Snow and skiing hottest attractions this winter

Destinations featuring snow scenery and winter sports like skiing have seen a boom in tourism over the past month, according to a report by Tuniu.com, an online travel agency, on Wednesday.

The company headquartered in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said search with keywords “snow”, “skiing” and “snow view” increased by 200 percent in past half month compared with the same period of last year.

Visits booked on its platform to attractions highlighting snow scenery are expected to rise by 30 percent during 2018 winter season and 2019 spring than that of last year, according to the report.

The report said destinations in northeast provinces remain most attractive, with Harbin in Heilongjiang province, Jilin city in Jilin province, and Shenyang in Liaoning province topping the list.

Lvmama.com, another online agency headquartered in Shanghai, said that reservation of snow-themed packages on its platform have risen by over 50 percent so far from early November.

Li Qiuyan, general manager with the agency’s public relationship department, said that destinations in Northeast China’s provinces such as Liaoning and Heilongjiang attract the most travelers for their marvelous snow-covered landscape and distinctive customs.

“Viewing snowy scenery and ice sculpture and experiencing winter sports like skiing are popular choices among domestic travelers,” she said.

Outbound destinations famous for snow-related events including Japan, Russia, Finland and Sweden have been embraced by Chinese travelers during the winter, according to the report by Tuniu.com.

The agency said tour package on snow-themed destinations is much more expensive. Packages to domestic attractions usually cost at least 3,000 yuan ($440) while to foreign destinations they range from 6,500 to 15,000 yuan.