Snow, Speed ​​and Show: Ski fever is shaping a new winter economy

Por Tao Zihui

The ski had a tremendous increase in popularity in China since the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

China’s white ski book, compiled by Wu Bin, deputy director of the Beijing Ski Association, and released in November 2024, brings some interesting numbers. He revealed that the visits of skiers were growing and reached 23.08 million during the 2023-24 season, an increase of 14.49% over the previous year. The 2023-24 snow season, from November to March, marked the first full season of skiing after Beijing 2022.

For the current season, the country’s visits are expected to exceed 26 million. Where there are people, there is money to earn. And the expanding ice and snow industry offers numerous opportunities.

In addition to the tracks – Snow industry boom is feeding growth in many sectors – not just in skiing. As more people opt for skiing as a holiday activity, all
Hotels and restaurants to photography services have an increase in business.

Ski stations are at the top of the winter sports list. According to Trip.com, one of the leading Chinese travel service providers, ski resort reserves have increased by almost 20% since last November (compared to 2023). The popularity of the “more ski hotel” packages has placed them as a preferred choice of most skiers, giving a good boost to the hotel industry. In fact, the main group purchasing platforms report that hotels near ski resorts usually exhaust three days in advance.

An example is Wanlong Ski station in Hebei province. When inaugurated on November 7, 2024, he received more than a thousand skiers on the first day. According to Meituan, an important Chinese reservations and deliveries platform, ski resorts such as Heilongjiang, and Beijing’s Wanlong and Jundushan are on the rise in terms of search. This higher popularity also generated a 90% increase in ski training search, while searching for ski equipment stores increased 43%. Even the Encera Schin part was high, with group buying agreements firing at light speed.

Data from China’s General Sport Administration indicate that the number of people who participate in ice and snow sports in China continues to rise. In the 2023-24 winter season, about 57.35 million people participated in ice and snow sports, including skating, skiing, curling and ice hockey, with a total number of visits exceeding 100 million.

For skiing enthusiasts, snow quality, resort size and service are the main factors in choosing a destination. However, home skiing stations still have room to improve in terms of scale and service.

According to the white book of China’s ski industry, the number of skiers increased in early 2024, with the average skier making 1.8 trips-resuming the pre-parish levels (1.79). But it is still shy about the 2020-21 peak of 1.91 trips, showing that these repeated visits still have room to grow.

The popularity of skiing is expected to increase demand and investment in better skiing facilities. Building a first -rate ski resort involves a major investment. A more advanced cable car can cost millions, and the return periods are long. As pointed out by the skiing Xie Zidi, who is from Guangzhou, province of Guangdong, southern China, many resorts still lack essential facilities and there is plenty of space to improve transportation and meal services.

At the center of attention – The growing public love for ice and snow sports is largely due to the attention aroused by ice and snow events. Harbin hosted in February 2025 the IX Winter Asian Games, with no less than 148 events in four categories, which attracted even more attention to the winter sports scene.

This winter, the city of Hulun Buu, in the autonomous region of Mongolia Interior, is also warming its engines, with 16 high-level events, including the Motesqui Cross-Country Grand Prix and the national mass skiing challenge, generating great enthusiasm for everything that relates to ice and snow.

In Shenzhen, Guangdong, the Huafa Ice and Snow Project is taking shape and, when completed in 2025, will feature the largest covered ski station in the large Guangdong-Hong-Macau Bay area, in a total area of ​​100,000 m2.

At the same time, in the province of Guizhou, southwest of China, the mountain skiing has become a popular attraction among those seeking adventure, with its unique combination of high altitudes, low latitudes and frequent fog.

In Shanghai, the Yaoxue Ice and Snow World, inaugurated in September 2024, became a fashionable point for young people and families looking for experiences in the Wonderland country.

As ice and snow sports continue to enchant their fans, boosting an expanding ice and snow savings – which is getting warmer and more heated.

Sculpting in style – In the winter sports world, a new generation has been creating value and wealth. Most new skiers were born after 1990. Ski instructors, photographers, vloggers, club founders and entrepreneurs are walking their own paths – many of them playing stunts to be able to play various roles at the same time.

For fans of the skiing in Beijing, the weekends are an escape dedicated to the tracks. After a week of work, they run to hitchhikes or take high -speed trains to Chongli, in the city of Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, famous for being one of the headquarters of Beijing 2022 games. They usually spend all day skin, and even jump lunch to maximize every minute on the tracks.

These passionate skiers use words such as “freedom”, “speed”, “flight hours” and the ever -popular saying that “you need to try to understand.” Your commitment to sports
It is truly unparalleled.

As there are more and more newcomers coming to the clues, the ski stations have started to offer beginner programs to attract them. Becoming a ski instructor has become popular temporary work, as teaching is now an important sales argument. Skiar is more than just adjusting the equipment – it is a skill that takes time to dominate. The snowboard, for example, requires mastering the art of transition from one edge to another of the track and making corners of goods of good layout. Advanced techniques such as free style and snow sculpture also often require specialized instruction.

Lin Rui, a five -year -old coach at a Beijing ski resort, knows that most high -level skiing instructors are not graduated in professional sports schools, but from elites from very different sectors.

Whether they come from finance, law or graphic design, when making the transition to ski -related careers, they exhibit strong determination and execution. These are individuals who used to earn good salaries in their previous careers and continue to bring skills from other sectors to the skiing industry.

After advancement at the skill level, it is essential to acquire the very set of ski equipment. For Xie, the long -distance trip to ski resorts is not the biggest expense. With each snow season, she spends more than 20,000 yuans ($ 2,728) updating her equipment. Weirds, boots and clothes have become the basic trio for ski fans. “It’s common for an experienced skier to have several pairs of skis worth tens of thousands of yuans each,” she told Beijing Review.

In addition, capturing and sharing images of themselves by sculpting dust on XiaohongShu – a very popular lifestyle and e -style platform – and on other social networks is a much appreciated celebratory practice among skiers.

As skiing becomes increasingly a social ability, outdoor sports cameras, such as Gopro, have also become essential for skiing fans, whether portable or head -mounted.

After all, those amazing moments worthy of photos on the track are also bringing good business opportunities.

This text was originally published in China magazine today. Click here, subscribe to our community, receive a digital signature for free and have access to the full content.