Tourists look at a large snow sculpture at the Sun Island Park during the 26th China Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo in 2013 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. (Photo : www.vosizneias.com)
Following the country’s successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Heilongjiang will push for the promotion of ice-snow tourism in the northeastern province, as officials held a meeting in Beijing on Nov. 5 to attract winter vacationers.
Zhang Lizhong, head of the National Tourism Administration's tourism promotion and international cooperation division, said that ice-snow tourism has its own characteristics, adding that it will soon start a golden period of development in the sector.
Xi Dongguang, head of the Heilongjiang tourism administration, said that Heilongjiang has a 120-day snowfall period, which turns the 450,000-square-kilometer land into a white fairyland. The area covers the easternmost and northernmost areas of China, which is known for abundant ice-snow tourism resources.
The China Daily reported that during the meeting, the tourism bureau also decided to set up strategic cooperation with travel service giants, such as Ctrip, Tuniu.com and Aoyou.com. The last is an online booking website under China Youth Travel Service Co.
The region's main attractions during winter include the Harbin international ice and snow festival, the Yabuli ski resort with 46 tracks, the Zhalong wetland that is home to red-crowned cranes, and the Jingpo Lake featuring ice falls that stretch for hundreds of meters.
"I believe the ice and snow in Heilongjiang will be beyond tourists' expectations," Xi said.
According to the report, more than 88 million Chinese tourists visited the province in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 22.3 percent from the previous year.
Ice-snow tourism is expected to have a positive impact on the development of the local service sector, the officials said.
