Ice and snow sports are becoming “hot” and the national fitness track is wider
From February 17th to 27th, the 14th National Winter Games was held in Inner Mongolia. This is the first large-scale comprehensive winter sports event held in China after the Beijing Winter Olympics. Not only did more than 3,700 professional athletes from across the country participate, but it also set up a mass competition for the first time, giving more people the opportunity to compete across the country. Combined with the development of China’s ice and snow sports, ice and snow economy, and ice and snow culture in recent years, CCTV has planned to launch a series of reviews called “CCTV Commentary: Burning Ice and Snow” to jointly explore the path to high-quality development of China’s ice and snow sports.
During the Spring Festival holiday that just passed, ice and snow sports became one of the important activities for people in many parts of China to celebrate the festival. In Huailai, Hebei Province, many citizens came to the local open-air skating rink every day to ride ice bikes, play dog sleds, or pull skates. People enjoyed the fun of ice sports amid laughter and laughter. In Kuqa, Xinjiang, major ski resorts were crowded with people. Ski enthusiasts from all over the country enjoyed the “speed and passion” brought by skiing. In Wenchuan, Leshan, and other places in Sichuan, enjoying and playing in the snow has also become a trendy way to celebrate the New Year. Southerners can also start the long-awaited ice and snow journey at their doorstep.
Today, ice and snow sports are being understood and loved by more and more people, and have become one of the important activities for people’s leisure, entertainment, and physical fitness. Data shows that in November and December 2023, China’s 19 national-level ski resorts received a total of nearly 10 million visitors, with an average year-on-year increase of 316%; in the past three months, the number of ski resort ticket bookings nationwide was higher than that of the same period at the end of 2019, an increase of 1.5 times. According to professional reports, the number of ice and snow leisure tourists in China is expected to exceed 400 million for the first time in the 2023-2024 ice and snow season and will reach 500 million in 2025.
The widespread promotion and popularization of ice and snow sports in China is inseparable from the successful hosting of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics. Two years ago, with the Winter Olympics in full swing, ice and snow sports such as high platform ski jumping, alpine skiing, figure skating, short track speed skating, etc. entered thousands of households through TV and Internet channels, becoming familiar to the broad audience and inspiring It shows people’s interest and love for ice and snow sports. Since then, in order to meet people’s growing demand for participation in ice and snow sports and further fully tap the consumption potential of ice and snow, various regions have accelerated the construction of ice and snow rinks and other venue facilities, and integrated ice and snow sports with eco-tourism, folk culture, sports research, etc.
To build a strong sports country and a healthy China, the most fundamental thing is to enhance people’s physical fitness and protect their health. From February 17th to 27th, the 14th National Winter Games was held in Inner Mongolia. This is the first large-scale comprehensive winter sports event held in China after the Beijing Winter Olympics. We must take this opportunity to continue to mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties to develop ice and snow sports, continue to ignite the passion of the people to participate in ice and snow sports, further consolidate and expand the achievements of ice and snow sports in “expanding south, west, and east”, so that ice and snow sports continue to become “hot”, and let the ice and snow economy continue to “fire”. (Chen Ruihai, commentator of CCTV)