Spatiotemporal measurement of China's ice and snow industry and its path to high-quality development from a supply-demand perspective

The successful hosting of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has promoted the rapid development of China's ice and snow industry, which is facing a transformation from scale expansion to quality improvement in the post-Winter Olympics Era. Based on the development status and policy evolution of China's ice and snow industry from a supply-demand perspective, this study constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system snow industry using the push-pull theory, incorporating both endogenous thrust and exogenous pull. It systematically examines the synergistic effect of key indicators such as equipment manufacturing industry agglomeration, human capital density index, and ice and snow infrastructure density, and reveals the factor allocation patterns and development paths of the industry across three major regions (Northeast China, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Yangtze River Delta) during the Beijing Winter Olympics, highlighting interregional industrial chain interactions. The results indicate that China's ice and snow industry is showing an overall positive development trend, with industrial integration effects gradually becoming apparent, ice and snow tourism revenue showing sustained growth, and consumption potential being effectively unleashed—though further exploration is still needed. From the perspective of regional development pattern, the three provinces of Northeast China maintain a leading position in the construction of ice and snow infrastructure by virtue of their natural resource advantages, but the agglomeration of equipment manufacturing industry has declined; The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has fully benefited from the legacy effect of the Winter Olympics and has performed well in event coordination and ice and snow education. The Yangtze River Delta region has shown a strong late-mover advantage through the construction of indoor venues and technological innovation in equipment manufacturing. Accordingly, this paper proposes a three-dimensional high-quality development path for the ice and snow industry characterized by "supply-demand synergy and regional linkage", providing a theoretical basis and policy reference for cultivating new quality productive forces in the ice and snow economy and advancing the national strategy of building China into a leading ice and snow nation.