Inbound ski visits surge 89% as winter sports boom in China, says official data

BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's winter sports economy has maintained steady growth, with inbound visits to ski resorts surging 89.2 percent year-on-year during the 2025-2026 snow season, an official with the General Administration of Sport of China said Friday.

The remarks were made at a policy briefing held Thursday by the State Council Information Office on a recently issued plan to accelerate the cultivation of new growth drivers in service consumption. The plan includes measures to promote winter sports and the sports event economy to foster new drivers of sports consumption.

According to Ai Yu, an official with the General Administration of Sport of China, ski resorts nationwide recorded 118 million visits between Nov. 1, 2025 and Jan. 31, 2026, including 1.255 million inbound visits. Total consumption at ski resorts and surrounding areas reached 69.15 billion yuan (about 9.7 billion U.S. dollars), with transaction volume up 6 percent year-on-year.

Ai said participation in winter sports has become more convenient. Several cities have introduced "snow holidays", allowing students up to ninth grade to access designated ski resorts and skating venues for one free three-hour session daily. Railway and civil aviation authorities have also rolled out services facilitating the transport of ski equipment, while the number of flights to popular winter sports destinations has increased.

China will also continue to foster the sports event economy, Ai said, noting that authorities are working to improve safety management policies for large-scale public sporting events and are drafting integrated policy measures to promote high-quality development of the sector.

Ai added that the Administration launched pilot programs last year in seven provincial-level regions to monitor consumption driven by key sporting events. In 2025, 1,947 events were tracked, generating 43.128 billion yuan in related consumption, or an average of 22.151 million yuan per event.

Authorities will also continue to integrate sports, tourism, culture and commerce, such as sports tourism and themed consumption campaigns, to further expand the sports consumption market, Ai said. ■