Coasting toward gains despite COVID-19

Booming winter sports may shrug off epidemic impact in the run-up to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games

In 2015, when Beijing bid successfully to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, a multibillion-dollar boom in China's winter sports industry was foreseen in the run-up to the Games.

Winters would be transformed from dull, dark months into the year's most anticipated season with indoor and outdoor fun activities galore.

By the end of last year, that dream not only became a reality but is continuing to have a positive knock-on effect on tourism, construction, transport, and other industries, generating thousands of new jobs, helping bolster economic growth and reinforcing general consumption upgrade nationwide－proof of the rising discretionary spending among the newly affluent middle-income Chinese.

To be sure, this year's COVID-19 epidemic has dented the peak-season business; but, the gains made already are creating robust confidence that the short-term pains would not hurt the long-term prospects, industry insiders said.

Their optimism stems from undeniable data. In 2010, China had just 270 skiing venues. That number swelled to a staggering 770 by 2019, according to a February 2019 research report from the Beijing Ski Association.

Heilongjiang province in Northeast China, which boasts stunning natural snow and ice resources, alone has as many as 124 skiing venues.

Even at the county or city district level, ice and snow sports facilities are ubiquitous. For instance, Chongli district of Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, already has three major skiing centers in Thaiwoo Ski Resort, Genting Resort Secret Garden, and Wanlong Paradise Resort.

Just 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing, Chongli is among the three competition zones of the 2022 Games. The explosion of skiing facilities correlates with Chinese people's enthusiasm for winter sports. Chongli's tourism rode the winter sports wave to reach 157.5 million yuan ($22.6 million) during the 2019 Spring Festival holiday.

Nearly 21 million people went skiing last year in China, up 6 percent year-on-year. Thaiwoo Ski Resort said it received more than 8,000 tourists daily on average during the Spring Festival holiday last year, a record high since it started operations in 2015. Genting and Wanlong also reported heavy footfalls and revenue surges.