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.     

Current Situation and Future Development Trend of Global Skiing Tourism Market

The global ski tourism market has been in a relatively mature period. However, passenger flows are stagnating in many countries and the growth perspectives are not very appealing. This change of the tourism market troubled the entire ski industry with new challenges, leading to the ski tourism industry model established in the 20th century failing to meet the current development needs. According to multiple data sources, including relevant industry reports and the latest data from internetm, this article based on a variety of these reports and the latest data from website, analyzed the ski tourism market’s both sides of supply and demand, systematically summarized the evolution of ski tourism industry since the 21st century, discussed the process of the ski tourism industry’s development and the economy’s growth, and revealed the relationship between the influencing factors of ski tourism market’s potentials. Meanwhile, the main problems and challenges in the ski market were also summarized. The results showed that global ski tourism had entered a mature stage since the beginning of 2000. Moreover, there was a specific correlation between skiing participation rate and GDP, which varied with the regional economic level and the maturity degree of skiing industry. Despite some impacts from COVID-19, the ski industry in most regions exhibited signs of recovery in 2021. The Winter Olympic Games in China have brought new opportunities to the skiing industry and have been expected to encourage global participation in skiing. However, some existing ski resorts in different countries and regions may not significantly contribute to the future development of global ski tourism, and the potential growth of ski tourism market might be small and mainly concentrated in China. At present, the biggest threat to the ski market is baby boomers having long been the bulk of ski resort visitors. The ski market is faced with this aging problem and the widespread phenomenon of ski culture fault. How to meet the needs of this new generation of customers who lack ski backgrounds or cultures is a severe challenge for all emerging and existing ski resorts around the world. Besides, public transport accessibility, service quality and resorts operation capacity have also been the improvement direction of the ski market in dire need.     

Resilience: Analyzing the Crisis Management of Ski Resorts in China

Resilience has become an important concept for the ski resorts of China, which have suffered heavy losses due to COVID-19. In order to help China’s ski resort service industry successfully adapt to the crisis and achieve sustainable development, the goal of this paper is to develop the definition of resilience of the ski resort service industry through interviews based on the concept and general analysis framework of resilience. The ski resort resilience theory analysis framework is then constructed from the three basic elements (market, skiing, and stakeholders) and four system features (flexibility, adaptability, and collaborative learning ability). The results indicate several measures that can be taken to spread risk: enrich the product supply; eliminate risks and build a multi-agent networked industrial governance system; and establish a risk prevention and management mechanism based on a multi-organization alternative learning mechanism to overcome the difficulties encountered in the development of ski resorts.     

滑雪度假区属性的结构维度及其影响研究

北京冬奥会的成功申办和举办推动了国内冰雪旅游产业和研究的快速发展。作为冰雪旅游产业核心地域载体的滑雪度假区亦日益受到关注。尤其是,滑雪度假区属性的结构维度识别及其影响评估成为冰雪旅游研究和实践的热点。本文遵循情感地理学关注人、情感与地方互动关系的研究传统,以新疆丝绸之路国际度假区和吉林长白山国际度假区为样本采集地,借由量表开发与验证流程,从度假游客感知视角识别滑雪度假区属性的结构维度,并检验它们对滑雪度假游客体验的影响。研究结论如下：(1)识别了滑雪度假区属性的结构维度（15个）,并开发、验证了滑雪度假区属性量表（59个测项）;(2)滑雪度假区的气候和自然环境、雪道、娱乐、工作人员和人文环境对度假游客体验有显著影响;(3)积极情绪、沉浸体验、难忘的旅游体验和满意度在滑雪度假区属性与游客重游意向、口碑推荐意向的关系中起中介作用。本文为与滑雪度假区属性相关的后续研究提供了可操作的理论框架和测量工具,并深化了对滑雪度假情境下人、情感与地方互动关系的理解。     

中国滑雪场可达性及市场潜力测度

利用可达性分析方法与潜力模型对中国滑雪场空间分布格局与市场潜力进行了系统分析,全面认识了滑雪场在交通可达性方面的优劣势,并针对不同区域提出了相应的发展或改进方向。研究表明：中国滑雪场距离城市中心的平均最短旅行时间为1.24 h,南方可达性普遍较差,北方同一城市内部差异较大。全国各城市到达某一滑雪场的最短时间呈圈层式分布,可达性最好的区域在河南,最差的区域在新疆。北京与重庆凭借发达的经济、众多的人口与较好的可达性,成为滑雪旅游市场潜力最大的城市,黑龙江、天津、河北、山东四省市场潜力次之。该研究可为旅游者滑雪旅游目的地选择提供参考,也可为滑雪场规划建设提供理论依据。     

Characteristics and Determinants of China’s Ice-and-Snow Tourism Industrial Cluster

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.     

滑雪旅游开发布局影响因素与对策研究——以内蒙古自治区滑雪旅游开发为例

滑雪度假旅游成为欧美山地旅游开发的主要形式。近十几年来，山地滑雪旅游在中国迅速发展，并成为东北一些地方旅游产品的主打品牌。本文从滑雪旅游开发布局影响因素研究出发，通过对中国滑雪旅游市场的需求与供给这对矛盾的全面分析，对照发达国家的滑雪旅游开展状况，总结出中国目前比较缺乏中高端的旅游滑雪场所。据此，作者提出内蒙古应以发展中高端滑雪旅游作为切入点，以阿尔山国际滑雪场为主，建立山地型滑雪网络和滑雪天堂的旅游形象。这些重要结论，对内蒙古发展冰雪旅游业、突破冬季无旅游、延长旅游季节性等方面有重要的指导意义。     

Exploring the Tourism Experience of Beginner Skiers in the Emerging Ski Market

The skiing economy is a typical experience economy, so understanding the experience of ski tourists is essential to the development of the destination. To enrich the tourism experience research in the emerging ski market, this paper studies the 7118 online reviews of beginner skiers by selecting the main ski resorts in China as a case study. The content analysis method and sentiment analysis based on the domain lexicon and custom rules are combined to explore the perception characteristics of the beginners from the two aspects of experience dimension and experience satisfaction. Three main results were found. (1) The five main dimensions that affect the ski tourism experience of beginners are interaction perception, price perception, reputation perception, risk perception and functional perception. (2) For beginners, skiing is the primary purpose of tourism instead of being the critical factor of the positive reviews. They pay more attention to the pleasure produced by interpersonal interactions. (3) From 2014/2015 ski season to 2010/2021 ski season, the positive sentiment of beginners had no obvious change, while the negative sentiment showed a continuous downward trend, and the negative sentiment was mainly distributed among reviews on price, low temperature and service. This paper not only expands the research perspective of ski tourism, but also provides managerial inspiration for ski destinations interested in attracting beginners from the emerging ski markets.     

Responding to Global Warming: Mitigation Policies and Actions of Stakeholders in China’s Tourism Industry

China’s tourism industry has witnessed rapid progress in recent years, and is now an important part of global tourism in dealing with climate change. Within a framework of Pressure-State-Response (PSR), this paper focuses on the emission reduction pressure, carbon emission status, and responses of stakeholders in China’s tourism industry. Findings include: 1) The central government’s strategy and rapid growth of the industry scale exert rising pressure on China’s tourism to reduce carbon emissions. 2) Carbon emissions of China's tourism account for 13%-14.6% of global tourism, and about 3% of China’s emissions overall. Chinese tourists’ per capita carbon emission is lower than half of the global level. 3) The Chinese government attaches great importance to energy-saving and carbon emission reduction. In the tourism industry, documents, standards and other regulative measures have been issued to ensure that business practitioners set up green operational and managerial systems. In the field of tourism transportation, China's high-speed rail, new energy vehicles, and urban shared bicycles, have developed very rapidly in recent years, and they have effectively reduced the carbon emissions in traveling. Furthermore, this paper finds that Chinese tourists already have awareness and willingness for low-carbon tourism.     

Does Ski Tourism Improve the Regional Economy? The Case Study of Chongli,China

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.     

中国积雪资源时空演变特征及其旅游开发关键区识别

积雪资源深刻影响着滑雪旅游的发展与布局,刻画中国积雪资源时空特征,识别旅游开发关键区,对中国冰雪旅游高质量发展具有重要意义。本文通过Mann-Kendall突变检验、热点分析、重要-感知实绩分析（IPA）等方法刻画中国1979—2020年积雪资源时空演变特征,构建资源稳定性-旅游开发适宜性指标体系,识别中国滑雪旅游开发关键区。结果表明：(1)中国积雪资源过去40年变化可划为3个阶段,1980—1995年（Ⅰ）积雪资源下降,1995—2010年（Ⅱ）增加,2010—2020年（Ⅲ）下降。在空间上,变化面积呈现Ⅰ-Ⅱ（33.2%）>Ⅱ-Ⅲ（31.1%）>Ⅰ-Ⅲ（29.3%）的特征;(2)中国积雪资源在月尺度上,1—3月（Ⅰ）积雪资源基本维持稳定,3—10月（Ⅱ）显著下降,10—12月（Ⅲ）恢复。在空间上,变化面积呈Ⅰ-Ⅲ（30.3%）>Ⅱ-Ⅲ（28.3%）>Ⅰ-Ⅱ（26.8%）的变化规律;(3)中国境内滑雪旅游开发极关键区面积占比为4.90%、关键区为11.69%、一般区为31.57%、不关键区为25.73%、极不关键区为26.11%,总体来看中国境内85%的区域不...     

A georeferenced agent-based model to analyze the climate change impacts on ski tourism at a regional scale

One main argument for modeling socio-ecological systems is to advance the understanding of dynamic correlations between various human and environmental factors, including impacts and responses to environmental change. We explore the shift in skier distribution among ski resorts taking into account the behavioral adaptation of individuals due to the impact of climate change on snow conditions. This analysis is performed at a regional scale by means of a coupled gravity and georeferenced agent-based model. Four different scenarios are considered. Two scenarios assume an increase of winter mean temperature of +2°C and +4°C, respectively, taking into account only natural snow conditions. Two additional scenarios add the effect of snowmaking to enhance the natural snow depth and extend the skiing season in the +2°C and +4°C base scenarios. Results show differing vulnerability levels, allowing the classification of ski resorts into three distinct groups: (1) highly vulnerable ski resorts with a strong reduction in visitors attendance for all climate change scenarios, characterized by unfavorable geographical and attractiveness conditions, making it difficult to ensure snow availability in the future; (2) low vulnerability ski resorts, with moderate reduction in season length during a high climate change scenario but no reduction (or even an increase) in a low one, characterized by ski resorts with a medium capacity and attractiveness to ensure enough snow conditions and capture skiers from other ski resorts; and (3) resilient ski resorts, with good conditions to ensure future snow-reliable seasons and outstanding attractiveness, allowing them to offer longer ski seasons than their competitors and potentially attracting skiers from other closed or marginal resorts. Ski resorts included in this last group increase their skier attendance in all climate change scenarios. Although similar studies in the literature foretell a significant reduction of the ski market in the near future, another probable effect outlined in this study is a redefinition of this market due to a redistribution of skiers, from vulnerable ski resorts to more resilient ones.     

多源数据融合的中国滑雪场空间活力评价研究

随着北京2022年冬奥会及冬残奥会的成功举办,“三亿人参与冰雪运动”成为现实,有效带动了中国滑雪场建设和发展。后冬奥时代,如何推动中国滑雪场从量升到质变成为重要议题。为有效回答从“量”到“质”转变的问题,需针对滑雪场构建科学合理的综合评价体系。基于空间活力概念,从场所、活动和人的交互联系出发,提出滑雪场吸引力、滑雪活动活跃度和滑雪者体验感3项测度指标,采用层次分析法和熵权法构建复合视角下的滑雪场空间活力评价体系和框架;利用统计、位置、客流、用户评分等多源数据,通过时间序列波动率模型、核密度分析、可达性计算模型和信息熵等方法分析中国滑雪场空间活力特征。结果表明：(1)中国滑雪场吸引力、滑雪活动活跃度、滑雪者体验感空间分异特征明显,分别呈现京冀和广东省“双核”引领、北高南低、东高西低的分布特征;(2)中国滑雪场空间活力呈高值集聚,低值分散的空间分异特征,其中高活力滑雪场主要集中在北京-张家口、吉林省、新疆阿勒泰三大区域,而低活力滑雪场呈全国分散性分布;(3)中国滑雪场平均空间活力位列前五的省/直辖市为北京市、河北省、广东省、吉林省和辽宁省,而江苏省、安徽省、江西省、浙江省和湖北省的滑雪场平...     

广州市休闲旅游资源空间分布及其可达性特征

基于休闲旅游资源POI数据,采用最邻近指数、核密度及栅格分析等方法,探讨广州市不同类型休闲旅游资源的空间特征及其可达性空间格局,并解析可达性空间格局的形成机制。结果表明：1）广州市休闲旅游资源总体上呈现“中心城区密集、边缘区稀疏”的分布特征,随着与市中心距离的增加,空间集聚度不断下降。2）不同类型休闲旅游资源空间分布特征差异明显,文化类集聚程度最高,康娱类呈单核集聚,自然类呈板块式集聚,专项类最接近随机分布。3）广州市休闲旅游资源可达性空间格局的交通指向性明显,呈现以中心城区为核心,沿交通干线向外渐降,至从化区北部达到最低的特点。4）不同类型休闲旅游资源的可达性空间格局存在差异,整体可达性最高的是康娱类,可达性最低的是专项类。5）广州市休闲旅游资源可达性格局在“资源-交通-人口-行政”体系综合作用下逐渐形成的。     

国内外城市内河旅游研究评述

城市内河由于具有文化遗产承载、生态环境调节和城市形象构建等多元功能, 逐渐成为国内外城市内河旅游开发的主要方向, 是人们日常休闲娱乐的重要场所之一。本文通过对国内外城市内河旅游相关文献的梳理, 发现国外研究主要涉及内河旅游产品类型、旅游影响、旅游管理、理论与方法等方面。而国内研究则主要趋向于城市内河沿岸景观布局、内河水体旅游规划设计、城市内河旅游国外经验借鉴等方面, 缺乏系统的阐述。本文通过对国内外城市内河旅游研究的评述与展望, 希望对国内城市内河旅游发展有所启示。     

旅游者感知文化距离对民族文化遗产体验意愿影响机制

基于“认知－情感－意动”理论框架,引入旅行生涯模式理论,构建了包括旅游者感知文化距离、感知新奇、感知文化风险、文化体验意愿和旅游经验等构念在内的模型,以2个典型民族文化遗产旅游目的地——广西龙脊梯田和贵州肇兴侗寨为案例地,运用PLS-SEM工具检验结构模型,结果表明：1）认知阶段对情感阶段的影响显著,即TPCD正向影响感知新奇和感知文化风险,情感阶段对意动阶段的影响亦显著,即感知新奇正向影响文化体验意愿而感知文化风险负向影响文化体验意愿;2）感知新奇与感知文化风险在TPCD对文化体验意愿的影响过程中起中介作用,该结论验证了旅游者文化体验意愿产生的心理过程遵循CAC理论模型,这是一个认知影响情感进而影响行为意愿的递进过程;3）认知积累在认知阶段对情感阶段影响路径中的调节作用部分显著,即旅游经验负向调节TPCD对感知文化风险的正向影响,但在TPCD对感知新奇的正向影响过程中的调节效应不显著。结论表明,感知文化距离在特定的国内旅游情境下同样对旅游者行为意愿有显著影响,这在一定程度上拓展了旅游文化距离研究的对象范围。     

中国沿海与内陆旅游演艺差异性分析

随着国内旅游业的快速发展和人们休闲意识的日渐增强,中国旅游演艺业得到了迅速的发展,呈现出强劲的发展态势。依据文化产业的相关知识和文化地理学有关文化与环境的理论知识,调查研究了中国沿海和内陆旅游演艺业的不同之处,运用归纳法总结中国各省目前较为有名的旅游演艺产品,论述了中国旅游演艺业的发展概况、中国沿海和内陆旅游演艺业差异性主要表现,并分析了产生差异性的主要原因是文化差异、区域发展不平衡和体制完善程度不同。     

吉林省生态旅游与旅游环境耦合协调度的时空演化研究

构建生态旅游与旅游环境评价指标体系,运用熵值赋权法与综合评价法,测算了2006~2017年吉林省各地级市州生态旅游与旅游环境发展的综合评价指数,借助耦合协调模型测度吉林省各地级市州生态旅游与旅游环境的耦合协调等级与演化情况。研究表明：吉林省生态旅游综合发展水平地区差异明显,旅游环境发展呈现不均衡特征,发展层级的极化效应愈加明显; 生态旅游与旅游环境系统的耦合协调水平整体偏低,生态旅游与旅游环境子系统的耦合表现有所差异,旅游环境总体发展滞后于生态旅游发展; 2006~2017年吉林省生态旅游与旅游环境的整体耦合协调度均为濒临失调型和初级协调型,生态旅游与旅游环境的整体协同效应较前期有所减弱： ④ 生态旅游与旅游环境耦合的协调度与生态文明呈现正向关系,生态旅游与旅游环境的协调水平愈高,区域生态文明发达程度也较高。     

The Spatio-temporal Evolution of Ski Resorts in the Beijing- Tianjin-Hebei Region: Characteristics and Influencing Factors

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.     

Review of Research on Characteristic Tourism Resources Exploitation in Sichuan Province

With the rapid development of tourism in China’s Sichuan Province, research on the development of tourism resources in Sichuan has drawn increasing attention from the academic community. This article briefly reviews three aspects of the literature on the development of tourism resources in Sichuan: a survey and evaluation of Sichuan tourism resources, the development of tourism resources that are characteristic of Sichuan, and the development of tourism resources in Sichuan. The current situation of the development of Sichuan’s tourism resources was considered and seven factors were evaluated: tourism in ancient towns, tourism in ethnic areas, folk tourism, eco-tourism, rural tourism, red tourism and earthquake tourism. The article also addresses the development of tourism resources in Sichuan. Most existing studies of the development of tourism resources in Sichuan are based on applied research; they are deficient in both scope and depth, and cannot serve as a basis for the development of theory. Few studies have focused on market demand for tourism, the establishment of management mechanisms or the development of regional cooperation. In the future, tourism theories like space theory for space competition, RMP analysis theory, cultural ecology theory, and other tourism theories should be closely integrated with the development of tourism resources in Sichuan. Whether the subject matter is sustainable development, market demand, management mechanism construction, regional collaborative development or other concerns, this will allow more systematic, in-depth studies that produce improved results that are both pertinent and realistic.