Winter Olympics spark winter sports boom

Editor's note: Zhou Lijun, a special commentator for CGTN, is the Director of National Sports Industry Base at Zhejiang University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of either CGTN or Robert Morris University.

With the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games underway, global enthusiasm for winter sports is once again on the rise. Yet this renewed excitement is extending far beyond elite competition, flowing into everyday life, reshaping consumer habits and redefining industrial development.

In China, cities such as Harbin and Altay – long known as seasonal winter destinations – are undergoing a transformation. Once dependent on a short tourism window, they are emerging as year-round, internationally oriented resort hubs and key nodes in a growing industrial ecosystem. The ice and snow economy is now becoming a powerful new driver of consumption upgrading and high-quality growth in China's sports economy.

The transformative leap in the snow and ice economy

In the post-Beijing Winter Olympics era, China's ice and snow industry has not cooled down. Instead, it has entered a new phase of high-quality expansion. According to the Research Report on the Development of China's Ice and Snow Industry (2025), the total value of the sector surpassed 1 trillion Chinese yuan ($144.7 billion) for the first time in 2025 – a milestone signaling the industry's transition from policy-driven growth to market-driven maturity.

This qualitative leap is most visible at the forefront of ice and snow tourism. This winter, Harbin Ice and Snow World has evolved from a popular attraction into a global cultural meeting place. As of February 2, the park had welcomed around 93,000 overseas visitors in less than seven weeks of opening – 2.1 times the figure recorded during the same period last year. The growth has been particularly striking among long-haul travelers. As of January 26, visitor numbers from Malaysia and Australia rose by over 200 percent and 400 percent, respectively, while arrivals from France and the United States surged by 4,873 percent and 6,030 percent. Behind these figures lie improved international flight connectivity, visa facilitation policies, and most importantly, a shift from static sightseeing to immersive, interactive ice-and-snow experiences.

Value creation across the value chain

The boom in the ice and snow economy is about far more than ticket sales. At its core, it reflects the expansion and deepening of a modern industrial chain.

Today's winter sports consumers seek integrated experiences that combine skiing with leisure, culture, and social interaction. This shift in demand is driving supply-side innovation. At the Yabuli Ski Tourism Resort, for example, the "Three Mountains Connected" project has linked ski trails across three peaks, allowing visitors to access all slopes with a single pass. The result is a full-spectrum experience – from beginner-friendly groomed runs to advanced natural powder terrain – supported by unified operations that connect accommodation, dining, training, and entertainment. Visitors are no longer just skiing for a day; they are staying for longer, embracing what operators describe as a "ski one day, vacation three days" model.

The upstream extension of the industrial chain demonstrated the industry's robust capabilities for independent innovation. At Harbin's ice and snow sports equipment manufacturing park, domestically produced professional skis now rival international brands in performance while offering greater price competitiveness. Meanwhile, the geography of ice and snow consumption is expanding. The world's largest indoor ski facility has opened in Shenzhen, enabling residents in southern China to enjoy real snow year-round. This development points to a shift from a "north-led" ice and snow economy toward nationwide participation.

From 'trending now' to 'trending forever': Embracing high-quality development

Amid the boom, sober reflection is essential. Homogeneous competition, seasonal dependence, and uneven service quality remain key challenges to long-term sustainability. The path forward lies not in sheer scale expansion but in value creation.

Across the industry, efforts are already underway. Provinces such as Heilongjiang are developing comprehensive local standards covering service quality in ice and snow tourism, using standardization to drive overall improvement. Many ski resorts have adopted smart management systems, including reservation platforms and real-time crowd monitoring, to enhance safety and visitor experience. From Mohe's detailed Arctic tourism service standards to the sector's growing emphasis on professional talent and operational expertise, China's ice and snow economy is working to convert short-term "traffic" into long-term "retention."

The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games are adding fresh momentum to global enthusiasm for winter sports. For China's ice and snow cities, it represented both an opportunity to capture international attention and a test of development quality.

Future competition will not be decided by the scale of ice sculptures or snowy landscapes alone, but by whether cities can build integrated ecosystems that combine sports and leisure, cultural experiences, technological innovation, and attentive services. As global visitors are drawn to the same northern scenery, the story of China's ice and snow economy has become more than a seasonal fairy tale – it is a vivid example of how innovation and openness can transform natural endowments into lasting engines of high-quality development.

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