The growing popularity of ice and snow has made China's northernmost Heilongjiang Province one of the hottest tourism spots across the country during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday from January 24 to 30.

Statistics from the Provincial Holiday Affairs Office show that 1.35 million domestic tourists traveled to the province during the holiday period, 35 percent higher than last year.

Tourism income hit a record 701 million yuan (US$84.5 million), up 40.2 percent from last year.

The province also earned US$2.75 million in foreign exchange income from 8,000 overseas tourists.

Local hotels, travel agencies, stores, restaurants and even farmers have all profited from the travel boom.

Total income for these industries surpassed 385 million yuan (US$46.4 million) during the holiday, Harbin Daily reported.

The province boasts the world's largest man-made ice and snow garden, a variety of ice sports and numerous ski resorts. One of the biggest attractions is the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival.

Travel agencies have reported brisk trade serving holiday travelers coming by groups or chartered flights.

Harbin Sightseeing Travel Agency organized 128 travel groups within seven days.

Local stores and restaurants reported an average increase of 30 percent in sales turnover.

Hotels and other accommodation facilities alongside the Songhua River have been full to capacity.

A local newspaper reported that more than 40,000 people in Harbin, the provincial capital, treated themselves to hotel accommodations during Spring Festival -- part of a growing fad to holiday at home.

Farmers living close to scenic spots have developed a new profitable trade in selling souvenirs and providing services to tourists.

Airlines and railways have also benefited from the tourism surge.

Despite a total of 164 flights to Harbin being added during the holiday week, demand was still not satisfied.

The railway administrative department added special trains and carriages to alleviate the traffic burden.

Heilongjiang has become one of the leading tourist provinces in China in recent years.

But a decade ago, China's northeastern provinces generally saw few tourists, especially in winter.

Last year, about 27 million domestic tourists and 550,000 foreign visitors traveled in the province.

Earnings from tourism sector surged to 13.7 billion yuan (US$1.65 billion) last year, accounting for 4.3 percent of the province's gross domestic product.

The province invested 1.32 billion yuan (US$159 million) last year to build 178 tourism projects.

Insiders say more efforts are needed to improve the attractiveness of the region so as to be more competitive with other areas boasting ice and snow resources.

Beijing, Tianjin, Chengde, Jilin, Changchun and Shenyang have all started holding ice and snow festivals in recent years.

(China Daily 02/02/2001)