NE China province aims to become world-class Alpine skiing hub

CHANGCHUN, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Northeast China's Jilin Province, located in the world's golden latitude of ice and snow similar to the Alps, has unveiled a blueprint to make itself into a world-class skiing hub as winter sports are gaining steam due to the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The development plan of the ice and snow industry released by the provincial government on Thursday puts forward a phased target involving the major tasks and measures for the 2021-2035 period.

Jilin will strive to become an international ice-snow tourism destination with an industry scale of more than 250 billion yuan (around 39.08 billion U.S. dollars), attracting over 300 million winter sports enthusiasts by 2025, according to the plan.

The number of ski resorts in Jilin is expected to reach 100 by 2025 with the industry scale of ice and snow sports reaching 24 billion yuan, the plan stated, adding that by 2035, the province would become China's highland of high-quality ice and snow industry.

Jilin currently has 46 ski resorts with the total length and area of ski slopes reaching 298 km and 1,032 hectares, respectively. It ranks first among all provincial-level regions in China in terms of the area of ski slopes.

The province currently boasts 302 national-level ice and snow sports training institutions serving athletes slated to take part in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.