Culture & Sports
17:39, 24-Jul-2017
Ice, ice baby: China eyes winter sport tourism ahead of 2022 Olympics
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China is expecting a boom in winter sport tourism as local authorities rush to tap opportunities presented by the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
According to China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), the country is aiming to encourage 300 million people to the country to participate in winter sports by the time the Olympics come around.
The State Council released a five-year tourism plan in January covering 2016 to 2020 which lists winter sport tourism as an important part of the country's ambitions to raise tourism revenue to 7 trillion yuan (around 1 trillion US dollars) by 2020.
Since then, local authorities in areas such as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces have come up with detailed plans to explore related resources.
China is expecting a boom in winter sport tourism as local authorities rush to tap opportunities presented by the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. / CFP Photo
China is expecting a boom in winter sport tourism as local authorities rush to tap opportunities presented by the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. / CFP Photo
The economic benefits of winter tourism have already begun to be felt.
In Inner Mongolia, annual growth of winter tourism revenue surpassed 30 percent, while in Jilin it 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.
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(Source: Xinhua)