in 2022. Investment in ice and snow tourism infrastructure has been deeply cultivated in the " central and western regions " . In 2022 , the construction of ice and snow-related infrastructure across the country showed obvious characteristics of " deep cultivation " in the central and western regions. From a regional perspective, Central China accounted for 33.2% of investment , ranking first among all regions; Southwest China accounted for 27.6% , Northeast China accounted for 21.3% , and Northwest China accounted for 15.5% ; East China, North China and South China accounted for a relatively low proportion.

4. The consumption structure of ice and snow tourism continues to adjust, with ice and snow sightseeing and leisure as the main focus, skiing vacations on the rise, short-distance dominance, and long-distance recovery becoming new features

The development model of ice and snow sightseeing and leisure, with the rise of skiing vacation, is becoming the main model for the development of ice and snow tourism in China. According to the special survey on ice and snow tourism by the China Tourism Research Institute, the proportion of tourists who travel for ice and snow sightseeing and leisure accounts for 73.5% , and the proportion of tourists who travel for skiing vacation accounts for 26.5% . To develop ice and snow tourism, we must seize the golden development period of January and February . The big data research on ice and snow tourism consumption jointly conducted by the China Tourism Research Institute and Meituan shows that ice and snow tourism throughout the year is concentrated in the first half of the snow season, reaching a peak in February . The number of people traveling in January and February accounts for 85% of the number of people traveling in the ice and snow season. Compared with skiing on weekends, tourists in the first half of the snow season enjoy the Spring Festival, New Year's Day, and the winter vacation for students, and have plenty of time to enjoy the fun of ice and snow. Southern provinces are keen on ice and snow tourism, and the trend of localization of customer groups is obvious. From a national perspective, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Sichuan, Liaoning and Hubei have become the top ten ice and snow source provinces, and Xi'an, Chengdu, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao and Suzhou have become the top ten ice and snow source cities. Local residents are still the main consumers of ice and snow tourism projects. In 2022 , tourists from the province accounted for 86% of the total number of tourists , while tourists from other provinces accounted for only 14% , a decrease of 12 percentage points compared with 2019. In the 2022-2023 ice and snow season, 40.7% of consumers participating in the survey are willing to take long-distance ice and snow tours, and long-distance ice and snow tours are recovering.

5. Chinese consumers' spending power for ice and snow tourism continues to recover

Affected by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumption upgrades, and the holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the per capita consumption scale of ice and snow tourism in China showed a V- shaped development from 2016 to 2022 , and the per capita consumption scale of ice and snow tourism is recovering. The per capita consumption scale of ice and snow tourism in China dropped from 1,577 yuan in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season to 1,061 yuan in the 2020-2021 ice and snow season. In the 2021-2022 ice and snow season, the per capita consumption of ice and snow tourism in China was 1,378 yuan. The per capita tourism consumption in 2021 was about 899.28 yuan. The per capita consumption of ice and snow tourism in China in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season was 1.53 times the national per capita tourism consumption in 2021. China's ice and snow tourism has outstanding domestic demand-driven capacity.

6. Ice and snow tourism is transforming from initial industry cultivation to the construction of an industrial ecological system. The " Ice and Snow National Trend " is leading China's ice and snow industry to develop in a chain, cluster and globalized manner.

From the successful bid for the 2015 Beijing Winter Olympics to the present, the cultivation of China's ice and snow tourism-related industries has gone through a process from initial cultivation to the construction of an industrial ecological system. In particular, in recent years, with the expansion of the ice and snow economic market with ice and snow tourism as the core and the rise of the Chinese people's love for domestic ice and snow equipment, the development of the domestic ice and snow industry chain has been driven, and a large number of " ice and snow national tide " national enterprises such as Anta, Heilong, and Bainingdun have begun to rise. By the end of 2022 , there were nearly 9,000 domestic registered ice and snow related enterprises in the country . Among them, 1,460 new registered enterprises were added in 2022 , a year-on-year increase of 20.1% , and the growth rate has basically returned to the pre-epidemic level in 2019. Among the newly registered enterprises in 2022 , the top three provinces and cities in terms of number were Beijing, Guangdong, and Shandong. Heilongjiang, Hebei, Jilin, Xinjiang and other provinces attach great importance to the cluster development of ice and snow industrial parks, and there are nearly 20 ice and snow equipment industrial parks in China .

VII. Suggestions on the sustainable development of my country's ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics period

While seeing the achievements, we also need to note that there are still some challenges: the institutional mechanism for the sustainable development of ice and snow tourism needs to be improved, and cultivating the mass market is still the main task; there is not enough new space for mass ice and snow tourism, and the ice and snow tourism product system is not rich enough; ice and snow tourism investment has not yet formed a relatively stable model, and the phenomenon of government enthusiasm and commercial indifference is still prominent in some places; the ice and snow tourism brand system with Chinese characteristics has not been formed, and domestic ice and snow brands lack international competitiveness; the theoretical construction of ice and snow tourism development is not enough, and ice and snow tourism practice lacks systematic theoretical guidance; international exchanges and cooperation in ice and snow tourism are more about bringing in, and international interactions need to be strengthened. Entering the post-Winter Olympics period, we must strengthen top-level design, adhere to a blueprint, introduce a series of ice and snow economic policies, and support the new development of ice and snow tourism; promote the quality and expansion of ice and snow tourism consumption, optimize the environment for ice and snow tourism consumption, and expand the number of ice and snow tourism consumers; accelerate the structural reform of the supply side of ice and snow tourism, build a spatial carrier system for the development of ice and snow tourism, and cultivate a complete modern ice and snow industry chain; continue to deepen reforms, consolidate the foundation for the development of ice and snow tourism, and build a complete commercial service facility and a modern ice and snow tourism market governance system.

Feed | Han Yuanjun

Editor-in-charge | Liu Xin

Proofreading | Yang Liqiong

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