The Shanghai L+SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort is kicking off its festive celebration packed with entertainment shows, tourism activities and sports competitions as 2025 approaches.

The 350,000 square meters indoor winter resort offers options for casual visitors as well as professional skiers. Flash mob ice shows, late-night electro-bash parties and other attractions await recreational guests.

"The booming ice-snow economy's trillion-yuan scale potential represents both a consumption hot spot and an emerging sports frontier," stated Li Bingrui, general manager of Shanghai Snow Star Properties Co Ltd, which runs the resort.

"After overcoming Shanghai's lack of natural ice resources, our resort is leveraging the city's advantages to become a world-class ice venue," Li added.

As one of the world's largest indoor ski resorts with four professional runs and an international-standard competition ice rink, the resort facilitates Shanghai's residents to enjoy ice and snow activities without leaving the city.

Data indicates soaring interest in indoor winter activities, with online searches for indoor ski resorts spiking 170 percent year-over-year in December.

"In the past, Shanghainese had to travel to the northeastern provinces or overseas to participate in winter sports," Li noted. "Now they have professional-grade venues, training and competitions right here."

To better serve visitors, the resort has been elaborately decorated and filled with festive lights, snow sculptures and interactive installations, hosting activities including lucky draws, ice bicycle racing and performances.

From Jan 1 to 3, the facility will host figure skating exhibitions, late-night DJ parties and other New Year's celebration events.

For professional skiers, the resort hosted the 2024-2025 China Mass Skiing Technical Competition's Yangtze River Delta leg on Dec 28. It was the first time that the event came to the region, with athletes across seven skill levels vying for official certification from the China Ski Association.

People's enthusiasm for winter sports echoes a national push to develop the ice and snow economy as a new growth driver. China aims to boost its ice and snow economy as a new growth sector, targeting an economic scale of 1.2 trillion yuan ($164.4 billion) by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030, according to guidelines issued by the authorities in November.

"Through this combination of promotion activities, brand crossovers and sporting events, the resort is positioning itself as an influential urban ice-snow getaway," stated Li.

The resort's vision extends beyond the slopes and rinks. Its initial design incorporates three hotels to accommodate travel visitors, integrating tourism with winter sports and entertainment.

Hotels are seeing rising occupancy rates as peak season arrives, primarily hosting local Shanghai residents and regional visitors from Jiangsu and Zhejiang — adjacent to the city — with parents, aged 30-45, bringing their families accounting for the largest demographic.

Data from the resort shows that weekend daily visitor traffic recently reached 4,500-5,000 at regular times, exceeding 5,000 during peaks. Youths and families make up the core base, with visitors participating in snow-themed entertainment activities comprising nearly 40 percent.