China View recently posted an article on its website describing a northern China boom in winter tourism. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and Xinjiang provinces are starting to reap the benefits of their long winters and heavy snowfalls by developing ski resorts and winter playgrounds for local and foreign tourists alike. Heilongjiang alone has 70 ski resorts that account for more than 60 percent of China’s winter resort facilities. There are now almost 30 ski resorts surrounding Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, which can accommodate 20,000 visitors a day.
In addition to developing more winter resort facilities in northern China, local governments are producing large, annual “snow and ice extravaganzas” and winter sport competitions to entice more tourists to visit their regions. Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang is famous for its annual ice festival. This year the city worked in conjunction with the city of Montreal, Canada to create spectacular snow sculptures.
The development of an “ice and snow economy” in China has led to a major increase in tourism income for the northern provinces. The Heilongjiang Tourism Department reported that more than 3.2 million tourists visited its spring festival last year, resulting in 250 million US dollars for the province. Winter tourism earned 575 million US dollars for Xinjiang in 2005.
Interestingly, we are seeing very little by way of activity from foreign companies seeking to do business in China’s Northern Provinces, in the snow and ice industries or otherwise.