Xinhua News Agency, Shanghai, February 14 (Reporter Chen Aiping) On the Xuhui Riverside River in Shanghai, the outdoor waterfront ice rink jointly created by the "Dream of Sliding" and the West Coast Dream Center are very lively. Accompanied by the music with a strong sense of rhythm and agile lights, Shanghai citizen Zhou Xiong and his son held hands and practiced gliding on the ice.
"When I first came across ice skating, I felt that the ice was chilly. Now I learned how to control my balance and slipped smoothly, and found that this was a very 'sweat' sport." Zhou Xiong said that ice and snow sports are "addiction". During the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, the whole family went to Changbai Mountain for a trip. Recently, they watched the Asian Winter Games together, and felt the excitement of speed skating, freestyle skiing and other sports through the TV screen.
Since the successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the results of "driven 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" have been continuously consolidated and expanded. In southern cities such as Shanghai, ice and snow consumption is full of heat, and people mainly focus on family travel experience and enjoyment. While taking into account professionalism, ice and snow venues pay more attention to experience.
People experience the ice rink in Xuhui Riverside, Shanghai. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Aiping
Zhao Yi, founder of "Leslie Dream", introduced that Shanghai's ice and snow consumption is vigorous. The ice rink located in Xuhui Binjiang covers an area of about 1,500 square meters. It receives an average of 200 to 300 consumers on weekdays and 700 to 800 consumers on weekends. In addition, "Le Slide Dream" is located in several ice rinks in Hongkou District, Putuo District, Changning District and Minhang District, and has also attracted many ice and snow enthusiasts to come and experience it.
"There are not only large places like Yaoxue Ice and Snow World, but also ice rinks, snow entertainment parks and ski simulators distributed in various business districts. The hierarchy of Shanghai's ice and snow venues is becoming more and more perfect, covering all kinds of needs from first-time experiencers to enthusiasts to professional training. Ice and snow venues are becoming increasingly social scenes for people." Zhao Yi said.
Yaoxue Ice and Snow World, located in the Lingang New Area, has the largest indoor snow resort in the world so far. Since its opening on September 6, 2024, by the end of the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, it has received more than 280,000 tourists. The average daily passenger flow here is about 1,500 to 2,000; the average daily passenger flow during the Spring Festival holiday is about 8,000, of which the number of tourists outside Shanghai has increased by 15%. In addition to ushering in a large number of trendy young people and parent-child tourists, Yaoxue Ice and Snow World has gradually become the venue for events and training.
On February 8, 2025, the children were gliding at the "Changfeng Ice and Snow Carnival". Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Aiping
The China Resources Shanghai Vientiane City Ice Rink in Minhang District, Shanghai is very lively, and children practice ice hockey and figure skating here. According to a relevant person in charge of the Shanghai Branch of Beijing Century Star Ice and Snow Sports and Culture Development Co., Ltd., the operator of the ice rink, the average daily ice rink receives 350 consumers, of which about 80% are teenagers who come to train. The ice rink has added a kindergarten experience activity, which is very popular among children and parents.
As of the end of December 2024, Shanghai has a total of 15 fixed ice rinks, 1 indoor real snow resort, and more than 50 indoor ski simulation airports. The winter projects carried out include short track speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey, skiing, curling, etc. In recent years, the number of people participating in ice and snow sports in Shanghai has grown rapidly, from more than 600,000 in 2018 to 2.8 million in 2021, and has risen to 4.52 million in 2024.
During the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, people experienced the "Snow World" in Shanghai Yaoxue Ice and Snow World. Xinhua News Agency reported that from 2024 to 2025, more southern ice and snow enthusiasts will go to the north, forming a trend of "going south to north" in ice and snow sports. Spring Airlines' direct charter flight from Shanghai to Changbai Mountain is 4 flights a day at its busiest time, which is equivalent to transporting more than 5,000 tourists to Changbai Mountain every week. Spring and Autumn Tourism is a ski club established for ice and snow and tourism enthusiasts, and has thousands of club members.
"Shanghai guests participating in ice and snow tourism have gradually developed from first-time experiencers to multiple participants and professional athletes. Most tourists booked a ski trip to the north 4 months or even 6 months in advance, which confirms the huge potential of the ice and snow consumption market." said Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Shanghai Chunqiu International Travel Agency (Group) Co., Ltd.
Wang Lei, Secretary-General of the Chinese Sports Delegation of the Harbin Asian Winter Conference and Director of the Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sports of China, introduced that ice and snow sports enthusiasts in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta region have become the main passenger flow of ice and snow sports and ice tourism in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, Northeastern regions, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other places.
The China Tourism Research Institute report predicts that from the 2024 to 2025 ice and snow season, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in my country is expected to reach 520 million, and tourism revenue is expected to exceed 630 billion yuan.
