The festive ways of a wintry world

Ice and Snow Amusement World in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Backing the tie-up, the provincial tourism authority's deputy director Hou Wei says: "These (six) places all have what it takes to develop winter tourism, but all have different winter tourism products and forms".

While Inner Mongolia's winter tourism highlights local minority customs, and tourists can lasso and train horses, and wrestle－all traditional winter pastimes on the grasslands－Jilin integrates skiing with beautiful landscape on the Changbai Mountain.

"The amount of ice and snow used in sculptures or other forms of art in Heilongjiang is unprecedented," says Hou.

Separately, the association aims to develop a system to integrate and enhance catering, accommodation, shopping and entertainment.

On the accessibility front, the winter tourism routes connecting all the six destinations are expected to be developed in the near future.

For now, Harbin, Liaoning's Shenyang, and Jilin's Changchun are all well connected with each other by high-speed rail.

As for roads, highways run all across the province and connect major tourist attractions. Also, well-developed air transportation makes trips to Heilongjiang easy for long-haul travelers.