District prospers after skiing becomes top industry

Transformation to snow

After many investigations, Chongli turned a past disadvantage into an advantage－developing winter sports with its abundant snow resources.

The district has a yearly snowfall period of over 150 days, with the deepest snowpacks reaching 1 meter. In 1996, it welcomed Saibei, its first ski resort. Since then, the snow industry has replaced mining to become the pillar of the district's economy.

At the time, most tourists were from neighboring cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and other cities in Hebei.

Fueled by Beijing's successful bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Chongli－which, as a co-host, will hold most of the Games' snow-related events－has developed into one of the country's most popular destinations for skiing.

The region now boasts seven large-scale ski resorts, with a total of 169 slopes totaling 162 kilometers, according to the district's publicity department.

During the 2018-19 snow season, which spanned from November to April, Chongli received over 2.8 million tourists and generated about 2 billion yuan ($292 million) in revenue－up 68 percent and 75 percent, respectively, compared with the 2014-15 snow season.

Further, more convenient transportation from Beijing has made tourists more eager to come.

A Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway opened at the end of last year. It only takes one hour to travel from Qinghe Railway Station in Beijing's Haidian district to the Taizicheng Railway Station in Chongli. In the past, the journey could take more than three hours.

This year, the region's ski industry during the 2019-20 snow season was hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. All seven major ski resorts in Chongli suspended operations on Jan 28 and gradually resumed on Feb 26.

"The suspension greatly affected the ski industry and the region's economic development," said Wang Biao, Party secretary of Chongli district. According to the region's statistics bureau, Chongli's GDP for the first three months of the year dropped by 4.1 percent to 587 million yuan.

To help companies get through the difficult period, the local government has rolled out measures including the reduction of taxes.