For years, winter meant two long, tough months for Xiong Hongfang and her family of five as they "hibernated" at home with nothing to do and no income coming in.

The summer potato planting business that produced a meager return was dormant during the off season, and no tourists bothered to visit Xiong's home village, hidden in the valley of Wumeng Mountain, 30 kilometers south of Liupanshui, Guizhou province, Southwest China.

Winter life changed dramatically in 2015, when Xiong opened a farmhouse inn to accommodate visitors from the nearby Yushe Snow Mountain Ski Resort.

"Planting potatoes is just a pastime for my family now. The money we make during the two winter months that the hotel is open sustains my family for at least six months. I am busy, but happy," the 35-year-old said.

The 2013 opening of the Yushe resort, the first of its kind in Southwest China, has driven the growth of related businesses, and provided more than 1,000 new jobs for local people.

During the 2015-16 snow season, more than 79,000 tourists visited the resort, which has expanded its area of operations to 20,000 square meters and now boasts five ski runs, graded from beginner to advanced level.

According to Zeng Dan, deputy director of the Shuicheng county tourism bureau which manages the resort, the entire scenic area, which includes the resort, a forest park and an ethnic cultural village, received 540,000 visitors during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday in January.

"The resort has built a name among new winter sports fans in the region, and really serves as a platform for the entire tourism business to take off during winter," Zeng said.

Wang Lei, manager of the Yanyang Travel Agency in Liupanshui, echoed Zeng's words, citing the rising number of tours from neighboring cities and provinces.

"Some of my colleagues in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces have reached out to us to cooperate in accepting bookings from their clients. Now, we are running out of staff, whereas before we had no business during winter," she said.

With other new resorts opening for business in the region, the resort will invest a further 120 million yuan ($17.5 million) this year in service upgrades, staff training and a youth camp organization, in addition to promotional activities.

"Though we are not at the forefront of the national campaign to develop the winter sports industry in the lead-up to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, we are keen to contribute and get involved in our own way," Zeng said.

(China Daily USA 02/20/2017 page6)