Shanxi makes name for itself on ski scene

In Lingchuan county, at the southern end of the Taihang Mountains in Shanxi province, children glide across snowy slopes under the guidance of an Austrian Olympic skiing champion — a scene that reflects how China's ice and snow tourism is expanding beyond its traditional strongholds in Northeast China and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Across the country, regions are tapping local resources to develop diverse winter tourism offerings, from skiing and ice festivals to immersive seasonal experiences. Shanxi, a newly emerging player in the ice and snow sector, is gaining attention as it combines winter sports with cultural heritage and international cooperation.

This winter, Lingchuan has become a highlight by partnering with Austria to launch the second China-Austria Ice and Snow Culture Festival.

The event, themed "Celebrate the New Year in Lingchuan", runs from Jan 6 through the end of this month, offering visitors a wide range of winter cultural and tourism activities.

Benefiting from its unique climate and rich ecological resources, Lingchuan is positioning itself as a destination for winter recreation as well as health and wellness tourism.

Cooperation between Lingchuan and Austria's Carinthia province has deepened in recent years.

In 2024, Lingchuan established sister-city ties with Feistritz an der Gail, followed by the co-hosting of the first ice and snow culture festival in 2025.

Julian Gale, a senior official from Klagenfurt, Austria, praised the event as a spectacular experience and emphasized its role in strengthening exchanges between different cultures.

Gale highlighted the positive impact of bilateral cooperation in sports, culture and economy, affirming that Klagenfurt will continue to deepen collaboration with Shanxi.

At the opening day of the event, a group of students from Dongmingde Primary School in Lingchuan were excited to get the opportunity to interact with former Austrian national team star and Olympic alpine skiing champion, Friedrich Alois Lienz.

He shared skiing techniques and demonstrated standard moves, building a bridge of friendly exchange between China and Austria through his expertise and enthusiasm. The students, who have been part of their school skiing club since December 2024, practice weekly at the ski resort and have mastered basic skiing skills under the guidance of their coaches.

Upon meeting the Olympic champion, they eagerly gathered around Lienz, who corrected their postures and demonstrated techniques, inspiring the students to showcase their newly acquired skiing skills.

"I find skiing a very challenging sport, and I'm working hard to learn various techniques, hoping to ski freely on the slopes soon," said student Hou Kaixin, 11, who won first prize in the dual-board category at the Second Youth Ice and Snow Sports Winter Camp Skiing Competition of Jincheng City in 2025.

The two-month festival features six winter tourism routes tailored to Lingchuan's seasonal highlights, the distribution of local scenic spots, and market demand for tourism products.

"The ice and snow economy represents a new growth driver for Lingchuan's high-quality development, and cooperation with Carinthia serves as a vital link in our opening-up strategy," said Wang Li, head of the county. She added that the county will use the festival as a starting point to amplify its advantages in winter resources and promote the internationalization, branding and integrated development of its ice and snow economy.

The county is planning to launch a voucher program totaling 5 million yuan ($719,800) to boost winter tourism. It will gather local delicacies and organize public skiing competitions, primary and secondary school skiing contests and winter camps, all designed to fuel winter cultural and tourism consumption.

While the southern Lingchuan is experiencing an ice and snow festival, the northern ancient capital of Datong is also hosting ice and snow activities.

At the end of last year, the Shanxi Division of the 12th National Public Ice and Snow Season kicked off at a ski resort in Datong. The event features 19 activities, including ice skating, skiing and ice fishing, attracting 900 athletes, international ice and snow sports enthusiasts, and participants from 25 provinces and cities across the country.

To successfully host the ice and snow event, the local government implemented six major construction projects, creating 28 ice and snow activity venues with a total area of 1.76 million square meters.

To make ice and snow sports accessible to more people, Datong has deepened its ice and snow integration strategy, launching specialty tour routes, which link ice and snow sports with ancient city lantern shows and folk experiences, according to authorities.

"The ski resort is close to the city, affordable, with complete facilities," said Gao Pengyu, a tourist from Taiyuan. "After skiing, I also visited the Yungang Grottoes and the ancient city, making for a great experience."

According to the country's annual ice and snow tourism development report released in early January, the number of ice and snow tourism leisure visitors in China during the 2025-26 winter season is expected to reach 360 million, with related revenue expected to reach 450 billion yuan ($64.79 billion).

The previous report released in 2025, said the number of ice and snow tourism visits in China had exceeded 300 million for three consecutive ice seasons.

The size of the ice and snow industry has jumped from 364.7 billion yuan in 2016 to 980 billion yuan in 2024, with an average annual growth rate of over 21 percent, it said. The scale of the industry surpassed 1 trillion yuan for the first time in 2025.

Hou Xiaobin, director of the innovation project office at the Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences, said that Shanxi has unique advantages in developing ice and snow tourism as a newly emerging region in the north.

"The winter period in Shanxi lasts for three to four months," he said. "It has high-quality snow, such as in the Taihang and Lyuliang mountains, which provides natural conditions for the construction of ski resorts.

"At the same time, it has world cultural heritages such as Yungang Grottoes and Pingyao Ancient City," he said. "The deep integration of visiting ancient buildings, enjoying ice and snow, and experiencing culture, can form a unique experience different from that in Northeast China and Xinjiang."

According to Hou, Shanxi needs to take precise action to capitalize on the market potential.

"Related departments should deepen the integration of business models, promote the combination of ice and snow with intangible cultural heritage, hot springs and rural tourism, and enrich immersive experiences," he said.

"It also needs to improve supporting services, the micro-traffic circulation of scenic spots, and the regional characteristics of accommodation and catering."

Sun Shuyue contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn