The first dusting of snow in one of China’s coldest regions has brought with it an early start to the local tourism season, and travel agency manager Wang Dingming is bracing for not only the bitterly freezing temperatures, but also perhaps his busiest year ever.
“In the past, the peak season would start in December. But this year, we are seeing more visitors coming earlier, or booking their trips well in advance to dodge the price hikes,” said Wang, who works in Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province famous for its annual Ice Festival that features elaborate and artistic sculptures.
Last Tuesday’s snowfall informally kicked off a months-long stretch that sees Harbin become one of the hottest holiday destinations in China, luring millions and fuelling a massive boon to the local economy that looks to be getting bigger.
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And Wang attributed this year’s earlier-than-normal arrival of tourists to the local government building on last year’s success by stepping up its advertising push. From last November to February, more than 87 million tourists visited Harbin, generating about 124 billion yuan (US$17.3 billion) in revenue, according to state media reports.
Further underpinning the wintry windfall are efforts by Chinese authorities to seize upon seasonal opportunities across northern and northeastern regions.
On Wednesday, the State Council issued guidelines for the enhanced cultivation of a “snow and ice economy”, encompassing winter tourism, sports and related equipment manufacturing.
With weak domestic demand slowing China’s economic recovery, the central government is expanding its support from just winter sports, first promoted in 2018, to the entire ice and snow industry.
According to the guidelines, the goal is to turn the sector into a new economic driver to boost domestic demand and create jobs.
Between late November and early December, Beijing will host three international winter sports competitions that serve as qualifiers for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, according to state media CCTV. And in February, Harbin will host the 9th Asian Winter Games.
The scale of the industry is expected to reach 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030, according to the new guidelines. That would be a 68 per cent increase from 2023, when the industry was valued at 890 billion yuan.
Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, as well as the autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, which have historically relied heavily on primary and secondary industries, are identified as the key regions for developing the ice and snow economy.
Analysts were unsurprised by the government’s enhanced support, as outdoor and fitness activities have offered bright spots amid China’s weak consumption. Thus, they say, it is natural for the government to leverage the trend.
“But it remains to be seen how impactful these guidelines will be, not only in terms of driving spending into snow sports and tourism into key regions, but also in terms of boosting overall consumption,” said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the China Center at the Conference Board, an international think tank.
For all of 2023, Harbin welcomed more than 135 million tourists, exceeding what it saw in pre-pandemic 2019 by 41.4 per cent, according to the local government.
However, tourism revenue was up only 7.4 per cent last year, as the average spending among each tourist contracted to 1,253 yuan, well below the 1,644 yuan they spent in 2019.
And Wang said that, while the number of tourists has indeed increased so far this winter, visitors appear more sensitive to prices than before.
It is now more common for tourists interested in joining their travel group to negotiate for the lowest possible price.
And if they are unsatisfied with the final offer, some customers opt for more time-consuming routes – such as transferring between buses and trains – instead of travelling with the group to their destination.
While this results in slimmer profits, Wang said, agreeing to bargain prices is “better than nothing”.
“At least we can earn some money,” Wang added. “It’s hard for nearly every travel agency to make much of a profit now.”
Despite government incentives to seize upon the ice and snow economy, Montufar-Helu noted that restoring consumer confidence to pre-Covid levels is a more fundamental challenge.
“Restoring confidence levels requires major structural reforms, including reducing the people’s need for precautionary savings and helping the private sector thrive,” Montufar-Helu said.
“Without a sustainable recovery in consumer confidence levels, the effect of policy guidelines will be limited.”
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