China's ice, snow economy gains strong momentum

The ice and snow economy has been heating up in China in recent years, with regions across the country seizing opportunities to attract winter sports enthusiasts through diverse products and high-quality services.

China recently issued guidelines to stimulate the vitality of the ice and snow economy through the high-quality development of winter sports, promoting the transformation of the "cold resources" of ice and snow into the "hot power" of economic development.

①: An enthusiast enjoys skiing at a ski resort in Hulun Buir, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Photo/Wang Xiaobo)

②: A kid plays at an ice and snow park in southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/Yu Yuping)

③: Tourists ski at the Jiangjun Mountain Ski Resort in Altay Prefecture, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo/Aerdake Baisihan)

④: Enthusiasts enjoy skiing at the Beidahu Ski Resort in Jilin city, northeast China's Jilin Province. (Photo/Yuan Chunming)

Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, provides fiscal and tax policies to support scenic areas in offering more ice and snow activities. The local tax authorities have been laser-focused on ice and snow enterprises' needs to ensure that they can directly receive tax dividends.

"Over the last three years, our enterprise has received 24.79 million yuan (about $3.4 million) in value-added tax credit refunds, significantly boosting the construction of our scenic area's ice and snow projects," said Sun Jing, financial manager of Changchun Jingyuetan Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd., which runs the Jingyuetan Ski Resort.

This year, the financial department of Changchun Jingyue High-tech Industrial Development Zone has provided over 20 million yuan to support local ice and snow companies' activities, including the Vasaloppet China Changchun Jingyuetan International Ski Festival.

In Altay Prefecture of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, bank loans are facilitating the construction of ice and snow projects. When the Bank of Communications' Shihezi Branch learned that the Jiangjun Mountain Ski Resort faced a funding gap for infrastructure renovation in late October this year, it approved a 329 million yuan credit line for the ski resort within just two weeks.

The scale of China's ice and snow sector is expected to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2025, according to a 2024 report on the development of the country's ice and snow industry.

China's ice and snow industry enjoys broad prospects, said Wang Yuxiong, director of the Sports Economics Research Center at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

Various regions are leveraging fiscal and tax policies to support the development of the ice and snow economy. Jilin Province has established a 1-billion-yuan investment fund for the ice and snow industry and invested 500 million yuan of fiscal funds into the ice and snow economy. Xinjiang offers subsidies up to 10 million yuan annually for each S-level ski resort.

The ice and snow economy, characterized by a long industrial chain, significant spillover effects, and high social benefits, should be promoted as a new growth point through means including financial support and loan assistance.

According to several online platforms, the search volume for winter tourism has risen since November, and searches for products related to winter tourism have continued to surge since December. Regions have been rolling out policies and measures to boost winter consumption.

Consumer vouchers have proven effective in stimulating ice and snow consumption. Xinjiang plans to issue vouchers worth 24 million yuan, with over 10 million yuan of consumption coupons already distributed so far, while northeast China's Liaoning Province has allocated 15 million yuan to promote ice and snow consumption. Jilin Province has increased the total scale of ice and snow consumption vouchers to 100 million yuan.

Financial institutions are continuously improving services and expanding consumption scenarios to facilitate the upgrading of ice and snow consumption.

According to an industry report, China's ice and snow consumption exceeded 150 billion yuan in the 2023-2024 snow season, with 72.73 percent of winter sports participants reporting expenditure.

The guidelines encourage insurance institutions to develop ice and snow-related products. More and more insurers now provide coverage for winter sports activities, with premiums ranging from a few yuan to hundreds of yuan.

Regions across China are also providing better services for consumers, including transportation and medical services. For instance, Jilin Province operates 55 direct winter tourism routes, 53 tourist bus lines, and 35 nighttime bus lines. Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, offers services including guidance and luggage storage to tourists on the Central Avenue, while the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, has special check-in counters for ski equipment.

The scale of China's ice and snow economy is expected to reach 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030, up nearly 70 percent from 2023, the guidelines said.