Beijing Chaoyang Station, which is the starting station of many high-speed trains from Beijing to many cities in Northeast China, has begun to compete for tourists in Northeast cities.
Here, you can see the tourism advertisements of Northeast cities everywhere - "Fuxin's winter is not too cold", "Come to the Swan City to visit the ecological north ticket", "Shenyang Ice and Snow Tour, eat and live in Huanggu". The names of some cities may be relatively unfamiliar to outsiders, but it is not difficult to see that ice and snow tourism is the main "selling point" of cities in Northeast China.
During the three-day New Year's Day holiday, Harbin received a total of 3.048 million tourists, with a total tourism income of 5.91 billion yuan, reaching a historical peak. Such data is undoubtedly subverting people's perception of winter tourism destinations in the past, and a place that more people originally wanted to "escape" in winter has ushered in "sky-high traffic".
When Harbin became an "Internet celebrity", other cities in Northeast China were not far behind, especially cities with abundant ice and snow tourism resources such as Changchun and Jilin, which together contributed to what may be the hottest ice and snow tourism season ever. "Splashing wealth" may have just begun, the three Hei Jiliao brothers, the most important thing is not how to divide the cake, but how to make a big "ice and snow cake" together.
On the evening of December 12, 2023, in Changchun City, Jilin Province, the ice and snow Xintiandi with the theme of "Ice and Snow Silk Road, Dragon Prosperity" opened its doors to welcome guests. Photo/Zhongxin
The "sense of oppression" brought by Erbin
On January 5, Li Zhen, Director of the Industrial Development Division of Changchun Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism (hereinafter referred to as "Changchun Culture, Radio and Tourism Bureau"), accompanied the leaders of Changchun City to Harbin. The purpose of this trip was to participate in the "2024 China Ice and Snow Tourism Development Forum", and Changchun was on the list of "Top Ten Cities for Ice and Snow Tourism in 2024".
They are more eager to take to the streets of Harbin than to participate in the forum. This is the second time Li Zhen has come to Harbin in half a month, and before that, he had not visited the neighbor's house for more than a decade. One day at the end of last year, he deliberately came to Central Street at 10 p.m., wanting to see the night economy in Harbin and to verify whether the flow of people in reality was as he saw in the short video.
"It was crowded, 8 out of 10 shops were not closed, and people were still lining up in front of the Martial cold drink room. "The lighting project of Central Street makes Li Zhen feel like day at night. He told China News Weekly, "This ice and snow season, Changchun is also investing in the lighting of scenic spots such as Lotus Mountain Resort and Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi, but there is indeed a gap."
Changchun is also the provincial capital, ahead of Harbin, in 2015 tourism revenue reached 100 billion yuan, and has continued to lead since then. In 2022, Changchun's tourism revenue is still nearly 30 billion yuan higher than Harbin's. The pressure brought by Harbin's "popularity" can be imagined, and officials at all levels in Changchun City have gone to Harbin to find gaps in various details, from the exquisiteness of ice and snow sculptures to the frozen pears that have been carefully cut. Some people sighed, "Can we cut frozen pears like the people of Harbin?"
On January 5, after returning to Changchun from his trip to Harbin, Li Zhen received a notice while waiting for the bus that a meeting on the theme of ice and snow tourism would be held at half past nine in the morning of the next Monday.
On January 8, the leaders of the Changchun Municipal Party Committee attended the meeting to promote the development of ice and snow tourism and proposed a 60-day action. After the meeting, personnel from different government departments gathered in a conference room of the Changchun Bureau of Culture, Radio, and Tourism to work and set up a special working class. Changchun is eager to make changes in its tourism products and services.
"Busy in the park every day, receiving more than 10,000 tourists every day, mainly tourists from the south, has mobilized all members of the group to participate in the guarantee", "there is a free bus from the airport to the park"...... On the evening of January 15, Chen Yan, Secretary of the Party Committee of Jilin Construction Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jilin Construction Group"), received a call from a leader of the Changchun Municipal Government.
As a competitor of Harbin Ice and Snow World, the Changchun Municipal Government attaches more importance to the construction of Changchun Ice and Snow New World, and at the same time makes suggestions, asks Chen Yan what problems need to be solved, and the bus lines from Changchun city to the park have also increased. Chen Yan told China News Weekly, "In previous years, bus lines mainly relied on enterprise organizations, but this ice and snow season, the government led the opening of seven bus lines, and the departure interval has been shortened, as long as the bus is full, it will depart, connecting the main ice and snow tourist attractions."
"Seven bus lines are nothing, and more importantly, from the cultural and tourism departments to the departments related to urban public services, which is a change in the government's concept. Although Li Zhen believes that there is still a gap in the convenience of public transportation in Changchun compared to the subway station in front of the ice and snow world, he believes that "this ice and snow season, Changchun's service level has still reached an unprecedented height."
Changchun is not the only northeastern city feeling the pressure. For Liu Kebin, director of the Shenyang Bureau of Culture and Tourism, who said "Whoever smashes the sign of Shenyang Cultural Tourism, I will smash whose job", "listening to persuasion" has become his label. Some netizens left him a message saying that he went to Shenyang Metro "Shenyang Station" to check in, and found that the stop sign was changed to "Shenyang Station", hoping to change back to the original station name. Liu Kebin directly posted a message on social media: "Listen to the persuasion, Shenyang Station has been changed back! ”
As another important town of ice and snow tourism, Jilin City issued a winter cultural tourism market publicity and marketing implementation plan in early January, which is the "second document" of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government for the New Year, from the planning of ice and snow tourism products to the event marketing planning plan.
In just one week, Jilin City built Songjiang Middle Road in front of the government into a "street that never sleeps", and then cooperated with the delayed opening of the museum and the night tour of the Songhua River to drive the night economy. "The content determined by the secretary of the municipal party committee is very detailed, and the time limit is very tight, often the meeting is held at 8 o'clock in the evening, and the plan has to be come up with the next day. Wang Bo, deputy director of the Jilin Ice and Snow Office, told China News Weekly that doing a good job in products and services is the foundation of marketing. After New Year's Day, the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism organized a winter cultural tourism market publicity and marketing meeting, and Jilin City's actions were also very fast, and the secretary of the Municipal Party Committee held 6 meetings in 6 days. ”
This may be the biggest anxiety in Northeast cities at the moment, and it is also the reason why officials in the cultural and tourism departments like Liu Kebin are constantly "shouting" on the Internet, and the competition for "traffic" first occurs online.
Other northeastern cities naturally want to take advantage of Harbin's traffic detonation this winter. After New Year's Day, Jilin City joined the traffic carnival of "small sugar oranges". The study tour group organized by a kindergarten in Nanning, Guangxi, was nicknamed "Little Sugar Orange" by netizens because the children wore orange shirts and blue pants, and they went out of the circle in Harbin and became a tourist in the entire Northeast.
Liu Kebin, director of the Shenyang Bureau of Culture and Tourism, once said that he welcomed "Little Sugar Orange" to Shenyang to "stand and have a look", and quickly accepted the suggestions of netizens to provide luggage storage services in the Xiaoheyan Morning Market, so that children can enjoy food with peace of mind.
"At that time, various cities were expressing their welcome to 'small sugar oranges'. A person close to the Jilin municipal government told China News Weekly that the first stop for the 11 "small sugar oranges" after leaving Harbin was Jilin City, which was the result of Jilin City's active efforts. Although "Little Sugar Orange" was "out of the circle" in Harbin, there was no live broadcast. The leaders of the Propaganda Department of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee went to Jilin City to participate in the planning, and finally arranged for Jilin TV to broadcast live throughout the day, and the signal was pushed to the whole network. When the study tour group was transferred, the two hosts promoted the tourism products of Jilin Province and broadcast the tourism promotional video of Jilin Province in a loop. The two-day live broadcast made "Little Sugar Orange Come to Jilin" and topped the hot list of Weibo and Kuaishou.
On November 11, 2023, in Yanji City, Jilin Province, tourists check in outside the "Internet Celebrity Barrage Building". Photo/Visual China
"We will definitely actively strive to make Jilin City the 'first stop' of 'small sugar oranges' to Jilin, and from the perspective of drainage, only the 'first stop' is meaningful. Wang Bo told reporters that in order to receive the "small sugar orange", a two-day meeting was held to study how to let the study tour group experience the cultural and tourism resources of Jilin City in the shortest possible time, and hoped that the "small sugar orange" visited many scenic spots. "Some people suggested that Manchu winter clothes should be prepared for 'small sugar oranges' to experience the cultural atmosphere of Jilin City as the birthplace of the Manchus. ”
Wang Bo said that after this round of drainage, there will be other event marketing follow-up, such as most of the scenic spots related to ice and snow tourism in Jilin City are carrying out free tickets for college students. "If it is not as 'popular' as Harbin, it needs continuous event marketing drainage. ”
In the week after the departure of "Little Sugar Orange" in Jilin City, the city's hotel occupancy rate increased by about 7%. In the face of the "pouring traffic" to Harbin, more Northeast cities choose to take the initiative to embrace traffic, and at the same time "roll" tourism products and services, and import traffic from online to offline.
The "hotness" propped up by southern tourists
"Harbin threw a stone into the pool. Li Zhen regards Harbin as a "sudden rise".
In fact, in this winter, the tourism market in Changchun, Shenyang and other northeastern cities generally ushered in a rebound. For example, Shenyang received a total of 2,436,200 tourists during the New Year's Day holiday, which was less than the volume of more than 3 million tourists in Harbin, but it also achieved a year-on-year growth of 161.37%.
After entering the ice and snow season, Wang Bo has to summarize the number of visitors to key ice and snow tourist attractions such as Jilin Ski Resort, Ice and Snow Theme Park, and Wurime Island every day, as well as the traffic of railway stations and expressways, and the hotel occupancy rate, and "report to the mayor every day after New Year's Day."
Last snow season, Jilin City's two largest ski resorts in China, Beidahu Lake and Songhua Lake, received 600,000 people respectively, and this snow season is expected to receive more than 1 million and 700,000 people respectively, and the number of tourists received by 8 ski resorts in Jilin City is expected to increase by 40%~50%. The Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism has set a target for Jilin City to receive 22.33 million people in the city, with an income of more than 47 billion yuan, an increase of 170%~180% compared with the previous ice and snow season, a record high.
On January 24, Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, Snow Town attracted many tourists. Photographer/Reporter Tomita
The data during the epidemic is not comparable, but Zou Minghua, vice president and secretary general of the Jilin Provincial Tourism Association, told China News Weekly that Jingyuetan in Changchun, a 5A-level scenic spot, received 1.7778 million visitors last year, an increase of 16% compared with the previous best year in 2019. This performance continues to the current ice and snow season, and the ticket revenue of Jingyuetan Scenic Area on weekdays can reach more than 80,000 yuan, reaching the level of the past Spring Festival. Zou Minghua said that Jilin's ice and snow tourism is "slow to heat", and the flow of tourists and income will reach a peak during the Spring Festival.
The rebound came very clearly. Since the 2019~2020 ice and snow season, Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi has been affected by the epidemic for several consecutive years. In 2019~2020, Jilin Construction Group invested more than 100 million yuan, and the park was closed on the third day of the first lunar month. In the three ice and snow seasons since then, tourists have been scarce, and Chen Yan has the impression that he is lucky to have one or two thousand tourists a day, and often only a few hundred tourists are scattered in the huge park, "like no one".
Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi opened on December 12 last year and has received 100,000 visitors in a month. Chen Yan revealed, "On the weekends of January 13 and 14, more than 16,000 people and 14,000 people were received respectively, and the eight ice slides of more than 500 meters can only be played by about 7,000 people every day, and can only be booked in different time periods. The company's Cheonjeongsan Ski Resort has been restricted."
The boom of ice and snow tourism in Northeast China in the "post-epidemic era" has long been predicted. A person from the Northeast cultural and tourism industry told reporters that during the epidemic, Harbin Ice and Snow World is also accumulating strength to expand, such as building a performance venue with 1,800 seats. He Jing, director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, once said, "We have been preparing for a year."
"Our company has also made full preparations, and although the 800,000-square-meter Tiandingshan Ski Resort cannot be expanded, it will improve its services by increasing the capacity of the magic carpet and opening a VIP area. Obviously, Chen Yan is looking forward to a rebound in passenger flow in the first post-pandemic season, but the rebound seems to be more than expected. "Even if it is as well prepared as Harbin, there have been ticket refunds before, and current flow restrictions have been taken, and we are also considering restricting the flow of Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi during the Spring Festival. ”
In addition to paying attention to the growth of passenger flow and income, Zou Minghua is also concerned about the changes in the source of tourists, "On the second weekend of the new year, scenic spots like Jingyuetan in Changchun City, about half of the vehicles received are from other places."
Behind the unexpected rebound, southern tourists have become the key. "Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi has been upgraded from product design to the size of the park, mainly to meet the needs of southern tourists. Previously, some ice and snow tourism projects were difficult to attract tourists from the south, on the one hand, because of insufficient marketing, and on the other hand, because of the lack of bright spots in the products. Chen Yan told reporters for example: First of all, the ice and snow theme parks in the north are mainly to enjoy ice lanterns and snow sculptures, and tourists have a poor sense of immersion, and it is difficult to stay outdoors for a long time in a low temperature environment. In addition to 8 ice slides over 500 meters long, there are also 60 slides for visitors of all ages. Secondly, it is necessary to solve the heating problem in the park, add 18 "greenhouses" with 20,000 square meters, and tourists will not walk more than 5 minutes from the nearest "greenhouse" anywhere in the park, and rent down jackets to tourists who underestimate the temperature in the northeast.
As a result of the change, the source of tourists from Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi has changed, and the southern source of tourists has exceeded the northern source, accounting for 60%. Chen Yan expects that the proportion of tourists from the south will increase with the winter vacation, while in previous years, tourists from the north, especially around Changchun, were the mainstay, accounting for eighty or ninety percent.
He Yuezhou, marketing director of Beidahu Ski Resort, told China News Weekly that 70% of the tourists received this ice and snow season are from the south, and more than 50% are from Shanghai, which is an increase compared with previous years, which is the result of the resort's intentional marketing. "When marketing on platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, the ski resort focuses on Shanghai users. ”
A Changchun government official who visited Harbin at the end of December last year said, "Although the 'flashpoint' is in Harbin, it has played a role in attracting traffic to the Northeast and even Inner Mongolia, so that foreign tourists, especially those from the south, can truly understand the ice and snow tourism in Northeast China."
Having said that, as Wang Bo, deputy director of the Jilin Ice and Snow Office, said, doing a good job in tourism products and services and improving publicity and marketing efforts will definitely bring passenger flow, but the increase is unpredictable, and "fire" and "explosion" are different degrees.
Who can build the next influencer city?
Harbin's performance in this ice and snow season is "explosive", and there is no northeastern city that is not eager to build itself into the next Internet celebrity city.
At the end of 2023, Zou Minghua was invited to participate in the launching ceremony of the 13th Yichun Ice and Snow Happy Season, and she specially drove there just to Harbin on the way to have a look. Her feeling is that Changchun needs to strengthen its core positioning when it comes to external display. For example, on the electronic screen next to the highway in Jilin District, there are mostly prompts similar to "slippery roads in snowy days, pay attention to slow driving", but after entering the Harbin jurisdiction, it becomes "Welcome to Harbin - the capital of ice and snow, a dream world".
In contrast, the Korean ethnic customs of Yanbian, Jilin Province, and the distinctive label of Meihekou as the "Northeast City That Never Sleeps" all make them closer to an Internet celebrity city.
It can be seen that it is very important to discover strong IPs. On the evening of January 18th, the big show of "Dragon Walking, Phoenix Dance for Nine Days" in Shenyang Laobei City Scenic Area was staged. Zhang Yuanyi, the person in charge of the commercial reconstruction project of the Laobei City Scenic Area, introduced that the "Phoenix Flying Sky" became popular, so it continued to upgrade this strong IP project, broke through the technical bottleneck, and made the 30-meter-long physical dragon "soar into the sky".
Ma Ming, director of the Resource Development Division of the Changchun Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, and Tourism, told China News Weekly that there are two cultural threads running through Harbin's tourism resources, one is ice and snow culture, and the other is Russian culture, which makes the city very exotic, which is an incomparable advantage of other cities. This winter, the video of Harbin Railway Station resembling Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the "Harry Potter" movie after the snow was swiped by many people, which made the image of Harbin deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Every city has characteristics that are difficult to replicate, but provincial capitals like Changchun want to follow the example of Harbin and Heilongjiang and integrate the resources of the whole city and even the whole province to "make Harbin popular", which means pouring resources, especially financial resources, into a city or even a scenic spot.
"Harbin's 'popularity' is not only the result of the city's strength, but Heilongjiang's province's strength. Chen Yan gave reporters an example, for example, to reduce the price of air tickets through subsidies, which is difficult to do by relying only on the Harbin municipal cultural and tourism department.
At the end of October last year, the 2023 Winter Airlines Season Flight Promotion Conference was held in Harbin, led not only by Heilongjiang Airport Group, but also by Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio and Tourism. One of the links is the promotion of ice and snow tourism products by the Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio and Tourism, and it is also at this promotion meeting that the two platform companies of Tongcheng Travel and Ctrip Travel respectively launched air ticket coupons and instant discount coupons.
"Harbin Ice and Snow World has a history of more than 20 years, and the IP created has been deeply ingrained in the hearts of tourists. Chen Yan believes that Harbin has driven other cultural tourism projects through the hot IP of Ice and Snow World, linking it with scenic spots such as Central Street and Sun Island Snow Expo, which are close to the geographical location. "In contrast, Changchun's tourism resources are scattered. ”
This dispersion is first manifested in the geographical distribution of ice and snow tourism resources, such as the four ski resorts in Changchun are scattered in Lotus Mountain, Miaoxiang Mountain and Jingyuetan Lake, except for Jingyuetan which belongs to the ski resorts in the city, the remaining three ski resorts are far away from the urban area.
"The operating entities behind it are also different, both private capital and state-owned assets, and marketing and promotion have not formed a joint force. Li Zhen said frankly that Harbin's important cultural and tourism projects are operated by the state-owned enterprise Modern Cultural Tourism Investment Group, and the state-owned enterprises take into account social and economic benefits, and the social effect of cultural tourism projects is largely reflected in the contribution to the city's image.
Changchun also established a municipal tourism investment group on December 12 last year, and the person in charge of the group told China News Weekly that the group's future operation is similar to that of Modern Cultural Tourism Investment Group, and is studying assets and capital injection. However, compared with some traditional tourist destination cities with inherent advantages, it may take time for Changchun to build a fist product in the cultural tourism industry.
Integrating resources is even more important, and a number of scenic spots are competing for limited financial support.
Zou Minghua told reporters that the investment in the snow sculpture-based park in the Jingyuetan Scenic Area in this snow season is more than 10 million yuan, which has shrunk a lot compared with the investment of about 50 million yuan in the past, and the snow sculptures in the park seem a little thin.
"Harbin's 'popularity' also makes us think about whether the ice and snow theme park dominated by snow sculptures and ice sculptures should be concentrated in a certain scenic spot? As the chairman of Jingyuetan Tourism Group, Zou Minghua hopes to link with more surrounding scenic spots, and currently realizes the Jingyuetan Scenic Area tickets, free of appointment to visit the Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Museum, and the next step is also to hope to implement linkage with Changchun four-star and five-star hotels, such as the hotel to give a certain range of discounts to tourists who hold tickets. "Harbin has realized the integration of tourism resources, activated business with tourism, and tourists can be seen everywhere on Central Street taking photos and checking in with Internet celebrity products. ”
After the meeting on ice and snow tourism was held on January 8, Changchun Culture, Radio and Tourism Bureau updated a travel guide, the original travel strategy focused on tourism products, mainly introducing tourism routes, and the new version of the tourism guide covered food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping and entertainment.
Unlike Zibo, which unexpectedly became popular last year due to barbecue, behind the Northeast's desire to build the next Internet celebrity city this ice and snow season is the Northeast's greater ambition for the tourism industry.
Similar ambitions, different paths
The boom in the ice and snow economy in Northeast China began in 2015 when Beijing successfully bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, and was driven by the goal of "300 million people on ice and snow".
Some private capital also entered the Northeast ice and snow tourism market during this period. Inspired by Harbin Ice and Snow World, Jilin Construction Group decided to enter the ice and snow theme park market, and named the theme park "Changchun Ice and Snow World" in the 2018~2019 ice and snow season, but later changed its name to "Changchun Ice and Snow New World" at the suggestion of the then leaders of Changchun.
In 2021 and 2022, the three northeastern provinces have successively issued development plans and implementation plans for the ice and snow industry and ice and snow economy, and the top-level design has gradually become clear, and Jilin is the first province to issue a development plan for the ice and snow industry. Compared with Liaoning, in the two plans of Heilongjiang and Jilin, ice and snow tourism occupies a more important position.
For example, Heilongjiang proposed that by 2030, "an international ice and snow tourism resort will be built, and the total income of ice and snow tourism will reach 200 billion yuan", and the total output value of the ice and snow industry will exceed 450 billion yuan. In Jilin's plan, by 2025, the total scale of the ice and snow industry will reach 250 billion yuan, while the total income of ice and snow cultural tourism will reach 220 billion yuan, and the number of winter tourism receptions will reach 120 million. However, Liaoning did not clearly put forward the target of ice and snow tourism revenue in the implementation plan.
In fact, compared with Liaoning's tourism revenue and the number of tourists, Heilongjiang and Jilin have lagged behind for a long time, such as before the epidemic in 2019, the total tourism income of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang was 622.28 billion yuan, 492.038 billion yuan and 268.38 billion yuan respectively. Heilongjiang and Jilin hope to surpass through their own advantages in ice and snow tourism. In 2021, Jilin's tourism revenue surpassed Liaoning with an advantage of nearly 3 billion yuan, and it was in that year that Jilin proposed to "use 5 to 10 years to achieve a trillion-level total tourism income".
The time frame for achieving this goal is now set by 2027. On October 7 last year, Jilin held a provincial cultural and tourism industry conference, proposing to build a trillion-level tourism industry by 2027, and the output value of ice and snow tourism is 500 billion yuan. At the provincial level of Jilin, a leading group for the development of the tourism industry has been established, and the documents issued are directly connected to the prefecture-level municipal government, and then supervised by the prefecture-level municipal government, and the trillion-level output value target has also been decomposed layer by layer.
Among them, Changchun undertook the task of 500 billion yuan, and the output value of the city's tourism industry last year was 240 billion yuan. "The blowout development of the tourism industry after the epidemic is foreseeable, and there is a scientific basis for determining this output value target. Li Zhen told reporters that Changchun has arranged a horse racing mechanism, and this task has been broken down into 17 counties, cities and districts.
Cui Yongzhe, director of the Cultural Tourism Office of Changchun New Area, told China News Weekly that his department was just established in June last year, responsible for attracting investment and project construction of the cultural and tourism industry in the new area, and currently has a total of 26 cultural and tourism projects under construction, negotiation and planning. "In the early industrial layout of the new area, the cultural tourism industry is not among them, but after the relayout of the industrial system of the new area, the output value of the cultural and tourism industry is targeted to be 10 billion yuan by 2027. ”
Changchun New Area began to put forward the target of tourism industry output value, which shows the importance of Changchun, which accounts for more than half of the province's GDP, to achieve the provincial target, and Changchun has clearly built the tourism industry as a pillar industry.
The output value of Jilin's tourism industry is targeted at 200 billion yuan, second only to Changchun. "It is planned to achieve 100 billion yuan in the scale of ice and snow tourism industry clusters by 2027, accounting for half of the 200 billion yuan target. Wang Bo told reporters.
Cities in Northeast China hope to get a piece of the pie in the development of ice and snow tourism, and competition is inevitable.
Just like Harbin Ice and Snow World was certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's largest ice and snow theme park, many Changchun tourism professionals believe that Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi, which is nearly twice the size, should win this title. Previously, Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi reduced the ticket price of foreign tourists from 298 yuan to 150 yuan, which was even interpreted by the outside world as a "price war".
But each northeastern province and city needs to find its own advantages in the competition. "The winter temperature in Harbin is lower than that in Changchun, and the Harbin Ice and Snow World and other scenic spots are adjacent to the Songhua River, and the cold north wind blows from the river, while the temperature in Changchun Scenic Area is more friendly to southern tourists, which is Jilin's comparative advantage. Chen Yan told reporters.
"There is ice and snow but not cold" has also become the advantage of Liaoning's ice and snow tourism in the eyes of Liu Kebin, director of the Shenyang Bureau of Culture and Tourism, and since mid-December, the number of bookings for Liaoning hot spring-related accommodation, which focuses on "warm ice and warm snow", has increased by 91% year-on-year.
However, the temperature also determines the maintenance cost and operation time of ice and snow theme parks and ski resorts, which are dominated by ice sculptures and snow sculptures. Some Changchun Snow Theme Parks have postponed their opening times during the current ice and snow season because Changchun is experiencing a relatively warm winter.
"The temperature in Changchun generally rises quickly after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the operating time left for the park in each ice and snow season is generally about 80 days. Chen Yan told reporters that ice and snow tourism is "half of the business that depends on the sky", and the role of temperature is very subtle, and Liaoning is subject to this, compared with Heilongjiang and Jilin, the advantage of ice and snow tourism is weaker.
This is also the reason why Liaoning places more emphasis on ice and snow equipment manufacturing in the development of the ice and snow economy, and it clearly proposes that the output value of the ice and snow equipment manufacturing industry will reach more than 5 billion yuan by 2025. However, Li Xinjian, a member of the "14th Five-Year Plan" Expert Committee of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, told China News Weekly that the large-scale market driven by ice and snow tourism is the most ideal sales space for ice and snow equipment.
Tourists watch the fog and enjoy the rime on the small rime island on the bank of the Songhua River in Jilin City. Photo/Visual China
"Of course, ice and snow tourism is one of the most eye-catching links in the ice and snow industry. Although important progress and breakthroughs have been made in the multi-regional development of ice and snow tourism through the strategy of 'expanding from the south to the west and expanding to the east' in recent years, the Northeast region still has the first effect in the ice and snow tourism market. Li Xinjian believes that at the same time, it is necessary to fully take into account the differences in ice and snow tourism resources, industrial base and economic development within the three eastern provinces, such as how Heilongjiang can further give full play to the advantages of "ice", form a new way of playing and new formats on ice outside the Harbin Ice and Snow World, and how Jilin can further give full play to the advantages of "snow" and form a new system and new model of ski economy on the basis of the current number and quality advantages of ski resorts.
Heilongjiang's emphasis on "ice" and Jilin's emphasis on "snow" is almost the consensus of the industry. In Ma Ming's view, ice and snow tourism can be divided into three categories, ice and snow landscape, ice and snow entertainment and ice and snow sports, compared with ice and snow sculptures, ice and snow sculptures, and ice and snow entertainment, ice and snow sports have more demanding requirements for natural conditions.
Jilin, which belongs to the world's three major powder snow bases, obviously has the advantage of "snow", while the advantage of Changchun City compared with Jilin City is that the ski resorts are more beginner-friendly. "First of all, Changchun Snow Resort has a small difficulty and is suitable for tourist skiing, which is different from the relatively professional ski resorts in Jilin City; secondly, the number of ski resorts is large and close to the urban area, and the farthest distance from the city center is only more than 40 kilometers among the four ski resorts, which can rely on the city's hotels, and the price is lower; thirdly, the overall temperature is higher and the ski experience is good. Ma Ming believes that from the perspective of Changchun's cultural tourism industry planning, it will definitely lead to skiing, and the establishment of the tourism investment group also hopes that it will better grasp this direction as a state-owned enterprise.
The "must-answer question" of the transformation of Northeast China
In the process of competing for the tourism industry in Northeast China, the competition is not limited to local governments and cultural and tourism enterprises. Chen Yan told reporters that after Harbin became "popular", Changchun citizens also drove private cars to Changchun Ice and Snow Xintiandi to provide free pick-up and drop-off services for tourists.
Some people from the local government of Northeast China lamented to reporters that Harbin's "popularity" has allowed the outside world to see the service consciousness of Northeast people, especially the government. The crux of the Harbin story is often interpreted as the government lowering its profile and allowing the market to take the lead.
The "High-quality Development Plan for Ice and Snow Industry in Jilin Province (2021-2035)" released in 2021 mentions that it is planned to cultivate 1~2 ski resorts with a reception volume of more than 1 million people, 5 ski resorts with a reception volume of more than 500,000 people, and 10 ski resorts with a capacity of more than 200,000 people. Jilin City is densely populated with ski resorts, especially the pilot area for high-quality development of ice and snow economy (hereinafter referred to as the "pilot area"). According to relevant government sources told China News Weekly, according to the plan being studied in the pilot area, more than 10 ski resorts will be built in the future to become the world's top three super ski resorts.
"Although Beidahu Snow Resort is already the largest snow resort in Asia, there is still a gap in the world, the Three Gorges Snow Resort in the Alps is 605 kilometers long, with 180,000 beds, while the length of the slopes of Beidahu Snow Resort is only 70.9 kilometers, and the number of beds only reached 8,000 last year, and there are more than 1,000 hectares of stock land in the test area to complete the exploration. The above-mentioned government sources told reporters that in the output value target of 200 billion yuan in Jilin City's cultural and tourism industry, the pilot zone bears 100 billion yuan. Recently, we have been in contact with interested investors about ski resort investment, of which central enterprises play an important role.
In addition to the pilot area, Jiaohe City, which is managed by Jilin City, has also launched a ski resort project. "This project has been launched for more than a year, but the ski resort is an asset-heavy project, and investors are relatively cautious. Wang Bo told reporters that in 2020 and 2021, Jilin City had selected 11 industrial chains to attract investment after the government's packaging projects, and the ice and snow industry chain was one of them.
An official from the local cultural and tourism department in Northeast China lamented to reporters that when he was looking for an operator for an ice and snow theme park in September last year, he did not expect several private enterprises to express interest.
At a time when local governments are not financially adequate, the involvement of private capital is crucial. The role of the government has shifted more to channeling social capital and nurturing the ice and snow tourism market.
On December 28, 2023, tourists watched the ceremony of "sacrificing the lake and waking up the net" for winter fishing in Chagan Lake. On the same day, the 22nd Ice and Snow Fishing and Hunting Culture and Tourism Festival of Chagan Lake opened on the ice of Chagan Lake in Songyuan, Jilin. Photo/Xinhua
On the opening day of the Ice and Snow Festival on December 12 last year, Changchun City held a conference on the development of the cultural and tourism industry, and introduced a number of measures to promote the development of the cultural and tourism industry in Changchun City, including the content of ice and snow tourism, and gave 200 million yuan in awards and subsidies. "The award and subsidy funds for ski resorts, ice and snow theme parks and other operating entities will be issued at the end of the year, but there will be certain requirements for the number of tourists received and income, and major operating entities are encouraged to improve the quality of this ice and snow season. Li Zhen told reporters that the policy will be extended until 2027.
Li Zhen said that this ice and snow season, Changchun has issued 10 million yuan of consumption vouchers to support ice and snow tourism, and it is expected that 5 million yuan will be issued during the Spring Festival, and the provincial finance will also give some support, all of which are aimed at draining the ice and snow tourism market. "I once met tourists from the south in the Ice and Snow Xintiandi, and it was precisely because I grabbed the Ice and Snow Xintiandi consumption vouchers issued by Changchun that I decided to travel to Changchun. ”
In the action plan for tackling the trillion-level tourism industry in Jilin Province, it is proposed that the amount of ice and snow consumption coupons issued every year shall not be less than 30 million yuan, and 1 trillion yuan of ice and snow industry development funds will be arranged.
"Changchun put forward the goal of completing 500 billion yuan by 2027, not only to complete this hard target, but more importantly, to transform the industrial structure. The person in charge of Changchun Tourism Investment Group told reporters that some northeastern cities, including Changchun, have been very rich in tourism resources. It is believed that by the end of next year, the attractions in the main city of Changchun will be enough for tourists to stay for two days. "Changchun originally wanted tourists to stay overnight on their journey to Changbai Mountain, but now it wants to become a tourist destination itself and maximize the local economy. ”
"With the construction of cultural tourism projects and infrastructure, the local real estate market may be stimulated. In many cases, the development of the cultural tourism industry may not be reflected in the growth of the output value of the industry itself, but in the driving role of other primary and secondary industries. For example, the person in charge of Changchun Tourism Investment Group said that many high-quality agricultural products in Jilin have been standardized and can be better sold with the development of the cultural and tourism industry, so the cultural tourism industry is ultimately "selling products", not limited to tourism products.
In fact, this is also the business logic of ski resorts, which plays more of a role in guiding the flow of real estate projects. "Ski resorts are actually just the signboard of ski real estate, and it is difficult for ski resorts to make a profit, especially in the early stage of operation, ski real estate needs to be profitable, because ski resorts are generally far away from urban areas and have low land costs. Although the real estate projects supporting Beidahu and Songhua Lake have been affected by the epidemic, they have still increased in value, and have risen to more than 10,000 yuan per square meter, which is higher than the housing prices in the urban areas of Jilin City. In addition to some excellent areas in the urban area, the unit price of new houses can reach about 10,000 yuan, and the housing price level of ordinary areas is mostly 6,000 or 7,000 yuan per square meter. Wang Bo said.
Some people from the local government in Northeast China lamented that the tourism industry is characterized by a rich people and not a strong city, a strong district, high government investment and low taxes, because some profitable small and micro enterprises, and even self-employed people contribute very limited taxes, if only from the perspective of financial investment and taxation, the government is a loss. "The areas with the most developed tourism industry are often places with poor local finances, but local enterprises and people are relatively wealthy, as is the case in well-known scenic spots such as Zhangjiajie and Jiuzhaigou. However, the development of the tourism industry is a choice that the Northeast has to make, because it has a strong driving role. ”
As Li Xinjian said, for the current economy of Northeast China, "Wangding is a more urgent task than Wangcai".