Heilongjiang’s Yabuli National Ski Tourism Resort officially ‘turned the lifts’ on 7 November, ushering in China’s 2025-26 ice-and-snow season. Xinhua video footage showed charter coaches arriving from Harbin Taiping International Airport with mixed groups of South Korean, Malaysian and Russian tourists who cleared immigration under 240-hour transit waivers.
Resort operators report that forward bookings from overseas travel wholesalers are up 35 percent year-on-year, thanks to the visa-free extension through 2026 and aggressive marketing tied to the legacy of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Yabuli’s management company has added bilingual way-finding, an expanded foreign-currency POS network and on-site digital-RMB payment kiosks to improve the experience for international guests.
![Yabuli Ski Resort Opens 2025-26 Season, Welcomes First Wave of Inbound Winter Tourists]()
For global mobility teams, the early opening means expatriate staff based in northern China can plan incentive trips and client entertainment around reliable snow conditions as early as mid-November. Charter capacity from Seoul, Vladivostok and Kuala Lumpur to Harbin is expected to increase by 20 percent over the peak January period, easing last-minute travel.
Local authorities hope the extended season will lift inbound spending on equipment rentals, mid-range hotels and regional cuisine. If projections hold, inbound winter sports tourism could rebound to 80 percent of its 2019 level by February 2026, reinforcing China’s strategy of leveraging niche tourism to complement manufacturing-led growth.
Resort operators report that forward bookings from overseas travel wholesalers are up 35 percent year-on-year, thanks to the visa-free extension through 2026 and aggressive marketing tied to the legacy of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Yabuli’s management company has added bilingual way-finding, an expanded foreign-currency POS network and on-site digital-RMB payment kiosks to improve the experience for international guests.
For global mobility teams, the early opening means expatriate staff based in northern China can plan incentive trips and client entertainment around reliable snow conditions as early as mid-November. Charter capacity from Seoul, Vladivostok and Kuala Lumpur to Harbin is expected to increase by 20 percent over the peak January period, easing last-minute travel.
Local authorities hope the extended season will lift inbound spending on equipment rentals, mid-range hotels and regional cuisine. If projections hold, inbound winter sports tourism could rebound to 80 percent of its 2019 level by February 2026, reinforcing China’s strategy of leveraging niche tourism to complement manufacturing-led growth.
