Online orders for ice and snow resorts surge amid hot weather

Amid the scorching heat, snow play has emerged as a new trend for residents in Guangdong to cool off.

Indoor skiing facilities and snow-themed attractions have seen a significant spike in consumer activity, with online searches and orders doubling at several venues.

Official daily monitoring has shown that the surface temperature of some of Shenzhen's cement roads exceeds 50 degrees Celsius at noon each day in recent days. Accordingly, searches for ski resorts in Shenzhen have surged by 160% this month so far, accompanied by a 183% increase in online orders, according to e-commerce food delivery platform Meituan.

In Guangzhou, orders for indoor skiing training have surged by 95% in June, Meituan reported.

Searches for Shenzhen's Karoo Ice and Snow World and the Window of the World Alps Ice and Snow World have soared 87% and 95.5%, respectively, while searches for Guangzhou Sunac Land Bonski have increased by 215%, Meituan data showed.

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games have led to a surge in popularity for winter sports and recreation, driving the growth of the ice-snow industry nationwide. Guangzhou and Shenzhen have been rapidly expanding their offerings of ice and snow entertainment.

Apart from traditional snow activities such as curling and snowball fights, venues like Guangzhou Sunac Land Bonski offer snow tubing, bumper cars on ice, glacier leaps, and adventurous trails. 

Additionally, Guangzhou inaugurated the Zhujiang World Real Ice Curling Hall, the region's first facility of its kind, in January this year. 

Shenzhen is currently building the Shenzhen Qianhai Huafa Ice and Snow World, which is set to be the world's largest ice and snow center. The construction is expected to be finished by November 2025.

Once completed, this venue will not only host international ski events sanctioned by the International Ski Federation but also become a key hub for ice and snow sports, competing with renowned destinations like the Wanda Snow Amusement Park in Harbin, northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province.