Nearly 26 million visit China's Hubei during Spring Festival holiday

Central China's Hubei Province received nearly 26 million visitors during the week-long Spring Festival holiday that ended on Sunday, up by more than 20 percent from the same holiday last year, the provincial culture and tourism authority said Monday.

Hubei earned a tourism revenue of more than 12.2 billion yuan (about 1.9 billion U.S. dollars) during this year holiday which ran from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, about 31 percent more than that for last year's same holiday, according to the Hubei provincial department of culture and tourism.

Thanks to the ongoing Beijing Winter Olympics, ice and snow sports have become a new attraction for tourists, the department said. Ski resorts, snow parks, and skating rinks in Hubei have launched various experience activities covering skiing, skating, snow sightseeing, and local homestay.

Ice-snow tourism projects in Hubei attracted over 130,000 visitors during the holiday period this year, a new growth engine for the holiday tourism sector.

Falling on Feb. 1 this year, the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important occasion for family reunions and heralds the beginning of spring.