Ice sculptors work in the venue of the 47th Harbin ice lantern fair in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Song)
BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Northeast China, with its unique ice and snow resources, is ushering in golden development of the ice and snow economy.
According to data from China UnionPay Merchant Services Co., Ltd. (China UMS), a leading non-bank payment institution in China, during the just-passed Spring Festival holiday, Jilin Province received 8.2 million tourists, up 69.7 percent year on year, with tourism revenue registering 7.459 billion yuan, up 49.28 percent year on year.
This is only an epitome of the rapid ice and snow economic development in northeast China.
In recent years, many cities in the region have striven to build featured ice and snow industries, with Jilin City of Jilin Province targeting rime plus skiing plus hot spring, Changchun City of Jilin Province ice and snow sculptures plus skiing, and Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province the ice-snow world and other brands.
Jilin Province has carried out a series of thematic events regarding the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, and invested in a batch of large projects, boosting the development of ice and snow tourism.
The Changchun new world of ice and snow has become a landmark for ice and snow tourism in northeast China, featuring 142 ice buildings with rich shapes, including an ice slide with a length of 512.6 meters and an ice tower with a height of 37.8 meters, and incorporating in the design city cards like movies, cars, high-speed rail, and satellites. There is also an ice lantern show at night.
A series of high-level ice and snow events in Northeast China have also been well-known at home and abroad, including the Heilongjiang International Skiing Festival, the Changchun Vasaloppet International Skiing Festival, the Shenyang International Winter Swimming Invitational Tournament, etc.
In recent years, the northeast region has attracted investment from well-known domestic and foreign companies such as Wanda, Vanke and Sheraton, and ice and snow tourism projects have become key investment fields.
China's ice and snow industry was about 423.5 billion yuan in scale by the end of 2019, and five major industrial chains including ice and snow tourism, ice and snow events, ice and snow sports training, ice and snow marketing and ice and snow equipment have taken shape.
Northeast China will launch more snow and ice projects to continue to unleash related investment opportunities.
Jilin Province will focus on building a world-class skiing sports and leisure destination, a world-class ski tourism destination, an international ice and snow industry cooperation and exchange center and a national ice and snow talent training basein the next five years.
Heilongjiang Province has proposed to further expand its influence as a major province of ice and snow, and let ice and snow tourism and ice and snow sports to lead China to the world.
Liaoning Province has introduced relevant measures to improve the weak links in ice and snow projects in an all-round way and promote the vigorous development of the industry.
(Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)
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