Winter tourism service providers in Northeast China's Jilin province are hoping to wow visitors with more fun activities and events during the 2020 snow season, which officially began on Nov 14.

Major winter tourism sites across Jilin province kicked off the new snow season with a slew of celebratory activities involving nearly 10,000 people, including representatives from top Chinese ski clubs, major ice and winter sports companies and tourists.

Jilin's Lake Songhua Resort, Beidahu Ski Resort and Changbai Mountain Scenic Spot, Changchun Ice and Snow World, Chagang Lake Scenic Spot and Changbaishan International Resort all took part in the ceremony.

With 2020 being a very challenging year on a number of unprecedented fronts, the full opening of the snow season in Jilin allows the year to end on a note of optimism, according to the local government.

At the opening ceremony, the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism unveiled 32 new ice and snow tourism routes for different types of tours and self-driving.

"Nearly 300 snow and ice-centered activities will be held in Jilin province to offer a broad range of options for tourists," said Jia Xin, director of marketing at the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. "Those activities will boost ice and snow economy development in the region."

The Jilin government will provide some 10 million yuan ($1.53 million) in offers and discounts to encourage more spending during this year's snow season. The discounts will apply to certain hot springs, ski courses and some rural tourism businesses, officials said.

"We will release 28 further measures, discounts and ticket price reductions soon," Jia said.

This year, the Jilin government has joined hands with local tourism service providers to launch an electronic map that offers tourists more travel suggestions. Users can search for scenic spots, purchase tickets and share their travel experiences on the map, officials said.

According to local media, single day-trip products are becoming popular in Jilin province because they are more convenient. Tourism operators provide services that ferry travelers from the city to a ski course in the morning and back to the city in the evening. It is more convenient and cheaper for beginners to experience the charm of skiing, according to local officials. Skilled skiers pay more attention to quality and experience, and therefore prefer hotels with channels directly connecting to ski courses.

In 2020, a large number of local ski courses have upgraded their facilities.

Beidahu Ski Resort has restructured its hilly areas, widened some of its trails, built an additional three forest trails and two cables, and improved hotel service capacity to create a better experience for skiers and snowboarders. According to the resort, hotel room occupancy for weekends from Nov 14 to Jan 1, 2021 have reached 100 percent of capacity. The weekday occupancy rate is around 60 percent.

Wu Tao, a representative from Lake Songhua Resort, said the resort purchased new facilities to upgrade ski courses and built more ski slopes to serve skiers of different ages.

According to figures from online travel service provider Ctrip, the number of bookings for ski trips to Jilin province has increased 360 percent year-on-year from a year ago.

"We forecast this snow season will be a boom period and will demonstrate Jilin's ice and snow industry development," Jia said.

According to Jia, enterprises in Jilin have developed new products to unlock new market potential.

"We strive to provide a more convenient, more secure and more affordable experience for tourists," Jia said.

Jilin province has worked to develop its ice and snow industry. The region has long been a formidable force for winter sports in China, rich in locations and facilities.

The province gets some of the country's best powdery snow, the type favored by skiers and snowboarders, at its leading resorts and courses for competitive skiing.

The annual skiing season lasts for about 150 days in Jilin province.

Jing Junhai, the newly appointed secretary of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and former governor of Jilin province, said in the 2020 provincial government work report that both the ice and snow economy and summer getaway economy are growing in Jilin province.

Lake Songhua Resort, Beidahu Ski Resort and Changbaishan International Resort ranked as China's top three ski resorts for total number of visits in 2019. Jilin's efforts in developing its ski resorts and related economy have received praise from the central government.

Looking ahead, Jilin will continue to promote high-quality development as part of efforts to revitalize its regional economy. It will add more ski facilities to serve increasing demand for ice and snow products. The province has set a goal of having 60 ski courses by 2023.

In 2020, Jilin boasts 35 ski courses capable of serving more than 10 million tourists. The number of ski courses and trails in Jilin accounts for 14.8 percent of the total in all of China.

Yang Andi, director of the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said that Jilin must continue to strengthen development in areas such as ice and snow culture, tourism, sports, trade, transportation and brand building during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) to promote prosperity and the development of the entire regional economy.