Abstract: Against the backdrop of China’s rapidly expanding ice-and-snow economy, ski resorts are undergoing a transformation from single-function sports venues to diversified, multi-scenario experiential complexes. However, limited-service provision and insufficient integration across scenarios have restricted resorts’ ability to meet tourists’ increasingly dynamic and personalized experience demands. To address this gap, this study adopts the ecological-experience perspective derived from service ecosystem theory and applies grounded theory methods to investigate tourists’ experiential processes in ski resorts. Based on in-depth interviews with 60 typical visitors, followed by open, axial, and selective coding as well as theoretical saturation testing, the study constructs an ecological experience model that integrates temporal-spatial dimensions with scenario-based demands. The findings reveal three main insights. (1) Through expert consultation and literature analysis, ski resort tourists can be categorized into three distinct groups—“professional skiers” “advanced learners” and “leisure recreationists”—each demonstrating differentiated core needs. (2) The three groups exhibit notable variation in their scenario demands across key temporal-spatial nodes throughout the resort experience. Several nodes show clear mismatches between service supply and visitor expectations, resulting in limited experience continuity and reduced experience extensibility. (3) To enhance the ecological experience, ski resorts should prioritize strengthening cross-node linkage, developing personalized multi-scenario services, improving experiential continuity, and fostering value co-creation between tourists and operators. By integrating temporal-spatial dynamics with scenario-based experience demands, this study expands the theoretical connotations of tourism experience research from a spatiotemporal interaction perspective. The findings offer practical guidance for ski resorts seeking to enhance experience management, promote scenario integration, and adapt to the evolving needs of diverse visitor groups.

Key words: ski resort, ecological experience, spatiotemporal dimension, scenario appeal, Grounded Theory