His Wusong mountain villa has seen a significantly growing number of winter vacationers since 2016.

His Wusong villa took in more than 300 travelers over Oct 15 to Dec 31, up 50 percent over the same period in the previous year, according to Chi.

"It is obvious that the original nine rooms are no longer enough," he says.

Separately, in 2017, Chi invested a second homestay Xiyake in the region, and then went on to develop a third one Yuyuan villa in 2018 with other business partners.

The Yuyuan villa's more than 100 rooms were fully booked during the New Year holiday.

Most of tourists came from the Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, Chi says.

Speaking about the improved business prospects, Ma Zhonghai, a villager running a homestay at Hemu, says: "Winter tourism is doing very well, and local income (in winter) is roughly the same as summer."

Ma now expects his monthly revenue to hit 30,000-40,000 yuan during the winter.

Meanwhile, the local authority is also implementing policies to encourage villagers to open homestays.

So, each household can receive 5,000 yuan if they promote winter tourism activities, says Wang Chengming, the deputy director of the Kanas scenic spot management committee.

The incentive has attracted many local college students to return home and start up homestay businesses.

At the moment, more than 30 homestays offer winter tourism services around the Kanas area, in addition to nine hotels, offering 3,500 beds, says Wang.

Huang Shiming from Changsha, the capital of the central Hunan province, recently enjoyed the snow sculpture and landscape at Kanas during his visit to Xinjiang in early January.

"I'd never seen so much snow in my life, and it was fun to ski and play in the snow in ways the locals recommended," says Huang, who was also impressed by the Wusong villa, where he experienced local winter folk activities.

"The (room) price was good and It felt quite different sipping tea and having barbecues at the villa," says Huang.