Shenyang, the capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning province, ranked third among the top 10 ice and snow tourism destinations in 2021, according to a report on China's ice and snow tourism development recently released by the China Tourism Academy, a body affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
According to the report, Harbin, Zhangjiakou, Shenyang, Jilin and Changchun cities ranked top five for ice and snow tourism.
In recent years, Shenyang has increased its competitiveness in the ice and snow economy, broadly developing snow-based activities, skiing, skating, hot springs, folk customs and other ice and snow-related resources.
As of the end of 2019, Shenyang had built 39 winter sports venues and 20 outdoor public ice and snow entertainment venues, including four ski resorts, four ice skating rinks, 11 outdoor artificial ice rinks and seven outdoor natural ice rinks. The city also launched 13 ice and snow carnivals.
Shenyang is still building more indoor skiing venues and outdoor ice and snow facilities.
To develop its winter tourism industry, the city's culture, tourism, radio and television bureau has launched a series of ice and snow experience and tourism products themed on culture, sports, hot springs, folk customs, food and business.
It also launched various ice and snow travel routes to lure tourists from both inside and outside the country.
In addition, the bureau has attached great importance to the promotion of the city's winter tourism, promoting travel routes on online platforms, launching an e-map for ice and snow tourism and promoting ice and snow tourism resources in cities around the country, including Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.
In the past year, cultural and tourism companies in the city suffered significant losses due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the city launched helpful policies to support ice and snow tourism-related enterprises.