Every winter in northeastern China, the coldest places are often the busiest tourist spots. At the moment this trend is particularly strong, with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics approaching and the Chinese people’s passion for cold never reached such high levels. “Ice and Snow World” is a popular seasonal attraction in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, and was full of tourists during the recent New Year holidays, which lasted from 1 to 3 January.
The park, which covers an area of 820,000 square meters, used around 230,000 cubic meters of ice and snow to create 65 different landscapes this year, with the popular ‘super ice slide’ attraction being extended to 423 meters. Strict prevention measures against Covid-19 are implemented in the park. Visitors line up in neat lines in front of the gates, scan their health certificates and have their temperatures measured before entering the complex.
Park tour guide Liu Lu spends around six hours a day in the freezing weather, showing visitors the attractions and telling them how the ice was collected and how the attraction was built. “When I see tourists enjoying the park, I see the value of my work and I don’t feel the cold at all,” Liu comments. Located in the Changbai Mountains, the Snow Village in Heilongjiang City of Hailin kicked off the annual tourist season on December 29, when local temperatures dropped to around -20 ° C, transforming the village into a snowy wonderland. Fan Zhaoyi runs a bed and breakfast in the village. Days before opening, he stored a lot of food and had some maintenance work completed in preparation for the tourists to arrive.
Fan says the attraction has become increasingly popular with visitors to southern China, where such an impressive snowy landscape is hard to find. In the northern village, the snowy weather can last seven months of the year. The village conducted emergency drills for all staff and provided training on infectious disease prevention and emergency response.
In addition, the site is equipped with a mobile analysis laboratory for molecular tests, with a daily capacity of 10,000 processed samples. In the past, the Snow Village was a forest farm and Fan worked there as a woodcutter. The development of snow and ice tourism has favored both the improvement of the local economy and environmental protection efforts.
In recent years, the Chinese people’s passion for winter sports has also increased, such as night skiing in the spotlight. Experts noted that the sport-related economy has become a new economic driving force in northern China. Songhuahu Ski Field, a popular urban ski resort in Jilin City in the province of the same name, introduced night skiing sessions in 2016 and the number of attendees grew from 30,000 to around 100,000 in 2021, explains Wang Jiayu, manager of the resort.
“For me, night skiing is the perfect way to deal with stress,” says frequent visitor Zhang Tian, who adds “it has become an integral part of my winter fun.” Market-conscious entrepreneurs are catching up with the latest trend, building catering and hospitality services as well as hot springs around ski resorts. Zhao Chunjie, who has been an avid skier for 10 years, recently opened a facility near the Songhuahu resort.
“My residence can accommodate more than 100 people and tourists from South China make up 70-80% of the total,” says the owner, noting that the property is already fully booked for the Lunar New Year holidays in February. Zhao is quite confident about his own business and observes “I believe more people will devote themselves to ice and snow sports after the conclusion of the 2022 Winter Olympics.”
Follow LaStampa Viaggi on Facebook (click here)