Tourists meet cotton-covered disappointment at "Snow Village"
"Snow Village" has been shut down in southwestern China following numerous complaints from tourists, who, instead of snow, encountered... cotton. The proprietors attributed this to climate change.
The proprietors of "Snow Village" in Sichuan Province, China, were compelled to close the attraction after a flurry of criticism from visitors. In place of the anticipated winter scenery, tourists found cotton mimicking snow. This was reported by the "South China Morning Post" newspaper.
Cotton instead of snow
The attraction, which opened in late January this year in the outskirts of Chengdu, swiftly became embroiled in controversy. Tourists who arrived to enjoy the winter landscape discovered that the "snow" was merely cotton blended with soapy water. Complaints soon followed.
The village management issued a statement on 7 February, in which they apologised for the situation, blaming it on global warming.
"I feel cheated. I think my intelligence has been insulted!" one tourist commented on social media. The village owners admitted they had purchased cotton to generate a winter atmosphere, but the outcome was not up to par.
Issues with tourist attractions in China
Similar incidents of misleading tourists are not uncommon in China. Last year, a landscape park in Henan Province was criticised for using a pipe to supply water to a waterfall.
There have also been occasions where animals were painted to resemble more appealing species, such as dogs in a zoo being painted to look like pandas.
