Tourists ride on a goat-drawn sled embellished with charac-teristic printings of Northeast China under frost-covered trees near the Songhua River in Jilin city, Northeast China's Jilin Province, on February 6, 2023. Photos: Lin Xiaoyi/Global Times

As the fog on the surface of the Songhua River curls up into the air, the trees on both sides of the river look like silver flowers in full bloom as their branches have been covered in a layer of white rime, attracting swarms of tourists to visit the city of Jilin in Northeast China's Jilin Province on Monday.

Jilin Province is rich in winter tourism resources. Stimulated by the double benefits of the Spring Festival holidays and China's optimized COVID-19 prevention and control policies, tourism has sharply risen recently. During the holidays, the province received a total of 11.54 million domestic tourists, up 23.61 percent year on year. Among them, 18.1 percent were tourists from other provinces, who accounted for 68.9 percent of tourism consumption.

The city of Jilin, which has the nickname of "the capital of rime and a paradise for skiing," received a total of 1.98 million tourists, who brought in 2.259 billion yuan ($332 million) in income.

On Monday morning, the Rime Park near the Songhua River was already crowded before 9 am. Under the ice-covered trees, horseback riding and goat sledging attracted a steady stream of visitors.

A visitor rides a horse under fog trees in the Rime Park in Jilin city on February 6, 2023.

Ice tourism has become fashionable in recent years, leading to busy ski resorts. According to data, Jilin's most famous Beidahu Ski Resort and Vanke Songhua Lake Ski Resort received a total of 92,800 visitors during the 2023 Spring Festival holidays, up 4.74 percent year on year, and realized a tourism revenue of 60.57 million yuan, up 10.68 percent year on year.

Teenagers train at the Songhua Lake Ski Resort on February 6, 2023.

"We used to be at the ski resorts in Beijing. But now, Jilin's winter sports industry is getting better and better. And as our country downgrades the epidemic control policies, this [Jilin Province] has become our favorite tourist and sports destination," a 27-year-old woman surnamed Chen told the Global Times.

Jin Yongshan, secretary of the Party Committee of the Jilin City Ice and Snow Economy High Quality Development Pilot Zone, told the Global Times on Monday that the Beidahu Ski Resort, which became the largest single ski resort in Asia in 2022, saw a 16-fold increase in hotel reservations around the holidays compared with that in 2019.

"In recent years, ski training, ski photography, ski equipment rental, homestay, catering and other industrial clusters gradually formed around the major ski resorts in Jilin city. Over the past three years, despite the impact of the pandemic, Jilin city and Jilin Province's winter tourism market share, product sales and market capacity have taken the lead in China," Jin said.

People train at the Beidahu Ski Resort on February 6, 2023.

Located in the world's prime latitudinal zone for snow and ice, Jilin Province's soft, dry, flour-like snow rivals that of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains.

Taking advantage of the post-Winter Olympics fervor in China, Jilin's current efforts are focused on making the province into a distinctive destination for ice and snow activities.

Data from the Legacy Report of Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 shows that from 2018 to 2020, heavy asset investment into ­China's ice and snow tourism reached nearly 900 billion yuan, of which, Jilin ranks No.1 in the country, with ski resorts and peripheral support being the main investment directions.

Currently, local authorities in Jilin city have established 75 state-level ice and snow specialty schools, which get more than 3 million people to participate in winter sports every year.

On Saturday, the first anniversary of the holding of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Jilin Province held a conference on building a province with a strong focus on winter tourism, during which officials announced that the province would establish a high-quality development system for the ice and snow economy and build a world-famous winter tourism resort by 2025.  

Tourists take photos in the Rime Park in Jilin city on February 6, 2023.

Tourists take photos under rime trees near the Songhua River in Jilin city on February 6, 2023.