An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 5, 2025 shows visitors having fun at the Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. The 41st Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival kicked off here on Sunday with the theme “Dream of Winter, Love among Asia.” (Xinhua/Xie Jianfei)
China’s ice and snow tourism remains a key driver of the winter economy, with Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province reporting a total of 135.08 million domestic and international visitors from November 8, 2024, to February 28, 2025, marking an 18.5 percent increase from the previous year, China Media Group reported on Sunday.
Tourist spending in the province reached 211.72 billion yuan ($29.19 billion) during the period, up 30.7 percent from the previous year, according to the report.
Visitors from outside the province totaled 36.57 million, making up 27.1 percent of arrivals and rising by 49.5 percent year-on-year.
Heilongjiang also saw 882,000 inbound tourists, doubling figures from the previous year with a 103.9 percent surge. Their spending totaled 9.87 billion yuan, reflecting a 117.5 percent year-on-year rise.
On February 20, Heilongjiang announced implementation of the visa-free policies for Chinese and Russian cross-border tourist groups, representing a significant step in the province’s push to enhance cross-border tourism.
Regions across China are introducing targeted policies to strengthen the ice and snow tourism sector, enhancing efforts to drive winter economic growth.
Chongli, the host of snow sports events during the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, remains a top-tier winter tourism hub in North China’s Hebei Province. In 2024, the district attracted 8.54 million visitors, generating 9.55 billion yuan in tourism revenue, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The local tourism sector in Chongli has undergone significant upgrades, with improvements in ski instruction, equipment rentals, lifestyle retail areas and cultural performances. In terms of visitor demographics, travelers from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region accounted for 70 percent of the total.
Meanwhile, Northeast China’s Jilin Province has rolled out measures to drive the high-quality growth of its ice and snow economy.
By the 2029-30 snow season, Jilin targets to receive 300 million tourist visits, 540 billion yuan in revenue, and 5 billion yuan in ice and snow equipment manufacturing output, the Guangming Daily reported.
According to data from the China Tourism Academy, the 2024-25 ice and snow season is expected to draw 520 million tourist visits nationwide, marking a year-on-year increase of about 21 percent. Revenue from ice and snow tourism is expected to surpass 630 billion yuan, reflecting a 20 percent year-on-year increase.
Global Times
