How to “heat up” winter tourism? On the 28th, Yu Chong, director of the Provincial Tourism Administration, said in response to questions from our reporter that the province will develop 40-50 ski resorts, promote the concept of “China’s warmest ski resorts,” while vigorously fostering the development of hot spring tourism in various cities to form a hot spring leisure industry cluster.
“Solving the issue of tourism not being popular in temperate regions after winter sets in is a global challenge,” said Yu Chong. Over the past four years, to break the “three hots and three colds” phenomenon in Shandong tourism — busy during the day but quiet at night; hot in summer and autumn but cold in winter and spring; active in the east but sluggish in the west — the Provincial Tourism Administration has promoted the implementation of major tourism project strategies, creatively launched events like the “Hospitality Shandong New Year Festival” and “Hospitality Shandong Leisure Festival,” which have to some extent changed the situation where the winter tourism market was almost “at a standstill.” But overall, the “hard ice” of winter tourism has not yet completely melted.
Currently, Shandong has 11 ski resorts of various sizes. Yu Chong pointed out that, moving south from Beijing, Shandong has the southernmost ski resorts in the country, making them “China’s warmest ski resorts.” His goal is to build 40-50 ski resorts across the province and establish the reputation of Shandong as a destination for “warm skiing.”
The province is also rich in geothermal resources. At present, cities such as Dezhou, Dongying, Linyi, and Qingdao are actively developing hot spring tourism and leisure facilities. Yu Chong said that if, in the future, each prefecture-level city can develop an average of a dozen or so “hot spring clusters,” the issue of Shandong’s tourism not being popular in winter could be resolved once and for all.
He predicts that with the launch of some winter tourism projects, it is guaranteed that tourism revenue growth for the same period this year will exceed 20%.
The upcoming third edition of the Hospitality Shandong New Year Festival, starting on New Year’s Day, will once again extend an invitation to Shandong natives and tourists from home and abroad — to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Shandong. Yu Chong said that currently, the appeal of “celebrating the Lunar New Year in Shandong” is not strong enough, which is also related to the fact that Shandong people are generally deeply influenced by Confucian culture, and some are reluctant to have outsiders celebrate the New Year with them at home. If a joint invitation is issued, the “winter” of the tourism market will gradually be “warmed up.”
