(Yicai Global) March 23 -- Northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has become a more popular destination for China’s skiiers, with its slice of the country’s ski market nearly doubling over the 2021-2022 ski season from the year before, according to the latest data.

The mountainous region accounted for a 21 percent share of the country’s ski market this snow season, up from 12 percent last season, Xinjiang Daily reported today, citing data from the Department of Culture and Tourism of Xinjiang.

Xinjiang has eight ski resorts in the country’s top 100, the report said, which based its calculations on the number of tourists and the length of ski slopes in each area.

The Urumqi Nanshan Ski Resort and the Altay Ski Resort both saw a big jump in the number of visitors and length of ski slopes this season and were elevated to national-level resorts in January.

The Altay resort welcomed 480,000 tourists and raked in CNY29.3 million as of the middle of March, while the Urumqi resort had 658,000 vistors and earned CNY73 million (USD11.5 million). They ranked third and fourth respectively in the country in terms of ski mileage, according to app Ski.

Editor: Kim Taylor