A ‘Winter Wonderland’ in China has issued an apology after eagle-eyed visitors discovered disheartening fact about the attraction.

The Chengdu Snow Village project in Sichuan province is known for its spicy food and pandas, but recently has been criticised by visitors after they discovered the promised snow was in fact made of cotton wool and foamy water. Photos online, posted by unhappy guests, show bits of cotton spread across a greenish-brown field and caught in branches of small bushes.

In another photo, a roof is covered in what appears to be bedding material, with clear staple marks, reports CNN.

“It snowed every winter in the past. So we upgraded this area to become a tour site and promoted it widely before its opening,” the unnamed worker told Shanghai Morning Post. “We were waiting for the arrival of snow. Unfortunately, the weather did not side with us,” the worker said.

The attraction had lured people to visit for Lunar New Year, with pictures showing snow-covered cabins. However, since the photos were posted, The Snow Village has issued an apology on social media, blaming the unusually warm weather in the region for the lack of real snow.

“In order to create a ‘snowy’ atmosphere the tourist village purchased cotton for the snow… but it did not achieve the expected effect, leaving a very bad impression on tourists who came to visit,” the attraction said in a statement. Refunds would be provided to unsatisfied visitors, the post added.

“Following the precedents of previous years, we typically have snow in winter. So we set up this spot for photoshoot in advance to wait for the snow to come,” a staff member told the state-run Global Times. “However, this year, the weather didn’t cooperate, and it didn’t snow.”

Pictures of the snow village no longer appear on the attraction’s official social media channels, and the village has since closed down. Market regulation authorities are also investigating the tourist attraction for suspected false advertising, Chengdu’s culture and tourism bureau shared in a statement.

Last year was the warmest on record in China, according to a Government agency. The average temperature in Chengdu is usually between 3C and 10C in January. The Snow Village is not the only attraction to have suffered from a lack of snow recently — many ski resorts across Europe have been forced to close, either permanently or for a season, as there has not been sufficient snowfall.

In 2022, when Beijing hosted the Winter Olympics, climate variability also caused the Games to heavily rely on artificial snow.

More specifically, China has had a few tourist attractions called out for being misleading in recent years. Last year, a video went viral after it revealed a waterfall was actually being fed by a pipe and at a zoo, two so-called pandas were revealed to actually be painted dogs.

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