Snow and ice lure holidaymakers

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on Sunday night that the nation's domestic tourism market had operated smoothly over the Spring Festival holiday.

Although there was a slight decrease in the number of trips made during the festival due to the official call of "staying put" to contain the COVID-19 epidemic, the start of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games has ignited a nation-wide frenzy for ice and snow sports.

The seven-day holiday, starting from Jan 31 and ending Sunday, has seen 251 million trips made by domestic residents, a year-on-year decrease of 2 percent, according to the ministry.

The tourism-related revenue generated over the holiday reached about 289.2 billion yuan ($45.4 billion), decreasing by 3.9 percent compared with the same holiday period last year.

The ministry said that winter sports have become a buzzword for the Chinese people over the holiday thanks to the opening of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. As a result, cities such as Beijing and northeastern provinces such as Liaoning and Jilin embraced travel booms.