"For Chinese guests, besides ski areas, we have other programs, like visiting neighboring cities, including Salzburg, the birthplace of Mozart, and Vienna, which has the biggest musical heritage," the minister said. She added Chinese tourists can combine natural and cultural experiences, as they have to travel across the Eurasian continent to get to her country, which lies in the heart of Europe.

Austria is the birthplace of modern skiing and the sport is in the blood of its people, as children normally learn to ski even before they can walk.

Besides skiing, winter vacationers can enjoy Christmas markets, winter walks, snowshoeing and authentic local food. Thermal spas are scattered around the ski areas.

The country has hosted the Winter Olympics twice (1964 and 1976) and has much knowledge to share with the next organizer. "Safety is the very first issue, both in people's physical safety on the slopes and organizing big events like the Olympics," said K?stinger.

The Austrian Winter Sports Days 2018 Conference was held at Vanke Lake Songhua Resort in China's Jilin province in February. The resort, equipped with ropeways made by Austria's Doppelmayr Group, has become China’s top-level ski resort.

Axess AG, an Austrian company developing secure and customized systems for ticketing and access management for ski resorts, is reported to invest in China’s winter sports industry.

A latecomer though, China is expected to be home to 300 million winter sports enthusiasts by 2025, according to China’s ambitious plans to build a winter sports infrastructure and popularize winter sports.

The plan, released in November 2016, said at least 650 skating rinks and 800 ski resorts are expected to be built across the country by 2022, triggering a 1 trillion yuan ($144.5 billion) winter sports industry by 2025.

Contact the writer at guanxm@chinadaily.com.cn