iBusiness, 2013, 5, 30-35
http: //dx.doi.org/10.4236/ib.2013.53B007 Published Online September 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ib)
The Assessment of Ice-snow Tourism Resources Value and
Its Realization Degree
Weiwei Wu1, Yexin Zhu1, Chunyan Zhang2
1School of management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China; 2Heilongjiang Province Tourism Agency, Harbin
150001, China.
Received May, 2013
ABSTRACT
The development of the ice-snow tourism needs a scientific and effective method to assess the value of ice-snow tour-
ism resource and its realization degree effectively and reasonability. Based on the analysis of expectation value and
realization value of ice-snow tourism resource, this paper designs a three-dimension assessment index system and con-
structs the method of assessing the value of ice-snow tourism resource and its realization degree. Finally using ISW
scenic area in Heilongjiang Province as an example for empirical analysis, the results show that the method can be ef-
fective in assessing the value of ice-snow tourism resource and its realization degree.
Keywords: Ice-snow Tourist Resources; Value Assessment; Realization Degree
1. Introduction
China’s tourism industry has made considerable devel-
opment since the reform and opening up, and more and
more tourists prefer specialized tourism such as sport
tourism than simply sightseeing-type tourism. Especially
after the “World Conference on Sport and Tourism” was
held by World Tourism Organization and International
Olympic Committee, sport tourism is becoming a new
focus [1]. As an important part of sport tourism, ice-snow
tourism is one of the most rapidly developing tourism.
Now China has built up nearly 200 ski resorts and earned
more than one billion per year. Experts expect that
ice-snow tourists in China will reach 13 million and oc-
cupy 1% of the total population [2].
Ice-snow tourism resource value refers to the sum of
different values in the processes of the ice-snow tourism
operators developing and managing ice-snow tourism
resource, and attracting tourists to consume it. It is sig-
nificant for ice-snow tourism resource value to measure
whether ice-snow scenic spots have the potential to be
developed [3]. In China at present, the scale of ice-snow
tourism is enlarging rapidly, whereas developers lack
effective and scientific method of evaluating ice-snow
tourism resource value, and cannot fully understand the
development degree of ice-snow tourism resource, which
leads to the wasting, the predatory exploitation and re-
peated development of ice-snow tourism resource. All
these further lead to the low economic efficiency of
ice-snow tourism, and become an obstacle to gain a fur-
ther development of ice-snow tourism [4]. Therefore, in
order to recognize the value of ice-snow tourism re-
sources fully and develop ice-snow tourism resource
reasonably, it is of great significance to establish a scien-
tific and reasonable evaluation index system, making a
macro analysis and evaluation towards ice-snow tourism
resource value and its realized degree.
2. The Value of Ice-snow Tourism Resource
All kind of resource value has multiple-functions, and
tourism value is just an additional value produced by one
of these functions. This kind of value is firstly reflected
during people’s pursuing the comfortable life, and then is
promoted gradually with the strengthening of the
source’s scarcity and is known and selected by more
people. When this resource value is selected, it also
means it is being produced and realized. The tourism
value of ice-snow resource is first reflected when people
gain relaxation and an understanding of exotic through
touring. From the economic point of view, the value of
ice and snow tourism resource is more essentially re-
flected as a willingness to pay when people want to gain
a comfortable environment, spectacular enjoyment, or
cultural influence. Thus, to understand the value of
ice-snow resource, must emphasis not only the additional
value of the resource, but also the essential attributes.
From this perspective, tourism resource value is mostly
reflected through expectation value (EX) and realization
value (RX).

The Assessment of Ice-snow Tourism Resources Value and Its Realization Degree 31
Expectation value is the potential value of ice-snow
tourism resource. Ice-snow tourism resource value is
influenced by the environment and resource it relied on.
Therefore, we should have a clear acknowledge towards
the resource subject of ice-snow tourism system and the
environment, time, and space resource factor it relies on
to grasp the ice-snow tourism resource value accurately.
From this we can understand that a symbiotic relation-
ship exists between ice-snow tourism resource and envi-
ronment resource, and time and space resource is also
dynamic factors to influent tourism quality and prefer-
ences of tourists. This four resource factors are contained
in the potential value of ice-snow tourism resource, and
can decide what the largest value ice-snow tourism re-
source value is expected to attain to some.
Realization value is the value that ice-snow tourism
value is actually reflected or realized. Realization value
is closely related to the interaction between the subjec-
tive and objective bodies of ice-snow tourism resource.
Ice-snow tourism resource is the subjective body of
ice-snow tourists and tour operators. Tourists and tour
operators are also subject and object with each other the
same time. In the process to get the active awareness and
practice activity of the subject and object, ice-snow tour-
ism resource value can be achieved. Ice-snow tourism
resource developers realize the value of the tourism re-
source by collecting information of tourists and investi-
gating tourism resource. On this basis, they implement
their development towards tourism resource and practice
management (including marketing, maintenance and ser-
vice, etc). By transferring the temporary tenure of ice-
snow tourism facilities, ice-snow tourism products and
services to tourists to realize its economic value, devel-
opers can re-recognize the value. Tourists can recognize
and realize the ice-snow tourism resource value through
obtaining the temporary tenure of the processed tourism
products to visit and experience activities. From the
ice-snow tourists’ point of view, the value of ice-snow
tourism resource is more essentially reflected as a will-
ingness to pay when tourists want to gain a comfortable
environment, spectacular enjoyment, or cultural influ-
ence. On the other side, from the ice-snow tourism re-
source operators, they paid effort during the process of
developing and managing the ice-snow tourism resource.
According to the Marx‘s Labor Value, they created value.
For the ice-snow tourism resource itself has the feature of
scarcity and the utility to meet the demand of tourists,
which is conform to the subjective utility theory of value
of western economics about conditions of product’s
worth. Therefore, we can consider that as a kind of natu-
ral resource, ice-snow tourism resource itself possesses
value. Ice-snow tourism resource is the subjective body
of ice-snow tourists and tour operators. Tourists and tour
operators are also subject and object each other the same
time. The Knowing and practicing activity are cycling all
the time between the two and interplaying each other.
(See Figure 1)
In short, ice-snow tourism resource value will be in-
fluenced by the environment and resource, under the ef-
fect of dynamic, coordination, and coupling mechanism,
the resource value system starts to take shape and com-
bine the environment, time, and space resource value it
relies on efficiently. However, ice-snow tourism resource
value could not exist without the demand of the subject,
thus the value can only be realized only by perceiving the
subject & object of ice-snow tourism resource activity
and practicing. Realized value / expected value is called
realized degree (β), which can represent the develop-
ment level and result of the ice-snow tourism resource.
As a natural tourism resource, the ice-snow tourism
resource value can be reflected in the aspects of size and
diversity, popularity and influence, specialty of land-
scapes, suitability for recreation and quality of service,
etc. Taking the regional and seasonal characteristics of
Figure 1. Ice-snow tourism resource value cognitive model.

The Assessment of Ice-snow Tourism Resources Value and Its Realization Degree
32
ice-snow tourism resource into account, ice-snow tour-
ism resource value is related to the indicators of its ap-
plicable tourism range and period. At the same time, as a
cultural tourism resource, ice-snow tourism resource has
a strong cultural connotation. On one hand it reflects
from the ice-snow art, clothing culture, architectural cul-
ture, eating culture, entertainment culture, and scientific
and technological culture, etc. Formally, ice-snow art is
the most important level, which shows the artistic side of
design of ice-snow landscape can reflect the value of ice-
snow tourism resource. On the other hand, it reflected
from the ice-snow tourism object culture, such as ice-
snow tourism resource, facilities, products, and the cul-
ture connotation that the ice-snow tourism managers
show during the management process. Ice-snow tourism
resource value can be reflected by tourism cultural het-
erogeneity, the conceptualization of the theme culture,
participatory of the designed tourism project and suit-
ability to display tourism culture. Such indicators can
reflect the ice-snow tourism resource value. In addition,
to achieve the sustainable development of the ice-snow
tourism resource, it is necessary to protect the ecological
environment, to maintain the integrity, and enhance the
coordination of it. Ice-snow tourism scenic landscape
design should pay attention to maintain the original eco-
logical environment, reflecting the ecological atmosphere
to be corresponded with the landscape and the theme
culture. So it can be put forward that the integrity of
ecological resource and the ecologic of landscape design
index can reflect the value of ice-snow tourism re-
source[4].Based on the foregoing analysis, it can be con-
sidered that the ice-snow tourism resource value factors
mainly includes three dimensions: economic, cultural and
ecological dimensions (see Figure 2).
Accordingly, ice-snow tourism resource can be de-
composed into economic value, cultural value and eco-
logical value. Based on the natural reproduction capacity
of ice-snow tourism resource, economic value is the nec-
essary labor time to protect, recover and add value to
ice-snow reproduction, which reflects the investing value
of society. Cultural value mainly points to resource val-
ues that can satisfy the mankind's spirit cultural and
moral need, such as the artistic of designed landscape,
tourism cultural heterogeneity, theme culture concept, etc.
Ecological value mainly reflects the elements of
ice-snow tourism resource value on the ecological aspect.
Such as ecological landscape design, integrity of eco-
logical resources, environmental protection, and coordi-
nation of ecological environment. By referencing domes-
tic and foreign researchers’ results [5-7], it is possible to
build the ice-snow tourism resource value evaluation
system (Table 1).
3. The Evaluation Model of Ice-snow
Tourism Resource Value
Weight of ice-snow tourism resource value evaluation
index is determined by analytic hierarchy process (AHP).
In order to determine the weight of each index, ques-
tionnaires are given out to 12 ice-snow tourism scholars
and practitioners, to get a comparison between different
levels of evaluation importance. Experts will give the
two evaluation indicators’ relative importance based on
their judgment, the value space is an integer between 1 to
9, and 1
ij ji
uu

. The value criterion been taken is
shown in Table 2.
Process the data obtained from the investigation and
get the mean value, constructing pairwise comparison
judgment matrix, and use Analytic Hierarchy Process to
calculate the weight of each arrange evaluation index.
The result is shown in Table 3.
Regional characteristics
Seasonal characteristics
Natural Characteristics
Cultural dimension
Economic dimension
Ecological
p
rimitiveness
Harmony with landscape
Synergy with cultural themes
Ice-snow art Ice-snow tourism object culture
Ecological dimension
Figure 2. Three-dimension structure of ice-snow tourism resources value.

The Assessment of Ice-snow Tourism Resources Value and Its Realization Degree 33
Table 1. Ice-snow tourism resource value evaluation system.
Primary
Index
Secondary
Index Third level Index Analysis of variance
Specialty of Landscapes X11
Suitability for recreation X12
Size and diversity X13
Popularity and influence X14
Appropriate travel period X15
Appropriate travel area X16
Economic
Value(X1)
Service quality X17
Landscape design X21
Tourism cultural
heterogeneity X22
Theme culture concept X23
Participatory of project
design X24
Cultural
Value(X2)
Suitability of culture show X25
Ecological landscape
design X31
Integrity of
ecological resources X32
Environmental protection X33
Ice -snow
tourism
resource
value (X)
Ecological
Value(X3)
Coordination with
ecological environment X34
Table 2. Evaluation standards.
Score Explanation
1 ui is equally important compared with uj
3 ui is slightly more important compared with uj
5 ui is obviously more important compared with uj
7 ui is far more important compared with uj
9 ui is extremely more important compared with uj
2, 4, 6, 8 The medianbetween 1-3, 3-5, 5-7, 7-9
Table 3. Evaluation index weight value.
Index Weight
X11 0.112
X12 0.123
X13 0.123
X14 0.141
X15 0.167
X16 0.167
X1
X17 0.167
0.50
X21 0.168
X22 0.198
X23 0.198
X24 0.222
X2
X25 0.214
0.30
X31 0.297
X32 0.203
X33 0.297
X3
X34 0.203
0.20
The evaluation models of, economic value, cultural
value, and ecological value of ice-snow tourism resource
value are shown as following.
1111213
15 16 17
0.112 0.1230.123 0.141
0.167 0.167 0.167
14
X
XXX
XXX


X
23
(1)
22122
24 25
0.168 0.1980.198
0.222 0.214
X
XX
XX


X
34
(2)
3313233
0.297 0.203 0.2970.203
X
XXXX

 (3)
12
0.500.300.20 3
X
XXX

 (4)
90X
X
shows that ice-snow tourism resource value is
very high and has a very good potential for development;
70 90

 shows that ice-snow tourism resource
value is relatively high and has a good potential for de-
velopment, 50 70X


30
shows ice-snow tourism re-
source value is ordinary and also has an ordinary poten-
tial for development; 50X

 shows the ice-snow
tourism resource value is low and has a bad potential for
development; shows ice-snow tourism resource
value is very low and does not have enough potential for
development
30X
The expect value () and realized value () of
ice-snow tourism resource value can be gotten by for-
mula (1), formula (2) and formula (3). RX/EX is the re-
alized degree (β), which can be shown as:
EX RX
RX
EX
  (5)
Thus, the realized degree of economic value is:
1
1
1
RX
EX
  (6)
The realized degree of cultural value is:
2
2
2
RX
EX
  (7)
The realized degree of ecological value is:
3
3
3
RX
EX
  (8)
0.9

 shows the effect of ice-snow tourism re-
source value development is very good, 0.7 0.9



0.5 shows the effect is ordinary, 0.3

 shows the
effect is bad, 0.3

 shows the development result is
very bad.
4. The Empirical Analysis
Scenic spot ISW is located in Heilongjiang Province
which has an abundant ice-snow tourism resource. Ice-
snow tourism activity is held every year with a specific
theme. In this scenic spot, the essence of ice-snow art is

The Assessment of Ice-snow Tourism Resources Value and Its Realization Degree
34
concentrated. It is one of the biggest ice-snow scenic spot
in the world and has a lot of ice-snow patches and vari-
ous forms of recreation and entertainment. The ice-snow
tourism resource in scenic spot A includes natural tour-
ism resource and cultural tourism resource, which can
reflect the categories and characteristics of ice-snow
tourism resource, and also is a typical accumulation area
of ice-snow tourism resource.
4.1. Data
In order to obtain the required data for evaluation, ice-
snow tourism resource value evaluation questionnaire is
designed based on the ice-snow tourism resource value
evaluation index system. 500 questionnaires are given
out to tourists in ISW scenic area, of which 448 is valid.
The effective rate is 89.6%. The questionnaire is divided
into three parts. The first part is the value of tourism re-
source evaluation survey in ISW scenic area of Heilong-
jiang Province. Tourists grade each indicator that is been
designed with a full mark of 100.The second part is a
survey of realized degree in ISW scenic area in Heilong-
jiang Province. Tourists grade the realization degree of
each indicator. The third part shows the basic situation of
the respondents, such as place of origin, age, education
degree, etc.
Cronbach alpha is used to test the reliability of the
questionnaire, and the expert investigation method and
factor analysis method are used to test the content valid-
ity and structure validity of the questionnaire. The alpha
reliability coefficient is over 0.8, which indicates that the
indicators designed in the questionnaire have acceptable
reliability. Many previous research results are applied in
the design of the questionnaire, and the items of the
questionnaire are revised by the expert investigation
method to make sure that the selected items represent the
contents. So that the questionnaire has good content’s
validity. On conducting the structure validity to each
index, it is found that the value of KMO is greater than
0.5, which shows that there exist seven common factors,
which are the same as the secondary indicators of the
index system. Thus, the questionnaire design has good
structure validity.
4.2. Results
Processing the data of indicators collected from the first
and the second part in the questionnaire and calculate the
mean, and then combining the index weights equation
(1)-(8) obtained in Table 3, we can calculate the eco-
nomic value, cultural value, and ecological value of
ice-snow tourism resource, the ice-snow tourism resource
value and the realization degree. The result is shown in
Table 4.
Table 4. Evaluation result.
Indicators Economic
value
Cultural
value
Ecological
value
Ice-snow tourism
resource value
RX 66.54 36.39 49.30 54.19
EX 80.30 90.87 85.16 84.34
Realization
degree 82.9% 40.10% 57.90% 64.20%
It can be seen from table 4 that the expected economic
value o f ice-snow tourism resource of ISW scenic area is
80.30, expected cultural value is 90.87, expected eco-
logical value is 84.34. ISW scenic area obsesses a fine
ice-snow tourism resource and fine development poten-
tial reflected from the data above. From the composition
of the ice-snow tourism resource value, cultural value has
the highest score, followed by the ecological value, eco-
nomic value as the last. This shows that, compared with
the economic value, ISW scenic area has a higher cul-
tural and ecological value. The result of this evaluation
requires managers in ISW scenic area that more attention
should be paid to cultural values and ecological value
than economic value.
The realization value of the economic value of ISW
scenic area is 66.54, with cultural value 36.39, and eco-
logical value 49.30. The realization value of ice-snow
tourism resource is 54.19. The realization degree of
ice-snow tourism resource of ISW scenic area is 64.20%,
which shows the realization degree of ice-snow tourism
resource value of ISW scenic area is not high and has an
ordinary development result. The realization degree of
economic value is 82.90%, with cultural value 40.10%,
and ecological value 57.90%. This indicates that the
economic value of ice-snow tourism resource value of
ISW scenic is fully developed and has a fine develop-
ment result. On the other hand, the development of eco-
logical and cultural values is not effective, especially
cultural values, which still has a great room for im-
provement. Therefore, ISW scenic area will continuing
increase the development of the ice-snow tourism re-
source value, especially to strengthen the development of
cultural and ecological value, striving to improve the
realization degree.
5. Conclusions
Based on the analysis of expectation value and realiza-
tion value of ice-snow tourism resource, this paper de-
signs an analytical framework of three-dimension in-
cluding economic value, cultural value and ecological
value combined with the characteristic of ice-snow tour-
ism resource. From the three aspects, an assessment in-
dex system is designed, including 3 hierarchies, 16 indi-
cators. Comparisons are made with the studies by differ-

The Assessment of Ice-snow Tourism Resources Value and Its Realization Degree
35
ent scholars in the same field from home and abroad
when choosing indicators to ensure that the selected in-
dicators are comprehensive, scientific and rational [8,9].
Analytic Hierarchy Process is used to determine the
index weight, and based on this, economic value, cultural
value, ecological value, as well as ice-snow tourism re-
source value and are analyzed, the model of ice-snow
tourism resource value is constructed, and the develop-
ment of ice-snow tourism resource value is assessed. It
can be seen from the evaluation and analysis of ice-snow
tourism resource value of ISW scenic area in Heilongji-
ang province that the evaluation model and methods de-
veloped in this paper can make scientific and reasonable
evaluation towards ice-snow tourism resource value and
are beneficial to improving the result of ice-snow tourism
resource development.
This paper only provides a preliminary exploration on
the assessment of the ice-snow tourism resource value,
and there are many other important issues need to be
further studied. For example, the interaction and coupling
relationships among the three dimensions have a certain
influence on the ice-snow tourism resource value, and
can be included into the index system in further research
to achieve a more precise evaluation result.
6. Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper is supported by the
Philosophy and Social Science Project in Heilongjiang
Province (08C059).
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