China's Jilin turns ice-cold resources into hot-spot industry

CHANGCHUN, China, Dec. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 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".