Olympics boosts winter sports tourism during Spring Festival

Many winter camps set their venues around the Zengjiashan area, Guangyuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province this year, as the Beijing Winter Olympics leveraged the upsurge of ice and snow sports into winter tourism.

"After five days of study, more than 20 children have mastered the basic skills of skis and snowboards," said Qin Yu, a coach for one of the winter camps. He said Zengjiashan ski resort is very suitable for beginners to practice and where accommodation and catering services are also good.

The resort has newly expanded the snow area by 30,000 square meters, and rolled out a variety of entertainment facilities including snow bikes, snowmobiles and roller coasters, according to a person in charge surnamed He.

He roughly estimates that there have been more than 5,000 children who went to the camps since its reopening on Dec 31, 2021. During the Spring Festival, it received 93,400 tourists and generated a comprehensive income of 20.03 million yuan ($3.1 million).

Apart from Zengjiashan area, there are many other popular destinations.

The Zhaohua district of Guangyuan, which has the longest C-shaped dry ski slope and the largest half-walled U-shaped pool in Southwest China, can accommodate 300 skiers at the same time.

In order to offer better services, a special traffic line has been set up. With ski tickets, visitors can take vehicles to the nearby scenic area for free.

In addition, Lizhou district and Qingchuan county also boasts fantastic snow scenery.

On the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush that fell on Jan 17, a ring route featuring the diverse landscape and culture of Sichuan province opened to traffic.

The new route introduces additional discounts. Passengers will enjoy a 50 percent discount on tickets for all sightseeing areas in the city with their boarding passes.