Imagine beginning and ending your ski day right at your doorstep without any additional traffic. For winter sports lovers, there's nothing more exciting than skiing straight from your doorstep onto the slopes.

The much-anticipated Shanghai Snow World Hotel, featuring 17 groundbreaking ski-in/ski-out suites that offer guests direct access to the slopes — the first of its kind in China — officially opened in Shanghai's Lingang new area on Nov 29.

The hotel, a new property under InterContinental Hotels Group, is situated within Snow World of the Shanghai L+Snow Indoor Skiing Theme Resort, the world's largest real-snow indoor skiing facility certified by Guinness World Records. It is considered an important affiliated facility to the resort which opened on Sept 6.

As a key tourism investment project for Shanghai's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the resort integrates dining, accommodations, entertainment, shopping and leisure activities, aiming to fill the void in Shanghai's ice-and-snow tourism facilities.

The resort's construction began in September 2019, in the run-up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. It has been hailed as a new landmark commercial complex in the city and a popular tourist attraction for ski enthusiasts from home and abroad.

"Residents of Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta are passionate about winter sports and snow-related tourism," says Yin Kang, executive deputy manager of Shanghai L+Snow Indoor Skiing Theme Resort. "We built this project to fulfill people's wishes, which has filled a gap for those seeking ice and snow tourism."

The Beijing Winter Games catalyzed the upgrading of winter tourism across the country in recent years. According to an industry report, the number of people engaging in ice-and-snow leisure tourism in China during the 2024-25 winter season is projected to exceed 500 million, a significant increase from the 385 million reported last winter.

In the eyes of experts, for warmer places like Shanghai, which do not have cold winter seasons, having an all-in-one skiing facility is of great significance.

The increase in ice-and-snow facilities in China's southern region will attract more people to fall in love with winter sports, Luo Hao, an official with the skiing association of Jing'an district of Shanghai, tells Xinhua News Agency. "It also provides a nurturing ground for developing local competitive sports teams. They can train on real snow more often, which not only improves competition, but also attracts more participants; in particular, young people."

The resort hosted Shanghai's first student ski championships on Nov 19.Featuring two competition categories — alpine skiing and snowboarding — the event attracted more than 300 students from over 80 schools across the country, including primary, junior and senior middle schools, and international schools and colleges.

Hosting such an event aligns with a national plan released by the State Council recently to boost the winter sports industry.

According to the plan, China will grow its ice-and-snow economy to 1.5 trillion yuan ($206 billion) by 2030. It focuses on fostering a full industry chain and forging a synergy across a wide range of elements, such as winter sports, tourism, cultural promotion and equipment manufacturing, to create a vibrant economic ecosystem and unleash the sector's potential to boost the national economy.

The new plan also prioritizes the integration of key winter sports into the physical education curriculum, underscoring the pivotal role of encouraging young people to embrace ice-and-snow sports. In addition, a nationwide system of youth competitions will take shape across various age groups, providing opportunities for young skiers to improve their skills.

FACT BOX

The Shanghai L+Snow Indoor Skiing Theme Resort spans an area of nearly 350,000 square meters.

Its Snow World, covering over 90,000 square meters, features four skill levels, including a 340-meter-long advanced slope with a gradient of 26 degrees and a slope for beginners with coaching and a teaching trail.

The venue offers more than 20 snow-themed entertainment activities.