Source: Economic Daily News Client
The first Xinjiang Altay Ski Festival and the 16th Anniversary of the Origin of Human Skiing were recently held in the city's General Mountain International Ski Resort. This year's ski festival held performances such as show performances, snowwalks, cross-country skiing, snowboarding and other performances, which fully demonstrated the ice and snow sports, ice and snow experience, winter leisure vacation, ice and snow equipment and other characteristic ice and snow industry chains in Altay City.
Altay is the "birthplace of human skiing". In 2006, the Altay Declaration was issued, which designated January 16 of each year as the "Anniversary of the Origin of Human Skiing". In recent years, Relying on rich and unique ice and snow and folk resources, Altay City has innovated and expanded winter tourism, actively cultivated the ice and snow tourism cultural industry, and the tourism industry has continued to grow in a spurt. In 2021, it received 6.455 million tourists and tourism revenue of 4.464 billion yuan.
Since 2018, the city of Altay has incorporated skiing into the physical education of primary and secondary school students, becoming the first city in the country to offer ski sports classes. In the past five years, more than 50,000 people in the city have taken ski lessons.
Yin Xiaowen, member of the Standing Committee of the Altay Municipal Party Committee and executive vice mayor, said that Relying on the advantages of ice and snow resources and the basic conditions of ice and snow facilities, with the approaching of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the high-quality development pilot zone of the ice and snow economy in China (Changbai Mountains - Altai Mountains) will be deepened, and the ice and snow economy will surely flourish. (Economic Daily reporter Qiao Wenhui correspondent Li Chuanjiang)