Introduction

Ice-and-snow tourism (IST) is a type of natural ecological tourism that comprises tourism-related activities centered on ice and snow resources (Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China et al., 2021). Skiing originated in Altay, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XJUAR), China, approximately 10,000–20,000 years ago and spread to Northern Europe, Russia and other regions (Joint Survey Research Group of Political Research Office of the Party Committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Daily, 2019; Vanat, 2019). Modern skiing originated in the European Alps in the 19th century. Since then, it has undergone five stages of development: germination, initiation, growth, expansion and improvement (Shi et al., 2013; Zhao et al., 2016), gradually giving rise to modern ski tourism, which combines sports and tourism. Ski tourism destinations have also expanded worldwide from Norway and Sweden. Currently, 68 countries worldwide offer equipped snow-covered outdoor ski areas (Vanat, 2021). Skiing as an industry has been established (or is currently developing) in skiing destinations, of which China and Eastern Europe are clear emerging destinations (Vanat, 2021).

Compared with skiing, glacier tourism had a later origin in the 1840s. Early glacier tourist destinations were mainly in the Alps, Pyrenees, Rocky Mountains, and New Zealand’s South Island (Wang and Che, 2019; Zhou et al., 2020). As socioeconomic development has increased, transportation accessibility has improved, and tourism demand has increased; thus, glacier tourism has developed gradually into mass sightseeing, leisure, experiential tourism activities. High mountains and latitude tourist destinations have also expanded globally. Currently, global glacier tourism is focused on six regions: North America, South America, Northern Europe, the Alps, the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, and New Zealand. The representative countries corresponding to each of these regions are the United States and Canada, Chile, Iceland and Norway, Switzerland and Austria, China and Nepal, and New Zealand, respectively. According to TripAdvisor comments by tourists on glacier tourist sites, North America, South America, and the Alps are the most popular for glacier tourism, and are the major glacier tourist destinations worldwide (Tang et al., 2022).

The rise of IST has created great opportunities for business and has promoted regional economic development (Eadington and Redman, 1991). Although modern IST began relatively late in China, in the 1960s (Yu and Liu, 2013), the number of ice-and-snow leisure tourists in China has already reached 344 million, and ice-and-snow leisure tourism revenue reached 474.0 billion Yuan RMB during the 2021–2022 ice-and-snow season, despite the COVID-19 pandemic (China Tourism Academy[CTA], 2023). IST has brought considerable revenue for China. Recently, China’s IST has not only become a new growth sector in domestic economic development but has also grown into one of the cluster areas of international IST.

As a unique tourism experience, IST is not only popular among the public, but also receives research attention. Recently, extensive studies of IST have been conducted. In addition to focusing on the value and suitability of IST resources (Cheng et al., 2016; Liu and Jiang, 2016; Wu, 2017; Zhang et al., 2018; Deng et al., 2019), innovative development and strategies for IST (Zhang, 2017; Wang, 2018; Ming and Lu, 2019), and tourist satisfaction (Zhu et al., 2018; Tang et al., 2021a; Tang et al., 2021b), these studies also focused on developing the ice-and-snow industry, particularly integrating its development with other industries, such as internet and culture (Liu, 2014; Bai, 2016; Wang and Zhu, 2017; Liu and Zhang, 2018; Shi, 2018; Wang and Zhang, 2019; Zhao et al., 2019). The IST field has also attracted researchers from government departments, such as the China Tourism Academy affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, enterprises such as the Shenzhen China Investment Consulting Co., LTD. and Kchance Tourism Group, and online service platform such as Mafengwo.com, Tmall Skiing, Ctrip, Ski +, HUAXUEZOO, and GOSKI. These entities prefer to study IST, especially skiing tourism, from an industrial and commercial perspective, and pay less attention to glacier tourism.

This study first explores the definition of IST, then focuses on both ski tourism and glacier tourism and comprehensively analyzes their spatial development and temporal variations. Herein, we aimed to clarify the definition of IST in light of current IST concepts and systematically report the growth, development trends, and factors influencing China’s IST to provide detailed references for investors in this sector, as well as governmental decision-makers.

IST concept

Currently, a conclusive definition of IST in China remains elusive, as researchers have a variety of interpretations and perspectives. These can be divided into six representative concepts: ice-and-snow culture (Liu, 2014), ice-and-snow sports (Liu and Jiang, 2016), IST exploitation (Cheng et al., 2016), tourist satisfaction (Zhu et al., 2018), wintertime tourism (Zhang et al., 2018), and comprehensive research (Fan, 2019). The common features among these concepts are that ice and snow climate resources are used as tourism attractions and that IST has appreciation, participation, experience, and stimulation characteristics. IST often only considers snow activities, without including ice activities. In addition, owing to different research perspectives, some concepts focus on ice-and-snow culture, whereas others focus on leisure and vacation or seasonality and naturality. Thus, each of these concepts has certain limitations.

Nature-based IST is a form of tourism within the ecological tourism category. The uniqueness of IST is that ice and snow resources are the primary attractions at these tourist destinations. Depending on their source, ice and snow are classified as natural or artificial. Based on its formation, natural ice can be classified as river, lake, or glacier ice. For this study, IST is defined as any tourism activity that occurs in a natural or man-made landscape with natural or artificial ice and snow resources. These tourism activities integrate sightseeing, vacation, sports, competitive events, leisure and entertainment, scientific exploration, hands-on inquiry-based learning, and popularization of scientific knowledge, and have appreciation, participation, experience, stimulation, and fitness characteristics. IST can be sorted into categories based on the attraction, including ice and snow sightseeing, ice and snow sports, skiing tourism, glacier tourism, ice and snow art appreciation, and ice and snow entertainment. With increasing developments in ice and snow science and technology, IST has transcended seasonal limitations and has become a perennial activity.

Methods

Study area

The study area in this work is China’s region covered by glaciers and snow cover, including 31 provincial administrative regions except Hainan Province, Hongkong and Macao Special Administrative Regions due to no ski area (Fig. 1A).

Fig. 1: Spatial distribution.
figure 1

A Spatial distribution of the Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China; B Spatial distribution of glaciers, snow resources, ski resorts and glacier tourism attractions. 1. Heilongjiang Province; 2. Jilin Province; 3. Liaoning Province; 4. Beijing Municipality; 5. Tianjin Municipality; 6. Heibei Province; 7. Shandong Province; 8. Shanghai Municipality; 9. Jiangsu Province; 10. Zhejiang Province; 11. Fujian Province; 12. Guangdong Province; 13. Haina Province; 14. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; 15. Shaanxi Province; 16. Shanxi Province; 17. Henan Province; 18. Hubei Province; 19. Hunan Province; 20. Anhui Province; 21. Jiangxi Province; 22. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; 23.Gansu Province; 24.Qinghai Province; 25. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; 26. Sichuan Province; 27. Chongqing Municipality; 28. Guizhou Province; 29. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; 30. Yunnan Province; 31. Tibet Autonomous Region; 32. Hongkong Special Administrative Region; 33. Macao Special Administrative Region; 34. Taiwan Province. Northeast China includes 1, 2, 3 and the eastern part of 14; Northwest China includes the western part of 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, and 25; Southwest China includes 26, 27, 28, 30 and 31. B Blue shows the distribution of snow resources; yellow represents glaciers; black dot indicates outdoor ski resorts; green dot indicates indoor ski resorts; red triangle shows glacier tourist attractions; and pink line is rivers, the Yellow River in the north and the Yangtze River in the south.

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Data sources

The data on snow depth (SD) are from the long-term snow depth dataset of China (1979–2021), provided by the National Tibetan Plateau/Third Pole Environment Data Center. The dataset is derived from passive microwave remote sensing data. SD data from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2021, was used for mapping the daily snow depth distribution of China, with a spatial resolution of 0.25° × 0.25°, in this article (Fig. 1B). Glacier data is derived from the Second Glacier Catalogue data set of China (v1.0), provided by the National Cryosphere Desert Data Center, an updated dataset in China. The Second Chinese Glacier Catalogue was compiled based on remote sensing images between 2004 and 2011. In this study, glacier data was used to show glacier resources and glacier attractions in China (Fig. 1B). The data on the location information of ski resorts is obtained from an online map (https://maps.baidu.com). A total of 754 ski resorts were manually collected, including 62 that have been temporarily closed, while in 2022 there are 692 ski resorts in actual operation. Of 754 ski resorts, there were 685 outdoor ski resorts and 69 indoor ski resorts, Fig. 1B shows their distribution. Ski tourism data primarily included the number of ski resort and skier visits in China, being from the Report on Key Data of Ski Industry in China (2015–2019) (Wu et al., 2020) and China Ski Industry White Book (2021–2022) (Wu, 2022). So far, complete glacier tourism data are not available in China. Thus this study used glacier tourist visits and comprehensive tourism income from 1987 to 2021 in Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park, provided by the Administration of Hailuogou Scenic Area.

Methods

An Event–Time–Space comprehensive analysis method was developed in the text to analyze the spatial growth in China’s IST. This approach considered both time, space and events, centering around an event while displaying its changes both from temporal evolution and spatial pattern. In this study, a trend analysis method was also used to show the temporal variations in China’s IST.

Growth of IST in China

Ice and snow resources in China

Glacier and natural snow cover are crucial resources for IST, while China has rich ice and snow resources. According to the data presented in “The Second Chinese Glacier Catalogue”, China has 48,571 modern mountain glaciers, covering an area of 51,800 km2, with ice reserves of 4300–4700 km3 (Guo et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2015). These glaciers are distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) with an average altitude of more than 4500 m a.s.l (above sea level) and its surrounding mountains, including Karakoram, Himalayas, and Qilian; and Altai and Tianshan Mountains located in Northwestern China (NWC) (Fig. 1B). The snow cover is distributed in the whole country based on the 2001–2021 daily SD distribution (Che and Dai, 2015) (Fig. 1B). The stable snow cover area with continuous snow cover days exceeding 60d/a reaches 3.39 million km2 in China. Among them, the stable snow area is the largest over the QTP, followed by NEC and Inner Mongolia (IM), and the smallest in the XJUAR (Zhong et al., 2018). Regarding SD, the highest value of maximum SD is only approximately 20 cm in most parts of China. However, the maximum snow thickness can reach 80–90 cm in the Altai area and Yili valleys of XJUAR, and ranges from 40–50 cm in the northern and eastern areas in NEC (Fig. 1B). Additionally, heavy snow in the winter and spring can also temporarily cause snow at depths of 40–50 cm in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Li and Mi, 1983; Sun et al., 2010).

More than 60d/a continuous snow cover days in China provides snow reliability period for nature-based ski areas (Tervo 2008). The SD in most parts of China, however, is much lower than that in North America and Europe (Mudryk et al., 2015), not reaching a skiable day defined by Scott et al. (2003), as a day with a snow depth greater than 30 cm. Consequently, such ice and snow distribution characteristics in thin SD and long number of snow cover days determine substantial local heterogeneity in glacier attractions and skiable ski areas, further bringing about the regional discrepancies of IST development in China.

Spatial evolution

Skiing tourism

Modern skiing tourism in China originated in Heilongjiang Province (43°26’–53°33’ N, 121°11’–135°05’ E) in the NEC, which covers an area of 473,000 km2.

The province has a temperate continental monsoon climate, with an annual average temperature of −5 to 5 °C, and annual precipitation between 400 and 650 mm. More than 120 days per year have snow cover, with snow thickness of 40–50 cm. The winter season in Harbin city (the capital of Heilongjiang Province), is longer than >120 days and has more skiable days with SD greater than 30 cm, which allowed it to become the birthplace of modern skiing in China (Vanat, 2019). The Yabuli Ski Resort, which is the largest and most comprehensive ski resort in China, was built in Harbin city in 1986 and popularized skiing tourism in the country (Fig. 2). Heilongjiang Province ranks first in terms of ski resort distribution, with 124 ski resorts that accounted for 16.7% of the total number of ski resorts in 2018.

Fig. 2: Sketch showing the temporal-spatial development processes in China’s ski and glacier tourisms.
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Red dot indicates NEC; Blue diamond shows pBTH; Green star is XJUAR; Pink triangle represents the QTP and its surrounding areas; Yellow square shows SC.

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In the 1990s, skiing tourism began to develop from Heilongjiang Province toward the south and west of China. In 1995, the Beidahu ski resort was built, which promoted skiing tourism in Jilin Province in the NEC (Fig. 2). In 2003, the Wasa Ski Festival was established in Changchun City, which is the capital of Jilin Province. The ‘Vasa International Ski Festival in Changchun, China’ gradually allowed Changchun City to become the center of skiing tourism resorts in China, and even throughout Asia. Since the mid-1990s, the pan-Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (pBTH) (which includes Beijing and Tianjin Municipalities and Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong Provinces) and the XJUAR have emerged as skiing destinations outside the NEC. Skiing tourism in the pBTH began nearly a decade after that in the NEC. In 1996, the first ski resort was built near Beijing (Saibei Ski Resort), after which other ski resorts were built, including the Duolemeidi, Wanlong, Yunding, Changchengling, and Thaiwoo Ski Resorts in the Chongli District of Hebei Province (Fig. 2). The pBTH region has become an epicenter of China’s skiing tourism, and is a preferred venue for international and domestic skiing events that is a strong competitor with the NEC for skiing tourism.

The XJUAR is another Chinese skiing tourism hotspot that has emerged since the mid-1990s. The region (34°25′–48°10′ N, 73°40′–96°18′ E) is located in the arid area of NWC. The Altai, Tianshan, and Kunlun Mountains are situated in the northern, middle, and southern regions of the XJUAR, respectively (Fig. 1B). Unlike the NEC and pBTH, the XJUAR not only has extensive snow resources but also has rich glacier resources in its high mountains. Although the earliest origins of skiing can be traced to the Altay area of the northern XJUAR (Joint survey research group of Political Research Office of the Party Committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Daily, 2019; Vanat, 2019), modern skiing tourism in the XJUAR only began in 1996. Since then, the Xinjiang Baiyun International, Xinjiang Silk Road, Altai Jiangjun Mountain, and Tianshan Tianchi International ski resorts have been in operation (Fig. 2). The XJUAR has become the third largest skiing tourism agglomeration area in China after the NEC and pBTH.

The QTP in Southwest China has the largest stable snow area within China. However, skiing tourism in the QTP has developed slowly and lacks advantages owing to the mean altitude (>4500 m a.s.l), poor climate comfortability, relatively poor transportation infrastructure, and its distance from the tourist source market. As of 2015, no ski resorts have been established in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and three were operating in Qinghai Province.

Southern China (SC), located south of the Yangtze River (Fig. 1B), has a subtropical–tropical climate with warm air temperature. Only heavy snow in the winter and spring can form a temporary snow cover in this region. Consequently, the resources, duration, and quality of snow cover in SC are far less than those in northern China. Therefore, few outdoor ski resorts operate in SC, accounting for only 13.7% of the total number in China, and are mainly located in local mountainous areas. The Xiling Snow Mountain Ski Resort in Sichuan Province (established in 1998), the Shennongjia Ski Resort in Hubei Province (built in 2004), and Daming Mountain Wansong Ling Ski Resort in Zhejiang Province (built in 2010) are representatives of the outdoor ski resorts in SC (Fig. 2). However, China’s indoor ski resorts are mainly located in SC, accounting for approximately 81% of the total number of indoor ski resorts in China (Wu, 2022).

Ski resorts are densely distributed in the NEC, pBTH and XJUAR, forming three hotspots for ski tourism (Fig. 3). The ski areas are distributed in an arc shape in Gansu, western Sichuan and northwestern Yunnan provinces on the eastern edge of the QTP, whereas a zonal pattern is present in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River region (Fig. 3). Thus, the spatial pattern of China’s skiing tourism exhibits southward elongation and eastward/westward expansion from Heilongjiang Province in the NEC (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Map showing the distributions of glaciers and snow resources, of ski resorts and glacier tourism attractions, and spatial patterns of ski and glacier tourisms in China.
figure 3

Black dotted box shows three hotspots (NEC, pBTH, XIUAR) of ski tourism, Yellow shade shows two ski tourism zone: the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the eastern margin of QTP, and cyan shade indicates S-shape pattern of glacier tourism. Wide orange line shows the development direction of ski tourism in China.

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Glacier tourism

Glacier tourism in China also began in the 1980s. In 1986, the ‘July 1’ glacier in the Gansu Province officially opened to tourists and became China’s first glacier tourist attraction (Figs. 1B and 2). Since then to 2007, destinations such as the Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park and Xuebaoding Glacier in the Gongga and Minshan Mountains respectively, in the Sichuan Province, Mingyong Glacier of Meri Snow Mountain in Yunnan Province, Midui Glacier in southeastern Nyainqntanglha Mountains in Tibet Autonomous Region, Dagu Glacier in Dagu Snow Mountain in Sichuan Province, and Baishui River Glacier No.1 in Yulong Snow Mountain in Yunnan Province have been developed and operated successfully (Figs. 1B and 2). Particulars in these glacier attractions are shown in Table 1. Since 2010, only three additional tourist attractions, namely the Tomur Peak Glacier and Khan Tengger Glacier, Laigu Glacier, and Oytak Glacier have been introduced (Table 1 and Fig. 2). Furthermore, the original Urumqi Glacier No. 1 attraction in the Tianshan Mountains, ‘July 1’ Glacier, transparent Mengke Glacier, and ‘August 1’ Glacier attractions in Qilian Mountains ceased operations to protect water sources and construct the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve, now the Qilian Mountain National Park.

Table 1 List of key glacier tourist attractions in China.
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China has 48,571 glaciers; however, glacier tourism was introduced late and its development is limited. Up to now, only approximately 10 glaciers have been developed, basically showing an S-shape distribution pattern (Fig. 3). Therefore, glacier tourism has great development potential in China.

Temporal variations

Skiing tourism

China had only 11 ski resorts in 1996 (Wu et al., 2020). After 23 years of development, the total number of ski resorts reached 770 by 2019, with a maximum during 1996–2021 (orange line in Fig. 4). The number of operational ski resorts has decreased to 692 owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the past 2 years. Figure 4 shows that two prominent phases occurred during 1996–2021, in which the number of ski resorts increased faster than in other periods (2000–2002 and 2012–2018; Fig. 4). The number of skiing resorts was 20 in 1999, with increases of 30, 45, and 35 resorts in 2000, 2001, and 2002, respectively. During 2002–2011, annual increases in the number of ski resorts were much smaller (cyan line in Fig. 4). During 2012–2018, the number of ski resorts increased substantially, with an annual increase of more than 39 resorts. In 2015, the number of sorts increased by 108, which was the largest increase in the past 25 years (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: The variations of ski resorts in total and their change amplitude in China from 1996 to 2021.
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Cyan line shows the change amplitude of ski resorts in total, namely the difference between the latter year and the previous year.

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Glacier tourism

Glacier tourist attractions in China are located in the QTP and the surrounding mountains, as well as in the high mountains of NWC (Fig. 1B). Glacier tourism developed far more slowly than skiing tourism, as glaciers are the sources of most rivers in China and supply water to urban and rural areas. In addition, glaciers located at high altitudes are not suitable for everyone owing to altitude sickness. However, glacier tourism is highly popular as a result of scenic glacier attractions and cool temperatures in summertime. In this study, Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park was selected for analysis of its glacier tourism, owing to its available data. Hailuogou Glacier Scenic Area began operations in 1987 and is the first glacier attraction in China in which glaciers are considered to be the core landscape feature. The park has a glacier waterfall that has the largest vertical height difference observed thus far (Fig. 5). The Hailuogou Glacier has a length and area of 13.1 km and 25.71 km2, respectively, and is the largest valley glacier in the Gongga Mountains on the eastern edge of the QTP. Figure 6 shows the number of tourist visits and comprehensive tourism income during 1987–2021. Consistent with the changes observed for skiing tourism, two phases were observed in Hailuogou glacier tourism (Fig. 6). The number of tourist visits and comprehensive tourism income in 2001 was 3614% and 3380% higher compared with those in 1999, respectively, during the first stage. Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park is located in the mountainous area of western Sichuan Province where geological disasters occur frequently, including earthquakes, debris flows, and landslides. When a geological disaster occurs and the road into the park is obstructed, glacier tourism is affected. Moreover, from 2002 to 2013, the number of tourist visits and comprehensive tourism income decreased twice, both times as a result of geological disasters, particularly the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Figure 6 shows that Hailuogou glacier tourism increased rapidly during 2013–2019. The number of tourist visits and comprehensive tourism income in 2019 increased by 349.3% and 659.7% compared with those in 2013, respectively; however, both decreased sharply in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic (Fig. 6).

Fig. 5: Hailuogou Glacier in Hailuoggou Glacier Forest Park located in Luding County, Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China.
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This figure is not covered by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Reproduced with permission of Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences; copyright © Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, all rights reserved.

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Fig. 6: Two temporal phases with exceptional increases for the 1987–2021 number of tourist visits and comprehensive tourism income in Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park.
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Phase No. 1 is 2000–2002 and Phase No. 2 is 2013–2019. Their twice declination between 2002 and 2013 due to geological disasters, especially the Great Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. Cyan line shows two phases.

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Factors influencing IST development in China

Factors increasing IST growth

Market demand boosted by economic development

Since the implementation of the reform and ‘Open Door’ policy in 1978, China’s economy has developed rapidly. The GDP surpassed 100 billion Yuan RMB for the first time in 2000. Economic development promoted IST growth in the first phase. Consequently, the number of skier visits in China increased to 2 million in 2002 from 10,000 in 1996 (Wu, 2022), while the number of glacier tourist visits to Hailuoggou Glacier Forest Park increased to 195,000 in 2001 from 5250 in 1999 (Fig. 6). Chinese economic growth in 2000 promoted increases in the skiing and glacier tourism market demand during the first stage. After 2000, China’s economy continued to grow rapidly. The per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents increased to 18,310 Yuan RMB in 2013 from 3721 Yuan RMB in 2000, indicating substantial improvements in the quality of life, which resulted in people being more inclined to consider novel and exciting tourism products. Moreover, two-day weekends and Golden Week (e.g., National Day Golden Week) were implemented in 1995 and 1999, respectively. All of these factors further promoted the steady development of skiing and glacier tourisms from 2002 to 2012 (Fig. 6).

2022 Beijing Olympics Winter Games

In 2013, Beijing Municipality and Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province applied jointly to the International Olympic Committee to host the 2022 Olympics Winter Games, which they won in July 2015. Subsequently, a series of national and local policies and measures were implemented, which are shown in Table 2. Thus, China’s IST entered a second stage of rapid development as a result of these policies and measures (Figs. 4 and 6). The number of ski resorts increased rapidly, reaching a maximum of 770 in 2019, representing an 88.7% increase in just 6 years (2013–2019). The number of skier visits increased by 139.3% during 2013–2021 despite the impact of COVID-19.

Table 2 Policies and measures related to IST issued by national ministries and local government.
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However, for glacier tourism in China since 2013, only two additional glacier tourist attractions have been introduced, while four existing sites have ceased operations due to implemented ecological protection. The glacier tourism attractions at Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park remain popular. The number of glacier tourists has increased sharply to 2,853,000 in 2019 from 634,900 in 2013, and the comprehensive tourism income at Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park increased to 3.14 billion Yuan RMB in 2019 from 0.41 billion Yuan RMB in 2013 (Fig. 6). Clearly, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Olympics Winter Games and a series of relevant supporting policies and measures have promoted skiing and glacier tourism development in China. These measures were especially important for glacier tourism areas, as the QTP and the surrounding glacier areas are predominantly low-income regions, and glacier tourism is not only an important source of income for local residents (An et al., 2021) but also promotes economic development to a certain extent (Wang et al., 2023).

Scientific and technological development in ice and snow

China has a State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science that specializes in ice and snow research. After Beijing’s successful Olympics bid in 2015, the Lab established a research team with various universities, academic research institutes, and ice-snow enterprises. This team has overcome several technical challenges, including those related to making snow, making ski lanes, snow quality prediction, and snow storage (Qin et al., 2022). These technologies have not only benefited the Beijing-Zhangjiakou 2022 Olympics Winter Games but also promoted the development of China’s ski equipment manufacturing. For example, there were only 50 domestic snowmaking machines during the snow period (May 1– April 30 of the next year) in 2015–2016; however, this number increased to 467 during the 2019–2020 snow period (Wu, 2022). Despite the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, ice and snow equipment manufacturing was not affected substantially. Thus, the technological advancements in ice and snow equipment manufacturing have boosted rapid IST growth in China during the second stage.

Factors inhibiting IST development

Covid-19 and climate change at a national scale

Figure 4 shows that the increasing trend in the number of ski resorts reached a maximum (105) in 2015, followed by a decreasing trend. Relative to 2019, the number of ski resorts in operation decreased by 78 in 2021. The COVID-19 outbreak began in early 2020. As a result, the number of skiing tourists dropped sharply in the same year. Compared with 2019, the number of skier visits declined by nearly half, reducing the financial revenues of ski resorts (Wu, 2022). Similarly, glacier tourism was also impacted by COVID-19. The number of tourists to glaciers decreased to 1,905,000 in 2020 from 2,853,000 in 2019, and comprehensive tourism income at Hailuoggou Glacier Forest Park dropped to 2.09 billion Yuan RMB in 2020 from 3.14 billion Yuan RMB in 2019 (Fig. 6). Glacier and ski tourisms in China has decreased linearly from 2019 to 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (Figs. 4 and 6).

Warmer temperatures could be another reason for lower IST. Low air temperature from −6°C to −15°C are required for skiing and glacier tourism (Yang et al., 2017). Over the past 20 years, the area of stable snow-covered areas in China has not changed considerably. However, owing to rising temperatures, the number of snow cover days in the three major snow areas (i.e., QTP, XJUAR, and NE-IM) has decreased dramatically (Zhong et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2020). As the climate continues to warm, the onset of snow cover will be delayed, its end will be earlier (Shi et al., 2010), and snowmelt will occur somewhat sooner (Liu et al., 2020), leading to shorter snow seasons in most parts of China. Moreover, the average annual snowfall in China has decreased by a smaller extent in recent decades (Sun et al., 2010). These changes have required that enterprises use snowmaking to compensate for the loss of reliable snow cover (Tervo 2008; Deng et al., 2019), thereby increasing the maintenance of ski lanes at ski resorts and the overall operation costs (Tervo, 2008; Wu, 2022). However, most glacier attractions are threatened by climate change. In the past few decades, the mountain glaciers on the QTP and the surrounding area, as well as the high mountains of NWC, have all exhibited anomalously accelerated melting (Yao et al., 2019; Li et al., 2021; Miles et al., 2021), and such changes are irreversible (Xiao et al., 2022). By the end of the 21st century, mountain glaciers in other parts of China will continue to melt until disappear, except for those in the Tianshan Mountains, the Pamirs and the Himalayas (Duan et al., 2022). As a result, the majority of the current glacier attractions in China will disappear and glacier tourism will be even scarcer under continued climatic warming in the future.

Provincial scale factors in Heilongjiang Province

By 2019, 28 provinces in China had launched skiing tourism. Heilongjiang Province had the most (124) ski resorts at the time; however, by 2021 the number of operational ski resorts in Heilongjiang Province decreased to 79, which accounted for 57.7% of the total decrease in the number of ski resorts in China. Possible reasons for this decrease include (1) rapid ski resort expansion in the province during the 2022 Winter Olympics; (2) increased competition from the pBTH, XJUAR, and SC regions; (3) indoor skiing and ice-and-snow entertainment becoming a new trend owing to developments in ice and snow technology and the emerging ice-and-snow originality; (4) continued impact of COVID-19; (5) decreases in tourist arrivals, brand influence, and reputations after 2017 incidents in which tourists were deceive in Heilongjiang Province. Owing to these factors, both international and local tourism declined, coupled with increasing operating costs at ski resorts owing to climate warming. Consequently, some ski resorts were forced to close.

Discussion

Natural and socioeconomic challenges for IST development in China

Climatic warming has a negative effect on IST worldwide (Mingle, 2020), including less natural snow cover available for ski tourism(Breiling and Charamza, 1999; Elsasser and Messerli, 2001), reduced ski reliability (Elsasser and Burki, 2002; Gilaberte-Burdalo et al., 2017), shorter ski seasons (Steiger, 2010; Pons et al., 2015; Wobus et al., 2017; Fang et al., 2019), higher snowmaking requirements and costs (Steiger, 2010; Steiger and Scott, 2020), and fewer climbing routes and aesthetic environment losses (Wang et al., 2010). Glacial melting attributed to warming temperatures continuously decreases the aesthetics or attraction to the glacial landscape (Diolaiuti and Smiraglia, 2010; Wang and Zhou, 2019), thereby directly reducing the demand for glacier tourism by tourists (Stewart et al., 2016; Welling et al., 2020) and threatening its sustainability (Dar et al., 2014). These results were consistent with our analysis. However, future Chinese IST may have greater risks than those in other regions of the world, as the Chinese ski industry is still dominated by small-scale ski areas, which account for 82.5% of the total (An et al., 2019), and because the glaciers surrounding the QTP and in the high mountains of NWC are more susceptible to climate warming (Yao et al., 2019; Li et al., 2021; Miles et al., 2021). In addition to these natural factors, Chinese IST has still some problems related to unreasonable exploitation, low-quality products and services, imperfect investment and financing system, inadequate management, a single marketing mode, insufficient talent teams, and fierce regional competition owing to the limited duration and rapid development of IST (An et al., 2019; Tang et al., 2022). Thus, China’s IST has to deal with climatic warming and resolve the above problems in the future.

Imbalanced ski and glacier tourism development

Owing to various factors, China’s IST industry has made considerable progress, which has been generally recognized by previous studies of IST. However, the analysis performed herein indicates that snow-related tourism development surpassed that of glacier-related tourism. Even under the impacts of COVID-19 in 2021, 692 ski resorts were still operating throughout China (Wu, 2022), whereas only 10 glacier scenic spots were operating in China (Zhou et al., 2020), most of which are located in the Tianshan Mountains and the region around the QTP. This imbalance was also observed in the numbers and distributions of enterprises, as well as in the investment scales. According to a report from the CTA, the number of Chinese snow-related tourism enterprises in the past 3 years has increased at an annual rate of 15% and expanded to 31 provinces except for Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangxi (CTA, 2021). The total investment scale of China’s snow-related tourism heavy-assets projects was nearly 900 billion Yuan RMB during 2018–2020 (CTA, 2021). In addition to natural factors (high altitude and harsh climate), the mismatch between glacier resources and the consumer market and poor traffic accessibility to the QTP and NWC have led to relatively low tourist rates (An et al., 2021), a short glacier tourism industry chain and low returns on investments make glacier tourism industry difficult to attract investment (Tang et al., 2022). In addition, the contradictions between ecological protection and development make glacier tourism unsustainable (An et al., 2021). Thus, glacier tourism is still in its infancy in China (Zhou et al., 2020), despite rich glacier tourism resources.

Limited role of IST in promoting sustainable development in alpine areas

An et al. (2021) analyzed the IST and its sustainable development in China from the perspective of poverty alleviation. They suggested that IST development has great potential to alleviate poverty and is important for promoting sustainable development in alpine areas. However, glacier tourism had limited roles in reducing poverty and promoting regional economic development owing to few glacier scenic areas and some inadequacies in glacier tourism development (An et al., 2021). Wang et al. (2023) also found that the contributions of glacier tourism to regional economic growth were only 16% by analyzing the reciprocal feedback between glacier tourism development in Hailuogou Glacier Forest Park and regional economic growth in Ganzi Prefecture, western Sichuan Province. Ski tourism has even more limited effects on economic development in alpine areas of western China, as Qinghai Province, the Tibet autonomous region, southern XJUAR, southwestern Gansu Province, western Sichuan Province, and northwestern Yunnan Province have terrain conditions that are unsuitable for developing ski tourism (An et al., 2021). Therefore, the current effects of IST on achieving targeted poverty alleviation, reducing relative poverty, and promoting rural revitalization in alpine areas, particularly in western China, have not yet been highlighted.

Opportunities for future growth

The above analysis indicates that China’s IST prosperity and problems co-exist. Based on the current status quo and problems, the IST development strategy and high-quality development paths have also been discussed from the perspectives of poverty alleviation (An et al., 2021), healthy development (An et al., 2019), and the Winter Olympics (Tang et al., 2022). Tourists are the subject of IST and tourist destinations are the carriers of IST, thereby providing tourists with tourism products and services. China’s future IST development opportunities can be analyzed from such two aspects.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics resulted in 300 million people participating in ice-and-snow sports in China. In the post-Beijing-Winter-Olympics era, the opportunities provided by the Winter Olympics should be maintained. In 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China issued ‘The 14th Five-Year Plan for Culture and Tourism Development’, which notes that it is necessary to rapidly transform cultural and tourism development modes and promote high-quality development of culture and tourism in the new development stage of Chinese-style modernization, thereby achieving economic development that is driven by tourism. Thus, IST must undergo high-quality development. The IST market has also changed gradually from a product-oriented traditional resource market to an image-oriented information open market (Yang, 2022). Image has become an important factor that influences the development of future tourist destinations. Reasonable allocation of internal resources for tourism destinations, highlighting characteristics, and actively shaping and maintaining a good image of tourism destinations will enhance the attraction of IST destinations, improve tourist satisfaction, and promote the sustainable development of IST (Tang, 2023).

Although future climate change is generally bad for IST, it may present a good opportunity for stakeholders and tourism destinations at high altitudes in the NEC, XJUAR and QTP, as warmer climate comfort for IST could attract more tourists. For glacier tourism, which will be increasingly affected by climate change, the glacier landscape may disappear in the future. Increasing numbers of tourists travel to glacier tourist destinations with a “last chance” tourism motivation, which has been confirmed by some studies performed in France, Switzerland and Austria (Salim and Ravanel, 2020; Salim et al., 2022; Salim et al., 2023). Therefore, the central and local governments at all levels in western China should balance the relationship between protection and development, fully take advantage of glacier resources, and develop glacier tourism appropriately.

IST also largely depends on the number of consumers who are relatively wealthy. Time and wealth are the essential conditions for travel. Therefore, appropriate reforms of the holiday system and increasing the number of holidays would create time conditions required for people to travel. The reform and ‘Open Door’ policy will be further implemented in the future. In addition, common prosperity for all Chinese people is achieved through Chinese high-quality socioeconomic development, which would create the wealth conditions required for people to travel.

Conclusion

IST has recently expanded in China, and its role in the ice-and-snow economy is becoming increasingly prominent. ‘Cold resources’ have led to a ‘hot economy’. In this study, we defined IST as any tourism activity that occurs in natural or man-made landscapes with natural and artificial ice and snow resources.

China’s modern skiing tourism originated in Heilongjiang Province in the 1960s. Ski resorts have been established throughout China over the past few decades, exhibiting a trend of southward prolongation and eastward/westward expansion. Currently, 28 provinces in China have launched skiing tourism. The NEC, pBTH and XJUAR are three major hotspots; the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the eastern margin of QTP are two belts for outdoor ski tourism owing to natural ice and snow resources. Indoor skiing and ice-and-snow entertainment are also emerging in the SC. China has 48,571 glaciers, and glacier tourism began in 1986. Currently, approximately 10 glacier tourist attractions have been developed, mainly located in the Tianshan Mountains and the region surrounding the QTP in one S-shape. Compared with ski tourist attractions, there are fewer glacier tourist attractions. Consequently, skiing tourism has been the core of the IST economy in China in recent years. However, the development potential of glacier tourism in China is great. On the whole, China’s IST has formed a spatial pattern with three hotspots, two zones and one S-shape.

The number of Chinese ski resorts increased to 770 in 2019 from only 11 in 1996, while the number of glacier tourist visits and comprehensive glacier tourism income have increased substantially during 1987–2021. Two stages of exponential increases in skiing and glacier tourism (2000–2002 and 2013–2019) were observed over the past decades. Market demand boosted by economic development since the reform and ‘Open Door’ policy in 1978 promoted the first development of skiing and glacier tourism. Rapid expansion during the second phase was attributed to the historic opportunity related to hosting the 2022 Olympics Winter Games and the development of ice and snow technology.

IST development slowed in China between 2020 and 2021. The number of ski resorts decreased by 78 in 2021 and the number of glacier tourist visits and comprehensive glacier tourism income also decreased from 2020 to 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic was the main reason for lower skiing and glacier tourism. In addition, increasing temperatures and changes in snowfall have both led to shorter snow seasons and the loss of reliable snow cover, resulting in higher maintenance and operating costs for ski resorts. These factors have also accelerated irreversible glacier melt, which will cause glacier attractions in most parts of China to disappear in the future. In addition, traditional IST areas (e.g., Heilongjiang province) are also affected by strong competition from emerging skiing tourism areas and increased indoor skiing and ice-and-snow entertainment driven by the development of ice and snow technology.

Prosperity and problems co-exist in China’s IST. IST is confronted by the adverse effects of climate change and has had some development problems. Despite rich glacier resources, the development of glacier tourism has proceeded far more slowly than that of ski tourism, owing to the mismatch between glacier resources and the consumer market, poor traffic accessibility to the QTP and NWC, a short glacier tourism industry chain and low returns on investment, and the contradiction between ecological protection and development. Therefore, these natural and socioeconomic problems limit the present role of IST in promoting social and economic development in alpine areas, particularly in western China.

The IST industry is essential to the green transformation and improvement of the Chinese economy. Our analysis suggests that skiing and glacier tourism are currently encountering various factors that affect their success/failure. However, China’s IST still has opportunities for development in the future. The opportunities provided by the Winter Olympics should be maintained in the post-Beijing-Winter-Olympics era. The IST has entered a period of high-quality development in the new development stage of Chinese-style modernization. Also, a warmer comfort climate is beneficial for IST development at high altitudes in the NEC, XJUAR, and QTP. The potential of glacier resources will be brought out to meet tourists’ “last chance” tourism. Tourists will have plenty of time and wealth to travel as a result of holiday system reforms and implementing high-quality socioeconomic development in China. The excavation of ice-and-snow cultural resources, exploration of science and technology resources in ice and snow, and reasonable planning for indoor and outdoor tourisms also help enhance the resilience of the IST industry. These findings provide important information for central and local decision-makers to heighten the development of IST in the new development stage, and also provide references for investors in the IST industry.