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The country's famous ice and snow festival will again be held in Harbin, capital city of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province this winter, Ning Shimin, director of the provincial tourist bureau, announced recently. The annual festival, co-sponsored by the State Tourism Bureau and the local government, is used to attract tourists from both China and abroad to the area during the five-month-long winter. More than 1.7 million visitors attended the festival last winter, which brought in 780 million yuan (US$94 million). As every year, large numbers of intricate lanterns and sculptures carved from ice and snow will be displayed at Ice and Snow World, held on an island in the Songhua River. This winter's event is expected to cover an area of 400,000 square meters, compared with the 200,000 square meters last winter, said Ning. Under the theme of "Step into a New Era," the festival will include ice carvings, snow carvings and 12 special scenery areas, he added. "We also plan to include the province's annual international skiing activities in Yabuli, 200 km from Harbin, in this festival," said Ning. "This will allow us to offer more winter travel packages and tours for visitors." Preparation work will begin this month. There will also be large-scale promotional activities throughout the world in September and October. "We are confident that this festival will attract more visitors from home and abroad and bring more money to Heilongjiang," said Ning. He said the province had decided to make the ice and snow festival the main event of the local tourism industry.