Preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have promoted the rapid development of ice-snow tourism in China, which contributes to achieving the goal of having “300 million people participate in ice-snow sports”. This paper analyzes the status quo and problems associated with the growth of ice-snow tourism in China based on the methods of documentation and field investigation. The results indicate that China’s efforts have born abundant fruits. Notwithstanding, there are still some problems due to the limited time and hastened process of ice-snow tourism development, including unreasonable exploitation, low-quality products and services, imperfect investment and financing system, inadequate management, a single marketing mode, and insufficient talent teams. Compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, ice-snow tourism in China is in the stage of rapid development. To achieve the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, this paper proposes actions from eight aspects which involve policy, products and services, marketing, safety management and control, talent teams, standardization construction, science and technology, and community participation. This study can provide references for the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, as well as perfecting Chinese theoretical research on ice-snow tourism.

Ice-and-snow tourism (IST) is a booming industry, and the development of its industrial clusters reflects its regional development quality. Taking 1985-2021 data for China’s IST enterprises, this study used industrial cluster identification and industrial correlation analysis to explore the development of IST industrial clusters. The following results were obtained: (1) China’s IST initially formed hotspot industrial clusters in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Northeast, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Chengdu-Chongqing, and Xinjiang regions. (2) Multiple industry forms failed to become deeply integrated into development, indicating a need to optimize the structure of the IST industrial chain. (3) The development environment of IST industrial clusters in each province showed differentiated characteristics. (4) IST industrial clustering was affected by both internal and external factors. External factors were grouped into climate and ice-and-snow resources, government policies and sports events, and economic fundamentals and market conditions. Internal factors included industrial association and industrial integration in the IST industrial cluster. Based on this study’s identification of the characteristics of China’s IST industrial clusters, countermeasures are proposed for their optimal development.

The role of tourism in social and economic development and stabilizing the Olympic legacy has been widely discussed. Beijing is the first “Dual-Olympic City”. For the first time, the Beijing Winter Olympics has adopted a model of three competition areas, which has attracted much attention to the study of its tourism legacy. In the legacy plan, the construction of the “Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports Culture and Tourism Belt” was proposed. The development of ice and snow tourism and the cultivation of the ice and snow tourism market is also reflected in many policy documents and government actions. The scientific planning before the competition laid a good foundation for the sustainable development of its ice and snow tourism heritage. This research combines Olympic legacy research with tourism destination theory, and focuses on ice and snow tourism directly related to the Winter Olympics and the significance of pre-event planning for legacy protection. At the same time, the improvement of the quality of ice and snow tourism destinations is embedded in the pre-Olympic legacy, and opinions and suggestions on how to ensure the stability of the legacy after the games are given. This study uses the literature review method and the second-hand materials survey research method, then through establishing a tourism legacy pre-game evaluation model and the use of geographic information, government reports, policies, publicly released statistics and news reports, etc.. It explores the legacy of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, aiming to lay the foundation for preserving the continuous value of the ice and snow tourism legacy during and after the Olympics. The results indicate that the Beijing Winter Olympics has made relatively complete plans and reliable progress in both tangible and intangible legacy. Complete tourism infrastructure, an optimistic sport and cultural atmosphere, and the improvement of residents’ health concept and sports awareness have become boosters for the development of ice and snow tourism in the Beijing-Zhangjiakou region.

Ski resorts are one of the bases for the development of ice-snow sports and tourism, and they are also a hot topic of social concern. Taking 117 ski resorts in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei as the research object, geospatial analysis methods such as kernel density and spatial autocorrelation were used to explore the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of the ski resorts. The geographic detector was used to deeply explore the underlying factors influencing the spatial and temporal distribution of ski resorts in terms of policy factors, natural factors and economic and social factors. This study found that the spatial and temporal distribution of ski resorts in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region showed a significant Olympic event-driven characteristic. From 2009 to 2021, the spatial pattern of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei ski resorts has changed from “single-core development”, to a “single-core with multi-point” layout, and then to a “multi-core” layout. The spatial pattern has changed from agglomeration to diffusion. Cold and hot spots of the spatial and temporal characteristics in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei ski resort have shifted from north to south, from the initial suburbs of Beijing to the southern cities of Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and other cities in Hebei Province. The spatial and temporal distribution of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei ski resorts has been influenced by many factors, from “GDP per capita” to “population density” to “policy quantity”, showing a shift from “Economic-driven” to “population-driven” to “policy-driven” processes.

Chongli is one of the venues for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Since 2009, the government of Chongli has emphasized the development of a tourism strategy, which gradually contributed to alleviating regional poverty. With data collected from 2009 to 2019, ski tourism and the regional economy in Chongli were analyzed using the Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) Model. This analysis indicated, first, there were three stages in the relationship between ski tourism and the regional economy in Chongli, including weak coordination (2009-2011), starting coordination (2012-2015), and strong coordination (2016-2019). Second, sport tourism, such as ski tourism, is likely to contribute to the regional economy and alleviate poverty. Third, the case of Chongli illustrates that policy and sports events are significant for helping a place to develop sports tourism, in addition to making full use of local resources. Finally, the development of skiing tourism has had a positive impact on citizens’ and farmers’ incomes, though it may have impacted citizens more. This research suggests that regional resources are essential for the development of sport tourism and the promotion of regional economies. Developing regions should seize the bonus period of sports events and policies. More attention should be paid to the differences between urban citizens and farmers in order to establish a better redistribution system. Considering the climatic factors, more studies need to analyze the sustainability of ski tourism in developing regions.