Poster: Inbound ski visits surge 89% as winter sports boom in China

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

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.