Country for PR: China
Contributor: Xinhua News Agency
Wednesday, December 30 2020 - 20:53
AsiaNet
China's Jilin turns ice-cold resources into hot-spot industry
CHANGCHUN, China, Dec. 30, 2020 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--

With the goal of building a world-class ice and snow tourism destination, Jilin 
Province in northeast China aims to build a high-quality snow and ice tourism 
industry, promote the integrated development of snow and ice related 
industries, build a strong snow and ice economy, and realize the transition 
from ice and snow industry to economy, turning the "cold resource" of ice and 
snow into a "hot industry", according to Jilin Provincial Department of Culture 
and Tourism.

Taking advantage of the opportunities brought by the Beijing 2022 Winter 
Olympics, Jilin has actively promoted the brand building of "Winter Olympics in 
Beijing, Experience in Jilin", further promoted the popularization of ice and 
snow sports, and strengthened the influence of a series of ice and snow 
activities such as Vasaloppet China International Skiing Festival, national 
winter swimming invitational tournament, Songhua River International Winter 
Dragon Boat Race, Chagan Lake winter fishing festival, etc. The province has 
launched nearly 300 snow and ice related culture, tourism, sports, trade, 
education and other events.

Jilin has comprehensively promoted the development and upgrading of ice and 
snow sports, equipment manufacturing, ice and snow tourism services and other 
industries, creating "smart ice and snow" and promoting the diversified 
dissemination of ice and snow elements in Jilin. As the only snow themed expo 
in China, Jilin International Snow and Ice Industry Expo has been held for five 
times, with an accumulated more than 1,500 participating brands, 466,000 
visitors and a total on-site turnover of 852 million yuan.

In the new snow season, Jilin has planned 32 ice and snow tourism boutique 
routes, and launched 28 preferential policies such as issuing ice and snow 
consumption vouchers, which has driven the hotel occupancy rate around the ice 
and snow scenic spots to more than 85%, the passenger flow of surrounding 
shopping malls up by 12%, and turnover up by 9.5%.

Jilin Province, located between 41 and 46 degrees north latitude, is one of the 
"world's three powder snow bases", concentrating all the natural advantages of 
powder snow, frozen lake, rime and hot spring in developing snow and ice 
economy. After several years of efforts, the province has developed a new 
development path based on ice and snow tourism, sports and culture, and formed 
a "3+X" full industrial chain supported by ice and snow equipment 
manufacturing, trade, transportation, intelligence, talents, etc.

In the meantime, Jilin has actively promoted the construction of the "Ice and 
Snow Silk Road", with Jilin as the core, based in northeast China and facing 
Northeast Asia, and has strengthened cooperation and exchanges with the ice and 
snow countries along the Belt and Road, with a view to building the northeast 
region of China into a highland of China's ice and snow economy and building a 
world ice and snow economy comparable to Europe and North America.

Jilin's total snow trails cover an area of 1,050 hectares, accounting for about 
20% of the country's total, ranking first in China. Its resorts have the best 
natural conditions and competitive quality in Asia. It also boasts the world's 
fourth, Asia's first all-weather standardized ski training course. During the 
2018-2019 snow season, the province received 84.3 million tourists and an 
revenue to 169.8 billion yuan (26.2 billion U.S. dollars) in ice and snow 
tourism, up 62% and 86% respectively from five years ago, winning the market 
recognition of "Jilin leading the development of China's ice and snow industry".

SOURCE: Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism