China News Service, Harbin, February 12th Title: "China Red" and "Ice and White" meet again. The Asian Winter will release the "hot energy" of ice and snow tourism

China News Service reporter Guo Chaokai

February 12 coincides with the Lantern Festival of the Year of the Snake in the Lunar New Year, and Harbin Central Street is very lively. A folk yangko team composed of more than 20 people performs welcoming yangko dances to guests from all over the world. The cheerful rhythm and agile dance posture instantly ignited the atmosphere on the scene.

Foreign guests were immersed in it, and learned about and experienced local intangible cultural heritage techniques such as ice printmaking, sugar painting, and paper cutting, tasted special foods such as frozen pears and frozen persimmons, and felt the fun of "shaking the Lantern Festival".

This happy scene is a vivid epitome of the Harbin Asian Winter Conference driving the further development of ice and snow tourism.

Three years ago, the successful holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics brought "300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports" into reality. From the Beijing Winter Olympics to the Harbin Asian Winter Games, "Chinese Red" and "Ice and White" have once again had a romantic encounter. Since the Asian Winter Games started, Chinese and foreign tourists have experienced the passion of the event and the charm of ice and snow in the Ice City. "Travel with the event" has gradually become a new way of leisure that people are passionate about.

Recently, a large number of Southeast Asian tourists went north, crossing the temperature difference of 50 degrees Celsius, and came to Harbin to experience the "Frozen". Data shows that from January 1 to February 9, Harbin received a total of 424,000 inbound tourists, an increase of 145.1% year-on-year.

Behind the "Ice and Snow Hot" is a powerful driving force for the deep coupling of the Asian Winter Games and urban cultural and tourism - the event venues are closely linked to ice and snow attractions, and the athletes' struggle stories are intertwined and integrated with tourists' personal experiences, jointly writing the golden paradigm of "sports + cultural and tourism".

Using Asian Winter as a medium, we go to the Ice City for an appointment. In order to make Chinese and foreign tourists feel at home, Harbin has comprehensively upgraded tourism services. During the event, more than 1,300 bank outlets in Harbin can handle foreign currency exchange services, and more than 5,800 merchants can accept foreign card swiping, providing all-round convenience for tourists from all over the world and highlighting their international style everywhere.

As the first opening ceremony sub-venue for the Harbin Asian Winter Games, Harbin Ice and Snow World cleverly presents members of the Asian Olympic Council in the form of ice sculptures. At the same time, the Russian-style buildings on Harbin Central Street exudes a strong exotic style, and the intangible cultural heritage handmade in the Chinese Baroque historical and cultural block inherits ancient skills, allowing tourists to enjoy the beautiful scenery of ice and snow while also feeling the profound cultural heritage.

The American magazine "Travel and Tourism World" praised Harbin's charming winter landscape and pointed out that the Harbin Asian Winter Games will not only promote the development of global ice and snow sports, but will also inject new vitality into the tourism industry in the local and wider regions.

The Harbin Asian Winter Games has also driven the continued warming of tourism in Heilongjiang. Yabuli Ski Resort, one of the birthplaces of Chinese popular skiing, attracted many ski enthusiasts to watch the competition during the event; China's snow town, known as the "Snow Country Fairy Tale World", has made tourists linger with its unique snow scene; encountering the Arctic Village of Mohe, which is even more mysterious and romantic... These scenic spots are further loved by tourists due to the arrival of the Asian Winter Games.

In addition to Heilongjiang, various places have also innovated consumption scenarios that integrate ice and snow and culture and tourism according to local conditions. For example, Sichuan launched sports tourism routes such as "Smooth Ice and Snow World" and "Southern Ice and Snow Tour", Shanxi released the "Shanxi Province Ice and Snow Sports Map", and Hebei launched 8 high-quality ice and snow tourism routes...

The Harbin Asian Winter Games event is gradually coming to an end, and the outside world believes that this ice and snow event will become a new starting point for China's ice and snow tourism. Harbin has carefully planned the "post-Asian Winter Era" blueprint: relying on the upgraded venues, it actively undertakes high-level events such as cross-country skiing marathons and winter triathlons World Cups, so that the popularity of ice and snow sports continues to heat up.

Asian Winter Festival heritages such as Yabuli Ski Resort will continue to exert their remaining energy. Wang Keshuai, deputy commander of the Command Center of the Harbin Asian Winter Games Yabuli Competition Zone, said that the holding of events such as the Asian Winter Games and the Great Winter Games has made Yabuli a world-class ski resort. Continuous hosting of high-quality international events will further stimulate the vitality of Yabuli's ice and snow economy and help the high-quality development of Yabuli's ice and snow cultural and tourism industry.

It can be seen that taking the Harbin Asian Winter Conference as an opportunity, China's ice and snow tourism is "accelerating" and constantly releasing the "hot energy" of the ice and snow. (End)