People ski at the Shanghai L+SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort, the world's largest indoor ski resort, in Shanghai, south China, Sept. 6, 2024. (Xinhua)

　　Data from China's General Administration of Sport show that the number of winter sports venues nationwide reached 2,847 by the end of 2023, up 16.11 percent year on year. Many of these facilities are nestled in southern regions.

　　For instance, Jiangsu now hosts about 50 ice-and-snow venues covering more than 640,000 square meters, with around 300,000 students from 1,000 schools in the province engaged in winter sports.

　　In Jiangsu's Taicang City, the Alps Snow Live indoor ski resort, boasting 54,000 square meters and five slopes of varying gradients up to 280 meters, draws throngs of children and adults daily. Excited screams echo as they experience winter's delights firsthand.

　　“In just one year since opening, we've welcomed over 300,000 visitors, each spending about 700 yuan on average,“ said Xu Xiaoliang, operations manager of the resort. “Compared to natural snow venues in the north, indoor slopes are more suitable for beginners and children because of gentler inclines and shorter runs.“

　　For China, a relative latecomer to winter sports, the increasing number of novices taking up skiing and snowboarding signals vast market potential. According to travel platform Ctrip, four out of the top five cities for ski-related bookings last winter were in southern China, underscoring winter sports as a major driver of consumption in milder climates.