Boom times for winter sports come ahead of Olympics

China expects a boom in winter- sport tourism as local authorities rush to tap opportunities presented by the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday. According the China National Tourism Administration ( CNTA), China hopes to mobilize 300 million people in the country to participate in winter sports by the time that the 2022 Winter Olympics is held.

The State Council, the country’s cabinet, released a 2016- 20 tourism plan in January, listing winter- sport tourism as an important part of the country’s ambition to raise annual tourism revenue to 7 trillion yuan ($ 1.04 trillion) by 2020.

Since then, local authorities in such areas as Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Northeast China’s Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces have come up with detailed plans to explore related resources.

The economic benefi ts of winter tourism have already begun to emerge. Winter- sport tourism has become a bright spot in Heilongjiang’s economy, which has been slowing due to the weak energy sector and heavy industries.

In Inner Mongolia, the annual growth of winter tourism revenue has surpassed 30 percent, while in Jilin it has accounted for one- third of the province’s tourism revenue.

“The scale of China’s ice- snow industry will exceed 1 trillion yuan, with related sports equipment revenue surpassing 35 billion yuan,” said CNTA head Li Jinzao.

China has vowed to develop tourism into a major driver for economic transformation and upgrading by 2020.