CHINA IN DEPTH & THE BEIJING WINTER OLYMPICS 2022 IN CHONGLI COUNTY

The Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 in Chongli County

State of Developments in 2015

Beijing is just recovering from the celebrations after winning the bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Huge pride swells with the triumph of being the sole city to host both the Summer Games and Winter Games.

Many seasons prior to the 2022 Olympics kick-off date, Chongli County 220km Northwest of the Chinese capital gets ready to showcase what it is already capable of. As winter approaches, the Chongli resorts get ready to make snow as soon as temperatures are cold enough, and water supply is secured.

Long gone are the times where Secret Garden was just a mark on the ground, and the pizza oven in Dolomiti churned out the best and most original Italian food available within hundreds of kilometers. Wanlong now sits as the secluded grandeur amongst the resorts, more private, not as flamboyant as Secret Garden, and a definite hotspot for local enthusiasts. Dolomiti is the chosen place for a range of activities and contests including the main China edition of the largest snowboard event in the world: World Snowboard Day (WSD) 2015 and a stop on the globally held WSF Banked Slalom Tour. Rumors fly that WSD Asia ambassador and the pioneer of snowboarding in China, Wang Lei, will coach the Chinese National team to guarantee success and Olympic Gold in the years to follow.

Global Demand Opens New Markets

Asia as a whole has made a great push toward establishing itself as the epicenter of major multi discipline snow sport events. A notable upcoming event this season is the 2016 World Championships of Snowboarding in Yabuli from March 9-16.

Further east, Korea will showcase its abilities as host to the 2018 edition of the Winter Olympics.

A decade ago, there was but a single hotel in Chongli County. Where the now largely farming population has grown to roughly 130000 (Source: http://wapbaike.baidu.com).

Huge billboards line the highway from Beijing to Chongli boldly promoting the many positive impacts surrounding Chinas bidding process. High spirited proclamations of “Providing Solar For Every Household”, a “New Era for China Sports”, a “Joyous Rendezvous on Ice &Snow”, and “2022, Our Own Olympics” swear a proud population in to a united pro-Olympic Force.

On the main crossroad in Chongli, a busy streetworker smiles broadly and says: “It’s a great honor for our country to hold the Olympic Games again. It’s good for our community here and will create jobs.” 

Interesting voices from the people, and not so different from what the industry is hoping to achieve: building up and ultimately learning to truly cater to a barely tapped market for outdoor and winter sports.

CHINA IN DEPTH is a loose series of articles written by Miriam Deller shining light on market and industry developments influenced by investments, attention and strategic decisions fueled by the Olympic Winter Games 2022 in China.