The ice city has risen again in Harbin, the capital of the Chinese province of Heilongjiang. This year, the winter amusement park occupied 810 thousand square meters. It took 250 thousand cubic meters of ice to create the sculptures.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over China came to the Harbin Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival this year. Three million people visited Harbin in three days. There are only 23 hotels in the city, and there were not enough rooms.
The festival officially opened on January 5th. Since then, 30 thousand people visit it every day. This is almost twice as much as in 2018.
In three days, tourism brought Harbin an income of 800 thousand US dollars. Moreover, guests are attracted not only by the ice park. It has become fashionable to dress up in costumes of fantastic characters and take pictures against the backdrop of landmarks. In Harbin, St. Sophia Cathedral, an inactive Orthodox church, was chosen for this purpose.
People rent costumes. Right there in the store, clients get their makeup done, and then the photo shoot begins. Everything takes two to three hours. You have to take photos in severe frost.
Thousands of tourists flock to the Yabuli ski resort, which is 200 kilometers from Harbin. There is snow here 170 days a year. Nine downhill ski slopes and seven cross-country ski slopes are open during the season. There are four cable cars, as well as ski lifts.
Overall, the tourism industry in Heilongjiang is recovering. Last November, 27 million Chinese and foreign tourists visited the province. This is almost three times more than a year earlier.
The festival of snow and ice sculptures will last a month. This year, the theme park features 1,000 works.
