Spatial and Temporal Differences of Climate Suitability of Ice and Snow Sports in Major Ski Tourism Destinations in China

Ice and snow tourism in China has grown significantly since the country successfully hosted the Beijing Winter Olympics.Climatic conditions profoundly impact the development of ice and snow tourism;however,most studies have focused on constructing different climate suitability indicators for ice and snow tourism to evaluate individual regions,lacking horizontal comparative studies across multiple regions.This study aims to enrich the connotation of climate suitability for ice and snow sports,establish an evaluation model based on snowfall amount,temperature,and wind speed,and use daily meteorological data from 1991 to 2021 to horizontally compare the climate suitability for ice and snow sports in major ski tourism destinations in China.This study boasts four major findings:1)the average ice and snow sports climate index of each region decreases over time,and the overall suitability of the climate for ice and snow sports is reducing;2)northern Xinjiang exhibits the most evident regional differentiation from‘very suitable’to‘generally suitable’;3)the spatial zoning of climate suitability for ice and snow sports exhibits heterogeneity,as northern Xinjiang is divided into two‘suitable and above’zones with rotating empirical orthogonal function(REOF).Correspondingly,the four provinces of Hebei,Heilongjiang,Jilin,and Liaoning are divided into three‘generally suitable and above’zones;4)snowfall amount is the main factor affecting the climate suitability of ice and snow sports in the major ski tourist destinations in China.

A World of Ice and Snow Being also Invaluable Asset:A Case Study of the"Snow Village"

Based on field visit and interview,the current situation of snow village in China is summarized from four aspects:core scenic spots in snow village,skiing industry in snow village,film and television industry in snow village,and ice and snow agritainment.The investigation found that there are still significant problems in homogenization,scenic area infrastructure,and government regulation in snow village.Targeted solutions are proposed from four aspects:tapping internal advantages,strengthening top-level design and infrastructure construction,promoting tourism industry upgrading,and collaborating to innovate the ice and snow tourism supply chain,in order to further promote the economic development of snow village.

Evaluation and Promotion Model of Tourist Satisfaction in Ice and Snow Tourism Destinations

The successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics has brought historic opportunities for the development of ice and snow tourism in China.An index system for the evaluation of tourist satisfaction in ice and snow tourism destinations was constructed from the target layer-factor layer-index layer approach in this paper.Taking tourists with ice and snow tourism experience as the research object,and integrating a questionnaire survey and the Importance-Performance Analysis(IPA)method,a total of 840 valid questionnaires were collected to assess the satisfaction of tourists in snow and ice tourism destinations,and the promotion model of tourist satisfaction in ice and snow tourism destinations was put forward.This process led to three main results.(1)Ice and snow tourists in China are characterized as young and better-educated,with college students aged 19 to 25 as the main consumer group.More than 70%of ice and snow tourists are pretty satisfied with the current development of ice and snow destinations in China,and are willing to participate again.(2)Other than“ice and snow souvenirs”,tourists’perceptions of importance are all higher than the level of perceived satisfaction,and the importance values of the 13 indicators including“Scenic spot security”and“Diversity of ice and snow entertainment and sports”are especially high,showing that tourists have high expectations and demands of the destinations.However,the perceived satisfaction level of tourists for all indexes is generally low,mostly at the general satisfaction level,indicating that ice and snow tourism destinations have only partially met the demands of ice and snow tourists,and there is still much room for improvement.(3)After IPA analysis,five suggestions for improving the satisfaction of tourists in ice and snow tourism destinations were put forward,including diversification of the tourism business model,construction of tourism facilities,a market diversified cultivation model,a humanized mode of tourism service and a refined management model.The results of this study will help to enrich the theory of ice and snow tourist satisfaction and promote the high-quality development of China's ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics era.

Sustainable Development of Ice and Snow Tourism-Theory&Empirical Studies:Preface

The Beijing Winter Olympics brought a historical miracle to the development of China’s ice and snow tourism.It is both an opportunity and a challenge to reap the extra dividends of the times and to develop China’s ice and snow tourism.By selecting 18 academic papers,this special issue deeply discusses the status quo and the future measures of ice and snow tourism in China from three aspects:ice and snow tourism development and management,the ice and snow tourism experience and its influencing factors,and ice and snow tourism impact assessment.Moreover,one part entitled“Tourism Culture and Ecotourism”has been set up to emphasize those cutting-edge research topics.It is worth mentioning that this issue is in-depth and has profound connotations.First of all,the research area ranges from national to regional to the city-level,including both longitudinal and horizontal research.In additon,the research methods are practical,innovative,and at the frontier of scientific research,and include industrial correlation analysis methods,kernel density,spatial autocorrelation and other geospatial analysis methods,content analysis methods,sentiment analysis methods,structural equation models,Delphi methods,spatial statistics methods,geographic detector method and many others.In general,this special issue combines qualitative research with quantitative research,provides a variety of theoretical perspectives such as perceived value theory,institutional evolution theory,etc.,and builds various useful models like the pre-competition evaluation model for ice and snow tourism heritage,the consumption skill-travel radius decision-making influence model under the moderating effect of the ski resort comprehensive leisure environment,the evaluation model of the suitability of glacier tourism resource development,the model of the relationship between tourists’experience value and loyalty in the context of ice and snow tourism,among others.These studies are expected to provide theoretical and practical guidance for the development of ice and snow tourism in the post-Winter Olympics era,and help ice and snow tourism develop in a sustainable and high-quality direction.

Influence of Ice and Snow Sports Participation Experience on Participation Constraints among Residents in Southern China:A Quantitative Analysis based on Propensity Score Matching

Under the initiative of“encouraging 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports”and the guidance of the‘Evidence-based’policy-making process,this study takes the Hierarchical Model of Leisure Constraints as the theoretical framework to empirically explore the constraints influencing the participation of residents in Southern China in ice and snow sports.After factor analysis,the constraint dimension of residents’participation was obtained,and the constraints of participants and non-participants were evaluated and compared by Propensity Score Matching(PSM).The results indicate that Chengdu residents have potential interest in and demand for winter sports,and the constraint dimensions are:facilities and services,companions,time,and personal feelings.The predisposition scores of the experimental group and the control group revealed that the constraints on interest,relevant knowledge and skills,and personal feelings of the participating group were significantly lower than those of the non-participating group,while the other constraints were not significant.We suggest that efforts should be made to increase the effective supply according to local conditions in order to reduce structural constraints,and the social attributes should be integrated into ice and snow sports to resolve the inter-personal constraints.

Ice and Snow Gala

China’s Ice City Harbin is about to host the largest Winter Universiade in history china’s experience of hosting world

Evolution of Landscape Pattern and Tourism Service Value in Zhangjiakou City

Zhangjiakou is a northern Chinese city that hosted the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. As an important ice and snow tourist destination, it is essential to investigate Zhangjiakou’s rate of landscape pattern change,the landscape ecological security level, and ecosystem service value, particularly the tourism ecological service value during its construction. With land use data from 2000 to 2020, this study comprehensively analyzed the dynamic changes in Zhangjiakou, including land use dynamics, the land use transfer matrix, landscape vulnerability,landscape disturbance, ecosystem service value, tourism ecological service value, and other aspects. The results show that the landscape pattern in Zhangjiakou was greatly disturbed from 2015 to 2018, and the landscape ecological security was threatened in the process of landscape pattern adjustment. By 2020, after the landscape pattern was adjusted and stabilized, the landscape ecological security was restored, and the ecosystem service value was significantly improved, especially the tourism ecological service value. The results of this study will play an important role in promoting the optimization of Zhangjiakou’s ice and snow landscape pattern and the improvement of tourism ecological value. In addition, it provides important lessons for the development of other ice and snow tourist destinations.

Pay Attention to the Imaging Study of Sport Injury and Illness in Winter Olympics Sports

After successfully holding the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the series of National Games, and a successful bid of Beijing and Zhangjiakou for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Chinese sports lace the greater opportunities of development. The imaging study of sport injury and illness in winter sports is to be developed for effective diagnosis and evaluation, which aims to stay in step with the progress in winter sports field. This will boost the development of sports promoting health strategy and advance the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

A Pre-game Evaluation of the Tourism Legacy of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games

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.