Dai Bin | Ice and snow tourism needs to cultivate more diverse and dynamic market entities

On the morning of January 5th, the "2023 China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Forum", hosted by the China Tourism Research Institute and the Harbin Municipal People's Government, and organized by the Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, was successfully held in Harbin. Dean Dai Bin delivered a keynote speech titled "Cultivating More Diverse and Dynamic Market Entities for Ice and Snow Tourism". The full text is as follows:

1、 'Three hundred million people go to ice and snow' has laid an unprecedented market foundation for ice and snow tourism

Since then, sports, culture, tourism, education, industry and informatization, Beijing, Zhangjiakou, Harbin, Changchun and Hulunbeier, including Xinjiang, Xizang, Qinghai, Guangdong and Henan, have set off a new climax of ice and snow sports, ice and snow leisure, and ice and snow tourism. After eight years of efforts, the market foundation of ice and snow tourism has been unprecedentedly improved, and the scale, quality, and efficiency of the ice and snow economy have achieved leapfrog development. On January 12, 2022, commissioned by the Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, the Social and Public Opinion Survey Center of the National Bureau of Statistics conducted a statistical survey and found that since Beijing successfully bid for the Winter Olympics in 2015, 346 million Chinese residents have participated in ice and snow sports, with a participation rate of 24.56%. Ice and snow sports have crossed Shanhaiguan and entered various parts of the country, ushering in a new era of ice and snow sports in China and even globally.

Compared with ice and snow sports, the market size and development space of ice and snow leisure and ice and snow tourism are larger. According to the comprehensive calculation of the Ice and Snow Tourism Research Group of China Tourism Research Institute, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China during the 2021-2022 ice and snow season is 344 million, which is more than twice the 170 million people during the 2016-2017 ice and snow season. The revenue of ice and snow leisure tourism has increased from 270 billion yuan in the 2016-2017 ice and snow season to 474 billion yuan, achieving a leapfrog development in ice and snow tourism. Compared to participants in traditional ice and snow sports, especially competitive events, tourists mostly belong to the "initial experience of ice and snow", mainly focusing on leisure entertainment and light sports. According to a special survey on the ice and snow market conducted by the China Tourism Research Institute, 25% of tourists go on ski vacations, with the vast majority of tourists focusing on sightseeing, leisure, and light activities. From the perspective of time distribution, most tourists are still willing to choose to travel north during the ice and snow season, with 85% of tourists choosing to travel in January and February. The period around the Spring Festival is particularly hot during the peak season. From a consumer perspective, the traditional resource curse of 'ice and snow are not as good as Shanhaiguan' no longer exists. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Sichuan, Liaoning, and Hubei have become the top ten provinces for ice and snow tourists, while Xi'an, Chengdu, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao, and Suzhou have become the top ten cities for ice and snow tourists. According to the survey, the localization and proximity of ice and snow tourism customer groups have been further strengthened during the epidemic period. With the emergence of the "New Ten Measures" for epidemic prevention and control and the "Category B Management" policy effect, the willingness to travel and consumption expectations for medium and long-distance ice and snow leisure have significantly declined. Our tourism economic outlook for 2023 has been adjusted from "cautious optimism" in the fourth quarter of last year to "optimism".

During the just passed 2023 New Year holiday, the search heat for popular ice and snow tourism destinations such as Harbin and Changchun continued to rise, with Northeast Ice and Snow World, Yabuli, Changbai Mountain, China Snow Village, and "Arctic" Mohe becoming popular check-in destinations. Xinjiang has launched the New Year tourism season with the Winter Expo and Ice and Snow Culture Tourism Festival. Parks such as Beijing's Yuanmingyuan, Summer Palace, and Zizhuyuan have simultaneously launched holiday ice or snow resort activities. Sichuan's ice and snow tourism scenic spots have connected a series of themed activities such as ice and snow sightseeing, skiing, and hot springs. Chengdu's Xiling Snow Mountain Ski Resort has opened a night skiing project and held a New Year's Eve queue to attract tourists. Guangzhou Hot Snow Miracle, as a large indoor ski resort, attracts tourists to experience indoor snow entertainment projects. A special survey conducted by the China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) shows that ice and snow festivals have a significant drainage effect during holidays, with 38.6% of tourists participating in ice and snow cultural activities such as ice and snow tourism festivals, ice sculpture art festivals, and ice lantern festivals.

2、 Policy innovation and government's role in building a new pattern of ice and snow tourism supply

The high-quality development of ice and snow tourism benefits from the sustained policy support and administrative promotion from both the central and local governments. On September 5, 2018, the General Administration of Sport of China released the "Implementation Outline for Promoting 300 Million People to Participate in Ice and Snow Sports (2018-2022)", vigorously promoting and popularizing mass ice and snow sports, helping to build a "Healthy China", and striving to achieve the goal of "promoting 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports". On January 29, 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the General Administration of Sport of China jointly issued the "Construction Plan for the Beijing Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture, and Tourism Belt", promoting the sustainable use of Olympic venues after the Games, creating a new business card for the integrated development of sports, culture, and tourism, and cultivating new driving forces and characteristic advantageous pillar industries for regional economic and social development. In March 2022, the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Building a Higher Level Public Service System for National Fitness", which clearly supports the construction of the Beijing Zhangjiakou Sports, Culture and Tourism Belt.

In January 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the General Administration of Sport of China jointly announced the first batch of national level ski tourism resorts based on the "Classification of Ski Tourism Resort Levels" (LB/T083-2021) standard. National ski resorts rely on the county (district) area where they are located to create high-level ski sports facilities and high-quality tourism and vacation services, meet the demand for ski vacation consumption, and promote local economic development. The first batch of national ski tourism resorts include: Beijing Yanqing Haituo Ski Tourism Resort, Hebei Laiyuan Ski Tourism Resort, Hebei Chongli Ski Tourism Resort, Inner Mongolia Zhalantun Ski Tourism Resort, Liaoning Kuandian Tianqiao Gou Ski Tourism Resort, Jilin Fengman Songhua Lake Ski Tourism Resort, Jilin Fusong Changbai Mountain Ski Tourism Resort, Heilongjiang Yabuli Ski Tourism Resort, Sichuan Dayi Xiling Snow Mountain Ski Tourism Resort, Shaanxi Taibai Ao Mountain Ski Tourism Resort, Xinjiang Urumqi Nanshan Ski Tourism Resort, and Xinjiang Altay Ski Tourism Resort. On this basis, various regions have successively launched a number of provincial-level ski tourism destinations, effectively promoting the high-quality supply and development of ice and snow tourism.

The high-quality development of ice and snow tourism benefits from the high attention of party committees and local governments at all levels. From the top ten cities for ice and snow tourism released annually at the Ice and Snow Tourism Forum, Harbin, Zhangjiakou, Changchun, Shenyang, Jilin, Urumqi, Altay, Yanqing in Beijing, Yichun, Mudanjiang, Hulunbuir, and Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Zone are all listed as key issues of the Party committee and government. The main leaders and department heads personally attend relevant activities and provide specific guidance. Under policy guidance and administrative promotion, the total investment scale of China's ice and snow tourism heavy asset projects exceeded 1.1 trillion yuan from 2018 to 2022. In 2022, in terms of the number and scale of investment projects, the Northeast, North China, and Northwest regions are in a leading position, and the spatial concentration of investment in ice and snow tourism has further increased. In recent years, Harbin has actively integrated project resources and promoted the high-quality development of ice and snow tourism. It has formed a multi-point gathering and network distribution of ice and snow tourism projects and product systems centered on the Zhaolin Park Ice Lantern Art Park, Ice and Snow World, and Sun Island Snow Expo, supported by Volga Manor, Yabuli Ski Resort, Ice and Snow Carnival, Rongchuang Snow World, and Polar Pavilion, and supplemented by cold hot spring products such as Yingjie Hot Spring Town, Yabuli Forest Hot Spring, Maple Leaf Hot Spring Resort, etc.

Ice and snow tourism has revitalized traditional folk customs in various regions, creating a more modern, vibrant, and fashionable tourism space and consumption scene. Harbin's ice sculpture art and Songhua River Ice and Snow Carnival, Yan'an's Yellow River Spring Ice Opening, Chengdu's Xiling Snow Mountain Cloud Sea Observation, Hulunbuir's Ice and Snow Nadam, Heilongjiang's Ice Acrobatics Series Performance "Ice Show", Changbai Mountain's Snow Marathon, Altay's Ice and Snow Music Carnival, Beijing and Zhangjiakou's Winter Olympics venues check-in, and Urumqi Railway Bureau's New Oriental Express are all creative transformations and innovative developments of ice and snow culture.

3、 The sustainable development of ice and snow tourism requires the cultivation of market entities and industrial ecology

The expansion of the ice and snow tourism market and policy support have effectively driven public and industrial investment, cultivating a group of new market entities. As of the end of 2022, there are nearly 9000 registered ice and snow related enterprises in China. Among them, 1460 new registered enterprises were added in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 20.1%, and the growth rate has basically recovered to the pre pandemic level in 2019.

To cultivate a group of innovative ice and snow tourism equipment and gear manufacturers. In an era of beauty, many people go to ice and snow because of their fashionable, energetic, and well-designed ski gear. They even go to ice and snow to have the opportunity to wear down jackets, just like in the 1980s when young people went to hotels to wear clothes that had nowhere to go. Contemporary China's ice and snow tourism should, or can, create a number of ice and snow equipment brands that can go global in the name of "China-Chic". This forum first launched the "China-Chic" brand of the ten most popular ice and snow tourism equipment and fittings for tourists, including GOSKIORIGINALS of Beijing Shanfeng Youhai Technology Co., Ltd., Nobaday of Aoxue Culture Communication (Beijing) Co., Ltd., Hongwei TRIGOLD of Hongwei Sports Goods Manufacturing (Zhangjiakou) Co., Ltd., COSONE of Zhangjiakou Kewan Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., Zhishan of Zhangjiakou Zhonglin Industrial Co., Ltd., PENNINGTON/SSM of Changchun Bainingdun Sports Goods and Equipment Co., Ltd., Heilong of Qiqihar Heilong International Ice and Snow Equipment Co., Ltd., and Tianxingjian Sports Technology of Heilongjiang Tianxingjian of the limited liability company, Anta (China) Co., Ltd TOLASMIK Wineless Master of Guangzhou Tumishan International Trade Co., Ltd. Today, ice and snow equipment and fittings are beginning to shift towards cluster development in the form of industrial parks. Nearly 20 ice and snow equipment industrial parks have been built and put into operation nationwide, including the Zhangjiakou High tech Zone Ice and Snow Sports Equipment Industrial Park, Xuanhua District Ice and Snow Industry Park, Qiqihar Ice and Snow Equipment Industrial Park, Harbin Ice and Snow Sports Equipment Manufacturing Industrial Park, Changchun Zhongfen Ice and Snow Sports Equipment Industrial Park project in Jilin Province, Yongji Economic Development Zone Ice and Snow Equipment Industrial Park in Jilin City, Songyuan Ice and Snow Equipment Industrial Park in Songyuan City, and Urumqi Heavy Ice and Snow Equipment Industrial Park in Xinjiang, which are also accelerating construction. In time, these China-Chic brands will be chosen by more domestic consumers, and will also go to all parts of the world, even the venues of the Winter Olympics. Like the Qatar World Cup, Chinese elements are everywhere outside the football team.

To cultivate a group of ice and snow tourism resorts and theme park operators with cultural creativity. In recent years, local theme park and resort operators such as Yinji, Rongchuang, Chimelong, and Haichang Ocean World have begun to accelerate their strategic layout in the eastern coastal areas and central and southern China, forming the "Hot Snow Miracle" brand effect of indoor ski resorts in Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and other places. With the addition of large outdoor ski resorts and small indoor skating rinks derived from sports genes, the supply structure of urban ice and snow leisure and ice and snow tourism is more complete. Demand guides supply, and supply also creates its own demand. The increasingly systematic ice and snow tourism resorts and theme parks will play an irreplaceable role in the formation of China's unique ice and snow culture and the continuous expansion of the consumer market.

To cultivate a group of strong ice and snow culture investment institutions and ice and snow event operators. In the past thirty years, China has hosted multiple international events such as the Asian Games, Olympic Games, and Winter Olympics, leaving behind valuable sports heritage and cultivating sports and cultural investment institutions and event operators such as the Beijing Olympic Group. Market entities should combine with local ice and snow tourism destination promotion agencies to maximize market size, strengthen theme image construction, market introduction, and product research and development.

To cultivate a group of specialized ice and snow tourism and travel service providers, as well as ice and snow tourism destination life service providers. We should pay attention not only to travel agencies with strong customer source organization capabilities such as Chunqiu and Guangzhitu, but also to online travel merchants with wide market influence such as Ctrip, Qunar, and Mafengwo. We should also pay attention to social economy operators such as ski clubs like 678, as well as top anchors based on new social platforms and private traffic. We should not only introduce large vacation hotels, but also pay attention to investment guidance and professional guidance for new market entities such as ice and snow themed homestays, specialty restaurants and fast food, intangible cultural heritage revitalization, tourism shopping, and performing arts. Above ice and snow lies life. With the improvement of living environment and service quality, the high-quality development of ice and snow tourism guided by culture and empowered by technology has a reliable guarantee.