Tourist numbers similar to last year despite coronavirus pressure, experts say
As the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics draw near, snow tourism may become a highlight during the upcoming three-day New Year’s Day holiday, a trend reflected in rising hotel and ski ticket booking numbers through domestic travel agencies and online platforms.
This also is an epitome of China’s robust consumption powers and dynamic marketplace, despite the resurgence of coronavirus in several domestic regions which has resulted in the suspension of cross-provincial travel in certain provinces.
Several travel agencies told the Global Times on Tuesday that bookings for ski resorts in Zhangjiakou have become popular, with multiple packages being almost sold out for the three-day New Year’s holiday.
However, the agencies noted that the bookings for ski trips in Zhangjiakou may be further affected by stricter epidemic prevention policies especially with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics rapidly approaching.
“As the Winter Olympics will be held in February, 2022, athletes will start entering the venues on January, so the ski venues in Chongli, Hebei will welcome guests for no later than January 3 or 4,” an employee from one travel agencies said.
Changbaishan Mountain resort has become another top destination for ski lovers for the New Year. An employee from an online hotel booking platform said that the rooms for a local ski resort are in short supply.
However, the employee added that the number of bookings dropped compared with the year before as a lot of guests have to cancel their reservation due to recent Covid-19 flareups.
Data provided by domestic travel agencies and online platforms also reflected a kind of “fever” for snow-related activities. For instance, data provided by Ctrip showed that the reservations for ski resorts’ tickets had surged by about 86 percent on a yearly basis since December.
A report sent by domestic online travel agency Lvmama to the Global Times also showed that the bookings for snow tourism products in China’s major ski travel spots like Zhangjiakou have surged rapidly over recent days.
On the other hand, the growing popularity of snow travel reflects China’s dynamic consumer market, as the domestic travel market still shows signs of steady recovery despite pressure from recent resurgence of coronavirus in certain areas.
Some provinces facing new Covid-19 infections rolled out policies lately to suspend cross-provincial travel. Such provinces include Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province and East China’s Zhejiang Province.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism also noted on Monday that China must implement pandemic prevention and control requirements in tourism agencies and A-level tourism sites.
Experts expect that that the tourism scale and revenue generated during the New Year holiday may remain relatively the same compared with 2021, with a potential for further booming as more travelers may go on ski trips inspired by the near Winter Olympics.
“With the popularity of the ice-snow theme and the development and construction of domestic ski facilities and ski resorts parks across the country such as in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and the three Northeast provinces , the number of tourists choosing to ski may grow, leading the revenues to increase,” Jiang Yiyi, a professor of the leisure sports and tourism school of Beijing Sport University, told the Global Times.
Aerial photo taken on Nov. 16, 2021 shows a view of Yunding Ski Resort in Chongli of Zhangjiakou City, north China’s Hebei Province. The seats of Yunding Ski Resort in Zhangjiakou competition zone have been installed, and the staff are busy preparing the tracks for the upcoming test events of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Photo: Xinhua
