Altay Xuedu airport’s passenger volume up more than 50% driven by ice and snow economy

Home>>

(Global Times) 11:19, February 19, 2025

An aircraft from China Southern Airlines lands at Altay Xuedu Airport on February 16, 2025. (Photo/Courtesy of China Southern Airlines)

In 2024, Altay received 40.1973 million domestic tourists, a year-on-year increase of 27.59 percent, and realized a total tourism expenditure of 35.425 billion yuan ($4.88 billion), a year-on-year increase of 29.04 percent.

For example, in the winter and spring flight seasons of 2024-25, Altay actively connected with airlines such as China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Tianjin Airlines, and opened routes such as Shanghai Hongqiao-Altay and Chongqing-Urumqi-Altay. It also increased the number of flights to destinations such as Beijing, Guangzhou, and Xi'an, attracting a large number of ski enthusiasts to come.

From January 14 to February 13, more than 33,000 passengers visited Altay with China Southern Airlines, an increase of 58 percent year-on-year, with load factor rates on some routes exceeding 90 percent, data from China Southern Airlines showed.

From the perspective of tourist sources, Altay receives 88 percent of tourists from outside Xinjiang, mainly from Guangdong, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hubei, and Beijing.

Official data showed that since December 2024, the total number of tourists received every day had reached about 15,000, and the overall reception volume increased by 20 percent compared with the same period last year.

The local travel bureau said it plans to open more routes connecting cities such as Wuhan, Chengdu, and Harbin in summer, normally a peak season.

In recent years, as winter sports and tourism surged in popularity across China, the ice and snow economy has witnessed significant growth. From winter sports to snow tourism, China is actively tapping into its ice and snow resources to create new growth drivers for the world's second-largest economy.

The sector has already reached a trillion-yuan scale, and the country aims to grow it to 1.2 trillion yuan by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030, Xinhua News Agency reported earlier this month, citing an official guideline released in 2024.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Liang Jun)