At the 2026 Ice and Snow Tourism Development Conference held in Harbin recently, the "China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Report (2026)" released by the China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) pointed out that China's ice and snow tourism is entering a new stage of sustained prosperity. According to comprehensive calculations, it is expected that the number of ice and snow tourism and leisure people in China will reach 360 million during the winter of 2025-2026, and the revenue from ice and snow tourism and leisure is expected to reach 450 billion yuan. Han Yuanjun, a researcher at the China Tourism Research Institute, introduced that northern cities represented by Harbin, Shenyang, Changchun, Zhangjiakou, etc. are transforming from "attracting people with resources" to "retaining people with warm services". Harbin Ice and Snow World, Changbai Mountain Pink Snow, "Taoxue Penguin" and other ice and snow IPs are releasing huge commercial value. Ice sculpture techniques, ice and snow photography, and snow country trains have become the most popular cultural products among tourists. From the perspective of consumer confidence, the ice and snow tourism market has enormous growth potential. According to a special survey conducted by the China Tourism Research Institute, 74.8% of respondents hope to experience ice and snow leisure activities during the winter of 2025-2026, and 50.5% of respondents plan to embark on long-distance ice and snow trips. Ice and snow tourism is not only an expansion in scale, but also accompanied by a comprehensive upgrade in quality and structure. Tourist spending is shifting from "hard expenses" such as transportation and accommodation to "flexible expenses" such as entertainment, health and wellness, cultural and creative industries, and technological experiences. The report shows that China's ice and snow tourism has formed a new pattern of "north-south resonance, central rise, and east-west coordination". By 2025, the South China region will rank first in heavy asset investment areas for ice and snow tourism with a 30% investment proportion and a total investment of approximately 30 billion yuan. Among them, "indoor ice and snow themed complexes" have become the most active category for investment, effectively breaking climate restrictions and achieving year-round normalization of ice and snow consumption. Tang Xiaoyun, Vice President of China Tourism Research Institute, introduced that China has formed a full industry chain pattern covering culture, sports, and equipment, led by ice and snow tourism. The report shows that by 2025, the scale of China's ice and snow economy has exceeded 1 trillion yuan, and the number of ice and snow tourism related enterprises in the country has exceeded 14000, with a year-on-year growth rate of 11%. Domestic ice and snow equipment such as skis and snow wax carts are actively "going global" through cross-border e-commerce, and China's ice and snow tourism is shifting from "attracting world attention" to "deepening international connections". (New Society)