Heilongjiang's winter tourism booms despite annoying warmth

HARBIN - Northeast China's Heilongjiang saw business boom during its globally-renowned winter festival during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, despite challenges from unexpectedly warm weather.

As a centerpiece of the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival that opened on Jan 5, the "Ice and Snow World 2016" theme park received 169,000 visitors during the holiday from Feb 7 to 13, up nearly 17 percent year on year, according to statistics from the organizer.

The park, China's largest ice park, was even bigger this year, covering more than 800,000 square meters and using a record 330,000 cubic meters of ice and snow.

The 28th Sun Island Snow Expo, which features the world's highest and largest snow sculpture, the 51-meter-high "Crown of Ice and Snow," also saw more than 130,000 visitors during the holiday, up nearly 16 percent year on year.

The tourists remained awed despite the abnormally warm weather in Harbin, the provincial capital, which damaged ice and snow creations. Harbin has a yearly average temperature of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures as high as 5 degrees Celsius forced "Ice and Snow World 2016" to be closed for one day on Feb 12.

The height of the "Crown of Ice and Snow" has been reduced by 5 meters and many of its details have been ruined, said Xie Hengcai, a designer with the snow expo.

"I would say the real one is a bit different from the one I saw on the Internet...but I like it anyway," said tourist Zhang Xinquan from South China's Guangdong province.

The sculptures melt faster when the temperature is above minus 4 degrees Celsius, Xie said, adding that technicians are restoring damaged sculptures and have removed nearly 30 others beyond repair.

"It is the first time we have encountered such 'disaster'. In previous years, they could survive through February," he said.

Other tourist destinations in Heilongjiang were also well received, despite rain and snow causing closure of highways leading to the sites.

Famed for farm-based tourism, "Snow Town," where snow falls for half a year and gets as deep as two meters, saw the number of visitors increase 90 percent year on year during the holiday. Yabuli ski resort saw a 60-percent increase in its tourist numbers.

Authorities in Heilongjiang are vigorously promoting winter tourism, a bright spot in the local economy, which has been slowed by sagging energy and heavy industries.

The province, along with Liaoning and Jilin, has been a traditional industrial base for decades. From January to September, Heilongjiang's economy expanded by 5.5 percent, ranking third from the bottom among China's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. However, the province's tourism revenues grew by 35 percent during the first three quarters last year.