Chinese Premier Li Qiang has highlighted the importance of developing winter sports and related industries as a new driver for China’s economy. During his inspection tour of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China on Saturday, Li emphasized the potential of winter sports to create fresh opportunities for service consumption and enhance the well-being of the people.
Visiting the Harbin Songhua River Ice and Snow Carnival, one of the region’s most popular winter attractions, Li encouraged the use of local resources to build accessible snow and ice venues. “We need to create more engaging and entertaining winter activities for everyone,” he said, underscoring the need to stimulate the vitality of the winter economy.
Heilongjiang Province, known for its icy landscapes and snowy festivals, has a unique advantage in winter tourism. Li urged the province to develop new consumption scenarios and innovative business models to leverage these distinctive resources.
At a local ice sports center, the premier noted that the recently concluded 9th Asian Winter Games had further ignited public enthusiasm for winter sports. He called for seizing this opportunity to promote mass participation in winter activities and to expand industries related to winter sports equipment.
Meeting with designers at a cultural and tourism company, Li stressed the importance of innovation in creating appealing ice and snow cultural products. “We should reinforce the principal role of enterprises in innovation, create more products and services, and strengthen international exchanges and cooperation,” he said.
Li’s visit highlights China’s commitment to harnessing the economic potential of winter sports, aiming to transform its cold climates into hot spots for growth and consumption.
