China’s Ice City Harbin 2019

China’s northern “ice city“ of Harbin has built its tourism sector into a 10-billion-U.S. dollar-level industry, with its renown as one of the country’s top winter destinations continuing to draw in huge numbers of visitors. As the capital city of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Harbin has been making good use of its ecological resources including ice and snow, and forests and wetlands, in an effort to build itself into a top-notch, all-season tourist location, while also being a popular international tourist attraction in winter. Tourism became Harbin’s second 10-billion-U.S. dollar-level industry in 2016. The city received more than million tourists in 2017 and made a total revenue of over 117 billion yuan (around 17 billion U.S dollars). It has gained international attention for its increasingly popular winter extravaganza, the International Ice and Snow Festival, which features elaborate ice sculptures, competitions and a plethora of winter sports. Every winter, visitors from home and o