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China’s booming winter tourism will drive the growth of the country’s ice and snow industry, which is expected to hit 3 trillion yuan ($440 billion) by 2022, according to a report released on Sunday.

During the 2017-2018 winter period, Chinese travelers made about 197 million visits for winter activities, a 16 percent year-on-year increase, while winter tourism generated revenue of about 330 billion yuan, up 22 percent year-on-year, according to a report released by the Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Sunday.

The report was released on the sideline of the 3rd China (Jilin) International Ice and Snow Tourism Industry Expo and 22nd Changchun Ice and Snow Tourism Festival in northeast China’s Jilin Province.

According to the report, it is estimated that the number of tourists will reach 340 million in the 2021-2022 winter period and winter tourism revenue will reach 680 billion yuan ($100 billion) by that time.

As a result, the booming winter tourism will drive the output of the country’s ice and snow industry, including ice and snow towns, creative arts, winter sports, resorts, and conventions, which is expected to hit 3 trillion yuan by 2022.

Rich in ice and snow resources in both quantity and quality during its long winter, the country’s northeast and northern provincial regions such as Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Hebei, as well as the autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, are becoming major growth poles for the ice and snow industry, according to Dai Bin, head of China Tourism Academy.

Winter tourism has been booming in China since Beijing won its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in 2015, as local governments of Beijing and the provinces of Hebei, Jilin, and Heilongjiang have unveiled policies to promote winter tourism. New airports, railways, and other facilities have been built to make these places more accessible to visitors.