'Ice city' sees white hot tourism demand

Domestic and foreign consumers have shown a growing interest in taking ice and snow trips to Northeast China, led by the "Ice City" of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, and fueled by the opening of the 9th Asian Winter Games in the city on Friday.

Harbin has been growing in popularity for a number of years and went viral last winter. In February, booking volumes of hotels in the provincial capital surged nearly 60 percent year-on-year, said Tongcheng Travel, a Suzhou, Jiangsu province-based online travel agency.

In particular, Shangzhi, a city under the jurisdiction of Harbin, saw booking volumes at local hotels jump 80 percent year-on-year, as snow-related events during the Asian Winter Games are being held at Shangzhi's Yabuli Ski Resort.

In addition, bookings of domestic flights to Harbin in February grew over 20 percent year-on-year. Of the top 10 most popular domestic routes to Harbin, 70 percent originated from cities south of the Yangtze River.

Prices for flight tickets to Harbin have recorded double-digit declines on average compared with the same period of last year. A flight from Shanghai to Harbin — one of the busiest routes during the Spring Festival holiday — saw prices fall by nearly 70 percent year-on-year, Tongcheng Travel said.

"An exception is that flight prices from Sanya, Hainan province to Harbin remain high, as many Harbin residents went to Sanya for winter vacations earlier and they created demand for return flights to Harbin," said Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher at the Tongcheng Research Institute.

"It's noteworthy that the schedule of this year's Asian Winter Games covers the upcoming Lantern Festival and Valentine's Day. The festive mood, combined with favorable factors such as cheaper airfares, may further boost tourists' enthusiasm for visiting Harbin and other ice and snow tourism destinations in China," Cheng said.

Ice and snow tourism in the country has maintained high popularity since late last year. Traveling to snowy destinations, bathing in hot springs and enjoying specialty foods in Northeast China were among the most popular things to do, said Tuniu Corp, a Nanjing, Jiangsu province-based online travel agency.

In particular, such activities were highly favored by consumers from areas in East and South China such as Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian, Tuniu said.

Incentives including favorable policies, strong demand and the innovation of supply are expected to further encourage the growth of ice and snow tourism.

The number of passenger trips related to ice and snow tours in the 2024-25 winter season is seen reaching 520 million, and revenue in the ice and snow leisure tourism market is likely to exceed 630 billion yuan ($86.4 billion), said the China Tourism Academy.

Meanwhile, ice and snow tourism has also been a hit among foreign visitors. Airlines have been adding capacity on flights to ice and snow tourism destinations in China and neighboring countries to cash in on rapidly growing demand this winter.

By the end of 2024, budget carrier Spring Airlines resumed international flights connecting Harbin with Bangkok, with a stopover in Fuzhou, Fujian province.

In addition, international flights connecting Harbin and Tokyo, as well as Harbin and Seoul, were added with more frequency late last year to cater to growing passenger demand. Since late December, the flow of inbound passengers at Harbin Taiping International Airport has significantly increased, according to the airport.

As of Wednesday, the booking volume of inbound trips to Harbin had jumped more than 30 percent year-on-year, and the city was listed among the top three most popular inbound destinations in China, said Tongcheng Travel.