Construction of a US$100 million indoor ice and snow sports park, the largest of its kind in China, will start soon in Dalian, a coastal city of northeast China's Liaoning Province, sources with the local tourism industry said Tuesday.

A joint investment project between Tree Ag. of Germany and the Huanhai International Trade Co., Ltd. of the Dalian Bonded Zone, the 21-hectare park features facilities for indoor skiing, skating, ice hockey and other ice and snow sports.

The whole project is expected to go into operation before the end of 2005.

Dalian has constructed 49 tourism projects in recent years, 33 of which have opened. Construction of these facilities used 13.3 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), US$480 million of which was foreign investment.

Liu Zhenwan, director of the city tourism bureau, attributed the increase in investment in tourism to the city's efforts to create a better development environment for the industry.

Liu said the city government had allocated 15 million yuan (US$1.81 million) annually since 1997 to develop tourism programs and infrastructure, such as highways leading to scenic spots and water and power supply facilities in tourist zones.

A better investment environment had attracted rising numbers of foreign investors.

A Singaporean company and Dalian Haichang Group have jointly invested 460 million yuan (US$55.62 million) in a polar museum project, and they have also started construction of the Jinshi (Golden Stone) Theme Park with a total investment of US$370 million.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2004)