Executive from Frost & Sullivan: The ice and snow economy continues to expand, with high-quality development becoming the main theme

The successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics provided long-term development momentum for China's ice and snow sports and economy through various aspects such as improving public awareness and participation, perfecting infrastructure, and enriching industrial forms. While the scale of China's ice and snow economy continues to expand, it is developing in the direction of high-quality development.

According to official statistical data, the total scale of China's ice and snow industry increased from about 270 billion yuan in 2015 to 890 billion yuan in 2023. In the 'Several Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Stimulating the Vitality of the Ice and Snow Economy through High-Quality Development of Ice and Snow Sports' released in November 2024, it was proposed that the total scale of the ice and snow economy reach 1.2 trillion yuan by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030. In terms of market scale, China's ice and snow economy will continue to maintain a strong growth trend. In terms of specific policy directions, the specific development directions aim to promote the industry's quality improvement through aspects such as improving the industrial chain, cultivating high-quality enterprises, activating market participants, and strengthening international cooperation and exchanges.

It is expected that in the next few years, on the consumer side, while the consumer group continues to expand, China's ice and snow consumption demand will become more diversified. Consumers have higher and higher requirements for the quality and experience of ice and snow products and services, with personalized, customized, and experiential consumption needs continuously growing, especially for ice and snow sports. For ice and snow sports, consumers' demands for ice and snow sports experiences, personalized ice and snow equipment, ice and snow research and training, etc. are gradually emerging; on the supply side, it is expected that a number of leading enterprises will form in the ice and snow field, and at the same time, there will also be an increase in innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, enriching the supply of high-quality and personalized ice and snow services and products on the market. In terms of regional structure, regions rich in northern ice and snow resources such as Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Xinjiang will drive coordinated development of surrounding areas, thereby creating internationally influential ice and snow economic agglomerations. At the same time, based on indoor ski resorts, ice and snow sports will continue to 'expand southward, westward, and eastward', promoting the popularization and development of ice and snow sports across the country.

China's current ice and snow economy development faces many challenges. The consumption structure is relatively single, mostly experiential skiing, and long-term consumption habits have not yet been formed. Infrastructure needs to be improved, with insufficient per capita ice and snow venues, which are unevenly distributed, especially in the southern regions where development is relatively slow. At the same time, the industrial chain is not perfect, the ice and snow equipment and cultural links are weak, there is great pressure on funds, a shortage of talents, and insufficient international brand influence also restrict the development of the ice and snow economy.

In response to these challenges, a series of countermeasures need to be taken. On the one hand, innovate consumption models, create diversified products, and enhance tourist experiences; reasonably plan and increase investment in infrastructure construction to improve supporting facilities; strengthen brand building, promote industrial clustering, and use digitalization to enhance innovation capabilities. On the other hand, optimize the industrial chain, strengthen upstream and downstream coordination, improve standards and supervision; the government increases policy support, providing financial, tax, land, etc. support; strengthen talent cultivation and introduction, actively carry out international cooperation, enhance international influence, and promote the sustainable development of the ice and snow economy.