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CHINA’s economy is showing signs of post-pandemic recovery. This is marked by an increase in the number of tourist visits during the 2023 winter holiday period.
This was stated by the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin. According to him, at the end of the year, winter tourist locations in China become very popular. This is because the winter holidays at the end of 2023 and early 2024 will be the first holidays after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This reflects the increasing purchasing power of Chinese tourists as well as interest in tourism. This also shows confidence and self-confidence that China’s economy is able to get through difficult times,” Wang told the media in Beijing on Monday (01/22), 2024.
The surge in tourists occurred in a number of winter tourist locations such as Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces as well as parts of the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. According to a report released by the China Tourism Academy, it is estimated that there will be more than 400 million tourists taking ice and snow holidays in late 2023 to early 2024 across China.
“Meanwhile, ice and snow tourism revenue reached 550 billion yuan [around US$77.29 billion],” added Wang.
During the New Year holidays, the Chinese government revealed that Heilongjiang province was the destination of more than 6.6 million tourist trips, up 173.7% compared to 2022. Meanwhile, Jilin province rose 110% and Liaoning increased 203.8%.
Heilongjiang’s capital Harbin recorded 3.05 million tourist arrivals during the three-day New Year holiday with revenue of 5.91 billion yuan.
One of the main tourist destinations in Harbin is the Ice and Snow Festival which opened on December 17 2023. The festival was visited by 163,200 people during the New Year holidays or five times more than in 2022.
According to Wang, Chinese people’s holiday consumption is increasing and ice and snow tourism is developing, showing the strong vitality of China’s economy.
This, he explained, was in line with what Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang emphasized in his opening speech at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos.
“China has a very large market and has purchasing power. China’s broad and deep market will play an important role in increasing global aggregate demand,” concluded Wang. [sources/photo special]
