The new snow season starts early, and many snow resorts use artificial snow to seize the "first ski" traffic

As the cold gets stronger, consumers' enthusiasm for enjoying the ice, playing in the snow, and riding the snowy trails has been rekindled, and major ski resorts are also starting the new snow season. Compared with previous years, the 2026-2027 snow season comes earlier. Meituan data shows that since October as of October 28, the search volume for “skiing” on the Meituan platform has increased by 125% year-on-year.

The advance heating of the demand side is being transmitted along the industrial chain, injecting new impetus into the development of the ice and snow economy.

Ski resorts speed up hardware upgrades

The start of the new snow season started as early as late October: on October 20, Xinjiang Keketuohai International Ski Resort took the lead in opening skiing, followed by Hebei Chongli Wanlong Ski Resort to open skiing for test skiing. Entering November, the pace of ski openings in various places has accelerated significantly - on November 1, the primary track on the top of the Yabuli Sunshine Ski Resort officially opened for trial skiing; Hebei Chongli Yunding Ski Resort and Changchun Jiutai District Miaoxiangshan Ski Resort are scheduled to officially open on November 6; Jilin Changbai Mountain Huamei Resort and Jilin Changbai Mountain Wanda International Resort will also open in November.

Many ski resorts have started artificial snowmaking projects. Among them, the Yanqing Olympic Park, located in the core area of ​​the Yanqing competition area of ​​the Beijing Winter Olympics, started snowmaking 10 days earlier than in previous years; Jilin Changbaishan Wanda International Resort and Changbaishan Huamei Resort have also started snowmaking operations.

A ski resort operation manager told a Securities Daily reporter that the temperature window at the beginning of the snow season is very precious. The earlier the ski resort opens, the more "first ski" traffic the ski resort can seize throughout the snow season.

In fact, the competition between ski resorts is no longer limited to the morning and evening of the opening time. Comprehensive strength such as facilities and services is becoming the new focus of competition. The reporter learned that in the new snow season, many ski resorts have upgraded their cableway capacity, snow track quality and other hardware facilities.

For example, in Hebei Province, Wanlong Ski Resort built a new 8-passenger high-speed gondola cable car, improved the terrain of 32 ski trails, and increased the number of snow grooming vehicles to 9. In Jilin Province, the total number of ski trails in Beidahu Ski Resort has increased to 81, and 15 ropeways have been put into use. A 6-person high-speed cable car and 5 magic carpets have been added to the West District Sub-Center Ski Resort of CTS Songhua Lake Resort. In Heilongjiang Province, Yabuli Ski Resort has launched more than 20 ice and snow entertainment projects this year. The "World's No. 1 Slide", which has been renovated with a total investment of more than 10 million yuan, is 2,680 meters long, has a drop of 570 meters, and has 48 continuous curves. It has become a new core check-in project this snow season.

"The improvement and upgrading of the supply side of ski resorts in various regions is the key to promoting the ice and snow economy from "flow" to "retention." Fu Yifu, a special researcher at Susotong Bank, said in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily that hardware investments such as cable car capacity improvements and snow track expansion have directly enhanced the reception capacity of ski resorts. The enrichment of ice and snow entertainment formats has expanded single ski consumption into compound vacation consumption, extended tourists' stay time, and promoted the transformation of the ice and snow economy from a "ticket economy" to a "destination economy."

The consumption chain continues to extend

The heating up of the ice and snow economy this year is directly reflected in the activity on the demand side, especially in the customer source structure.

Meituan data shows that as of October 28, accommodation bookings within 5 kilometers of the ski resort with check-in time from November this year to March next year increased by 217% year-on-year. At the same time, the accommodation booking data around the ski resort shows that the majority of tourists come from the south.

Tuniu data further confirms this feature: among ice and snow travel orders, southern users account for more than 70%, and tourists book ski experiences, ice and snow landscapes and other products in advance. Popular destinations include Harbin, Changchun, Mudanjiang, Altay, etc.

Xiao Hongwei, director and researcher of the Policy Simulation Laboratory of the Economic Forecasting Department of the National Information Center of the National Development and Reform Commission, said in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily that unlike local tours, southern tourists "chasing snow" across provinces, and consumption of transportation, accommodation, catering, ski equipment rentals, etc. often occur simultaneously, and the single passenger's boost to destination consumption is more obvious. The high proportion of southern tourists means that the consumption chain is longer and the consumption radius is farther.

The extension of the consumption chain is also intuitively reflected in the equipment field. On the eve of the start of the new snow season, rental bookings for ski equipment stores in Chongli, Jilin and other places have increased significantly. It has become a more common choice for beginners to rent snow clothes and equipment to experience first, and then purchase their own equipment according to the situation. From snow clothing and protective gear rentals to ski training courses, derivative consumption around skiing has grown steadily.

Many places have also successively launched "gift packages" to benefit people such as ski resort coupons, and real money has lowered the consumption threshold. For example, during the 2026-2027 snow season, Chongli District in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province will issue consumer coupons with a total value of 2 million yuan and 100,000 dining discount coupons, covering 20 specialty restaurants and 17 star hotels. The four major international ski resorts in Xinjiang's Altay region, including Jiangjun Mountain, Keketuohai, Jike Pulin and Qinggri Langshan, have jointly launched a 2026-2027 snow season to benefit residents and promote consumption, including preferential policies that allow you to enjoy free skiing (or sightseeing) once within 5 days with your boarding pass, as well as "30% off smooth skiing" activities for specific tourists and other discounts. Changchun also stated that in the 2026-2027 ice and snow season, it will link up with cultural, commercial, and sports tourism to implement promotions to benefit the people, launch the "Jiji-Guangdong Ice and Snow Coupon Ticket" and "Changchun Metropolitan Area Ice and Snow Coupon Ticket", and issue ice and snow consumption coupons.

In Xiao Hongwei's view, ice and snow consumption vouchers play a leveraging role, which directly reduces consumption costs, stimulates consumption willingness, transforms potential demand into actual consumption, and drives related consumption such as accommodation, catering, transportation, etc., thus producing an obvious multiplier effect. As more places join in the follow-up, it is expected that the leveraging effect of ice and snow consumption coupons will be further amplified.