Skiing down Wolf Tooth Mountain, ice-skating on Baiyangdian Lake, shopping and soaking in hot springs in Baigou New Town... The Baoding Tourism Bureau of Hebei Province announced on the 7th that thanks to factors such as the Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, the completion of the Zhangshi (Zhangjiakou-Shijiazhuang) Expressway, and the launch of a new tourism product system, the city has achieved a "breakthrough" in winter tourism.
According to reports, the newly put-into-use Yixian Wolf Tooth Mountain Ski Resort is located by Longmen Lake at the foot of Wolf Tooth Mountain. With a total investment of 20 million yuan and covering an area of about 100,000 square meters, it features one snow tubing track, one beginner slope, two beginner-level slopes, two intermediate-level slopes, and a snow play area, offering over a thousand visitors a wide range of options. As it fills a gap in Baoding’s winter tourism market, the ski resort has been designated as the "Baoding Winter Tourism Project Demonstration Base."
Li Hongqiang, director of the Baoding Tourism Bureau, said that the Wolf Tooth Mountain Ski Resort is planned to be developed into a 4A-level scenic area. Although the parking lot capacity, as well as food, accommodation, and shopping services for tourists, still need further improvement, the resort has already attracted a large number of visitors from Beijing, Tianjin, and Shijiazhuang.
Hu Shiping, the art director of the Quan Sheng Gorge Ice Festival in Tang County, said that during the three-month-long icefall appreciation and photography competition event, the scenic area will continue offering discounts to attract visitors, aiming to create another tourism peak during the Spring Festival holiday and boost winter tourism.
Mr. Zhang, who came specially from Beijing to ice-skate on Baiyangdian Lake, said that he had previously only enjoyed the enchanting scenery of green reeds and red lotuses on Baiyangdian Lake in summer. Winter activities such as riding ice sleds, having snowball fights, and ice fishing offer a unique experience.
It is understood that Baoding has joined the "Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao High-Speed Rail Corridor (7+31) Tourism Market Promotion Alliance" and has planned multiple categories of tourism product systems. These include leisure shopping tours centered around Baigou, Anguo, Quyang, and tourism merchandise; history and culture tours featuring cultural heritage sites such as the Qing Western Tombs, which are not restricted by seasons; ski and hot spring tours headlined by the Wolf Tooth Mountain Ski Resort and Baiyangdian Hot Spring City; and cultural experience tours relying on the "Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao High-Speed Rail Corridor Tourism Market Promotion Alliance."
Known as the "Strategic Area Near the Capital" and the "Southern Gate of the Capital," Baoding boasts 47 national-level cultural heritage protection units. It is recognized as a famous historical and cultural city in China and an outstanding tourist city. During the 2013 New Year’s Day holiday, the city received 76,000 visitors, generating tourism revenue of 49.6241 million yuan.