"Dream of winter, love in Asia!" This winter season, China's "Ice City" Harbin is once again attracting attention with the 9th Asian Winter Games. A survey conducted by CGTN among global internet users shows that respondents are looking forward to a more open and vibrant China and believe the ice and snow economy is becoming a new growth point for the Chinese economy.
The Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games is the next major international ice and snow event to be hosted by China, following the successful Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. This edition also boasts the largest number of participating countries, regions and athletes in the history of the Asian Winter Games.
The survey showed that 96 % respondents believe that the Asian Winter Games will further encourage interest in ice and snow sports among people in Asian countries and improve the standard of these sports both in Asia and globally. At the same time, 87.8 % of respondents believe that the Asian Winter Games will help promote exchanges and cooperation among Asian countries, and 94.7 % expect China to become even more open and lively thanks to the continuous optimization of the visa-free policy.
The data shows that since the successful hosting of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the number of ice and snow sports enthusiasts in China has grown to 313 million, with 264 million of them starting to participate since the winter of 2023. In this regard, 96.6 % respondents believe that international sporting events help popularize and promote ice and snow sports in China.
In addition to popular ice and snow tourist destinations such as Harbin, indoor ice and snow arenas are starting to spring up in some of the warmer southern regions of China.
Ice and snow sports have gradually overcome climatic and geographical limits and have become part of the daily life of many Chinese people. Different regions have also combined their tourism resources and launched a series of integrated commercial, cultural, tourism and sports activities such as "ice and snow + shopping", "ice and snow + food", "ice and snow + travel" and "ice and snow + sports".
A total of 91.9 % respondents believe that the "ice and snow +" model will support local consumption growth and industrial transformation. Another 94.7 % agree that the ice and snow economy is becoming a new growth accelerator for the Chinese economy.
In recent years, ice and snow sports and tourism have fostered the extensive development of industry chains such as equipment manufacturing, education and training, research and development of recreational facilities and cultural creativity.
The survey showed that 92.1 % respondents believe that China's ice and snow economy will experience a new development momentum due to the impact of events such as the Asian Winter Games. At the same time, 95 % respondents believe that the prospects for China's ice and snow economy will become even brighter due to favorable policies and market demand.
This survey was published on CGTN's platforms in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian and attracted participation from 4,607 internet users within 24 hours.
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