Kids skating on an ice rink in Beijing, China, December 1, 2022. /CFP
China's ice and snow industry has seen robust growth since the country hosted the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year.
The sector's market value is expected to exceed 800 billion yuan ($113.41 billion) in 2022, before likely topping 1 trillion yuan in 2025, IDG Asia, a market research firm, said in a report on Friday.
Ice and snow tourism is popular among Chinese consumers, with the number of skiers increasing rapidly, said Shen Jiani, a researcher with online travel agency Trip.com Group, noting that the number of skiers on its platform surged over 70 percent year on year in the 2021-2022 snow season.
"Instead of merely experiencing something new, consumers are taking skiing as their hobby," said Shen, citing the significant consumption growth associated with learning skiing over the past two winters.
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Official data showed that, as of October 2021, 346 million people participated in national ice and snow sports in China. Eyeing the strong potential of the market, measures have been taken to promote industrial upgrades to meet the diversified demand of consumers.
For example, northeast China's Jilin Province has issued a plan to build a modern ice and snow industrial system with tourism, sports, culture and equipment at its core.
China's sports administration announced last month that it would speed up the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou sports and cultural tourism belt in order to lead the development of ice and snow sports in north China.
The supply side of the ice and snow industry has emphasized safe, green, high-quality, and healthy consumption and made efforts to create novel consumption scenarios with various products and services, said Sun Chuanwang, a professor at Xiamen University.
(Source: Xinhua with edits)