Cailian Press | New Consumer Daily, December 16 - (Researcher Liang Youyun) As we enter mid-December, outdoor and indoor ski resorts across the country are now in peak operating mode, with rich ice and snow festival activities in regions like Northeast China gradually opening.

DiDi Global Inc data shows that in early December, the demand for rides to ski resorts increased by 454% compared to the previous month, and by 151% compared to the end of November. Compared to the same period last year, this snow season saw a notable 36% increase in the demand for rides to indoor skiing, with this year's indoor skiing demand peak arriving one week earlier than outdoor skiing.

In the past two weeks, the "ice and snow" concept has frequently appeared on the active sectors of A-shares, ranking at the top of the CSI Consumer 360 index growth.

As of the close on December 16, multiple A-share ice and snow concept stocks have set recent highs. Among them, Lander Sports Development achieved four consecutive rises, Bingshan Refrigeration & Heat Transfer Technologies achieved three consecutive rises, while Dalian Sunasia Tourism Holding, Changbai Mountain Tourism, and Fujian Snowman hit the daily limit, and Beijing Sanfo Outdoor Products increased by 7.07% today.

In traditional popular ice and snow tourism areas, various outdoor ice and snow landscapes and check-in points have attracted tourists from across the country. According to ride-hailing data released by DiDi, Zhangjiakou, Changchun, and Altay are the top ten favorite skiing regions, and the ride-hailing demand from Wuhan in central China to ski resorts has surged by 794%. Whether for outdoor or indoor experiences, the enthusiasm for ice and snow experiences and entertainment has expanded from the north to the south.

In addition to market-oriented cultural tourism experiences and shopping consumption in the "ice and snow economy," local government direct support for the ice and snow industry has also drawn attention. Recently, the Jilin Provincial Party Committee General Office and the Provincial Government General Office issued "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Jilin Province's Ice and Snow Economy."

The document outlines 30 key tasks in 7 areas for the ice and snow industry, covering everything from ice and snow equipment and manufacturing to cultivating ice and snow talent and culture, as well as promoting ice and snow sports and cultural tourism brand development. It also mentions that Jilin will increase financial support, establishing an investment fund for the ice and snow industry amounting to 1 billion yuan and coordinating various special fiscal funds to support the ice and snow economy with 0.5 billion yuan.

Jilin Province subsequently launched a new round of winter consumption vouchers, attracting tourists from across the country and even overseas to experience the local ice and snow culture through 0.1 billion yuan in cultural tourism dining vouchers. It is reported that Jilin proposed last year the goal of "striving to realize a trillion-level tourism industry within five years," and ice and snow tourism should support "half of the economy."

Meanwhile, the construction progress of Harbin's "highly anticipated" Ice and Snow World theme park in Heilongjiang Province has exceeded halfway. As the most talked-about ice and snow cultural tourism destination for winter 2023, several ice sculpture attractions in the park have been completed, and it is expected that construction will finish by mid to late this month.

In addition to Harbin Ice and Snow World, this winter Harbin will also host the 9th Asian Winter Games, with related ticketing websites, service mini-programs, and news services recently launched. With the support of the Asian Winter Games, it is anticipated that Harbin will experience a new peak in ice and snow tourism demand during the competition in early January 2025.

To fully leverage the role of the Winter Asian Games, Heilongjiang Province is currently actively organizing hundreds of diverse public events focused on winter sports such as ice skating, curling, and ice hockey, utilizing the Songhua River, city parks, open spaces, and university playgrounds to attract local residents and visitors to register and participate.

According to the latest winter ice and snow tourism boutique routes published by the National Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 12 specialty routes from Hebei Zhangjiakou, northern Xinjiang, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, and other places have successfully been selected. The development and improvement of many of these routes rely on the positive promotion of local policies and market promotion.

It is reported that Liaoning Province already has 31 operating ski resorts, 266 hectares of ski trails, 98 snow parks, and more than 60 indoor and outdoor skating rinks. Recently, based on the well-established ice and snow facilities and resources, Liaoning hosted an international ice and snow economy cooperation promotion meeting, inviting numerous European experts and representatives to participate, leveraging international mature experiences to boost local ice and snow economic development.

In Mongolia, which also has rich ice and snow tourism resources, Hulunbuir City hosted cross-country skiing challenges, international winter swimming invitation contests, and national speed skating marathon invitation contests this year. In organizing tourism and folk activities, rich experiential projects such as ice and snow Nadam and horse riding performances, as well as local delicacies such as Inner Mongolia roasted lamb and milk tea, have become major promotional focuses.

Xinjiang has launched the "Hot Snow Festival," opening 18 major supporting activities and 222 ice and snow tourism and event activities throughout the region to fully stimulate tourist participation.

Among them, Altay, as an internationally renowned traditional ice and snow tourist destination, has already entered the ski peak season early in mid-November. According to the current enthusiasm for ice and snow tourism, Altay aims to receive 5.46 million visitors during the 2024-2025 ice and snow season, an increase of 11.7% year-on-year; tourism revenue is expected to reach 5.67 billion yuan, an increase of 11.11% year-on-year.

Guosen Research Reports point out that the ice and snow economy is experiencing high prosperity after the Winter Olympics, with the total industry scale reaching 890 billion yuan in 2023, a 70% increase compared to 2019. Focusing on ice and snow tourism, top ice and snow events drive public attention and participation enthusiasm. In the last ice and snow season, the number of ice and snow tourists in China exceeded 0.385 billion, setting a new historical record. The China Tourism Academy expects the 2024-2025 ice and snow season to surpass 0.5 billion visitors. The ice and snow economy has become a new growth market in the domestic economy, which is significant for boosting tourism during the winter and spring off-peak seasons and has strong practical significance for activating the economy in Northeast China and other related regions.

Minsheng Securities believes that in 2023, the popularity of Harbin Ice and Snow World is unprecedented, combined with the active response of cultural and tourism bureaus across the country in promoting ice and snow tourism, the ice and snow tourism industry has officially entered an upward phase. However, there is still substantial room for improvement in content creation, product quality, service systems, and diversified innovation within the ice and snow industry. Looking forward to future development, the demand for ice and snow tourism is highly enthusiastic, with various local cultural and tourism departments and tourism KOLs continuously promoting it, expected to become a new driving force for the growth of the tourism market scale.

The "China Ice and Snow Industry Development Research Report (2024)" shows that the scale of China's ice and snow industry reached 970 billion yuan in 2024, and it is expected to grow to 1005.3 billion yuan by 2025.