Harbin in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province was voted as the most popular ice and snow tourism destination in China, according to an annual winter tourism report recently released by the China Tourism Academy.

It was followed by Jilin in Jilin province, Zhangjiakou in Hebei province and Urumqi in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Harbin won the honor due to its rich ice and snow resources, high-quality tourism services, as well as good tourist feedback, which all obtained the highest scores among the cities that participated in the competition.

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival was also recognized as the top winter tourism activity in China.

Originating from the Ice Lantern Show in 1985, the Harbin ice festival has become one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, the Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada and Norway's Ski Festival.

In recent years, Harbin has been gaining an increasing reputation for winter tourism, which has boosted the economic development of the city.