Winter sports boom to benefit Hebei residents

In preparation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the winter sports industry in Zhangjiakou, the Games' co-host city in Hebei province, has developed rapidly.

The industry boom is expected to continue beyond the Games, providing more job opportunities for residents, a vice-mayor of the city said.

A series of snow-related activities will take place in the city's mountainous Chongli district, which has been a popular destination for winter sports enthusiasts since China won the bid to host the Winter Games.

"About one in five people in Chongli now work in the winter sports industry. Their incomes and livelihoods have been significantly improved," Liu Haifeng, a vice-mayor of Zhangjiakou, told a news conference on Tuesday.

During the 2020-21 snow season, the district, which has seven ski resorts, received more than 2.46 million visits from tourists, up 83 percent year-on-year. Income earned from tourism reached 2.02 billion yuan ($319.5 million), an increase of 87 percent, he said.

"Thanks to the Games, Zhangjiakou has gained competitive advantages in further developing its winter sports industry, which will surely boom after the Games," Liu said.

Zhangjiakou also has China's only ice and snow sports equipment industrial park, which manufactures apparel and accessories such as ski suits, snowboards and footwear, as well as heavy equipment such as snowmakers, snow groomers and cableways.

"Some of the equipment produced at the industrial park has already been put to use at the Games' venues," said Bai Jianhai, an official at Zhangjiakou High-tech Industrial Development Zone. "Also, more international businesses have shown interest in the park."

Zhang Litao, general manager of the Fulong Ski Resort in Chongli, said the resort will expand its ski service center after the Games to cope with surging demand. The resort, which has 42 ski runs, aims to build more to attract more winter sports fans.

"It's always been my dream to build a top ski resort in China and see more Chinese people enjoy snow sports," said Zhang, who was one of the first ski jump athletes in China.

Though people's enthusiasm for winter sports has never been higher, there has been a shortage of quality coaches, said Cui Yajie, dean of Fulong Mountain Sports Academy.

"We now have a team of more than 300 coaches who teach more than 10,000 people to ski or snowboard annually," Cui said. "Many of them have later become snow sports lovers."