Executives from Frost & Sullivan: Policy support and full-seasonal innovation will drive new growth in China's ice and snow economy

China's ice and snow economy will unleash industrial momentum from multiple aspects:

First, improve the industrial chain. In terms of equipment research and development and manufacturing, enhance product quality to meet the needs of professional athletes and enthusiasts, promote the development of the ice and snow equipment manufacturing industry, such as the production of skis, ice knives, snow machines, etc. At the same time, expand the 'ice and snow +' model, deepen industrial integration, such as 'ice and snow + events', 'ice and snow + camping', 'ice and snow + culture', etc., link upstream and downstream industries, and drive the coordinated development of multiple industries such as ice and snow sports, tourism, culture, and leisure.

Second, optimize service guarantees. Strengthen infrastructure construction, increase investment in ice and snow venue facilities, improve supporting facilities, such as building more high-quality ski resorts, skating rinks, ice and snow theme parks, etc., to improve the accessibility and convenience of ice and snow sports. In addition, improve service quality, strengthen training and management of tourism service personnel, enhance their service level and professional competence, establish a complete service evaluation system, and continuously improve services based on customer feedback.

Third, strengthen policy support. Increase financial support, guide financial institutions to provide more credit support to ice and snow venue developers. Implement preferential policies, such as issuing consumption vouchers and subsidies, to reduce the cost for consumers to participate in ice and snow activities and stimulate consumer demand.

The ice and snow tourism market benefits from policy support and will see growth trends in multiple aspects: continuous improvement of infrastructure, more diversified market demand, increasingly rich products, regional coordinated development, and smart development through technology.

Traditional ice and snow tourism is generally concentrated in winter, from November to late March or early April each year, mainly in high-latitude regions such as Northeast, North China, and Northwest. In recent years, with the construction and successful operation of indoor ice and snow sports venues and ice and snow parks in China, such as the 'Hot Snow Miracle' in multiple core cities across the country and Shanghai's Yaoyue Snow World. Ice and snow sports and tourism in China are gradually showing a significant trend of 'full-seasonality' and 'expanding southward, westward, and eastward' geographically.

To develop ice and snow tourism business in non-winter months, multiple approaches can be taken. In terms of product innovation, develop characteristic theme activities, such as summer ice and snow music festivals, spring ice and snow park tours, etc., launch seasonal ice and snow products such as educational tours and weddings, create comprehensive ice and snow parks with non-ice and snow amusement facilities. Utilize technological innovation, adopt artificial ice technology to create a non-winter ice and snow environment, introduce virtual reality and augmented reality technology to develop virtual experience projects. In marketing and promotion, accurately target the target customer group, cooperate with online travel platforms, expand southern and international markets. At the same time, strengthen integration with surrounding tourism resources, create cross-seasonal tourism routes, carry out cross-border cooperation, and cooperate with industries such as film, sports, fashion, etc. to enhance recognition and influence, thereby breaking through seasonal limitations and achieving sustainable development of ice and snow tourism business in non-winter months.

Leading domestic enterprises related to ice and snow tourism involve various industrial chain links such as ski resort operations, ski resort equipment and construction, outdoor equipment, etc. Under the normalization of the domestic tourism market and a series of policy guidance to promote consumption, the business growth of ski resort operation enterprises is the most significant, and it is expected that they will continue to expand steadily in the future. Although outdoor equipment-related enterprises are generally benefiting from the expansion of ice and snow consumption, the industry competition is relatively fierce. Enterprises related to ski resort equipment and construction need to find more business growth points under the current situation of slowing new investment in ski resorts.