Huang Qiang, an NPC deputy, who is also Party secretary of Jilin, said "The ice and snow resources are giving rise to a popular industry. … Ice and snow leisure tourism has become a good driver for consumption".

The province is also actively integrating its tourist development into the bigger picture of the entire Northeast China.

"The three provinces in Northeast China (namely Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning) are geographically connected, share similar resources, have close cultural ties, and the development of tourism in this region exhibits significant symbiotic and synergistic effects," said Sun.

"We will consider the region's tourist development as a whole, establish cooperation mechanism of joint marketing and building brand together and promote the formation of a high-quality development pattern of Northeast China's tourism with complementary advantages," she adds.