China develops its sporting infrastructure
The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games provided the catalyst for a very significant increase in winter sports venues across China.
A key initiative in this respect is the Ice Rinks Programme, through which funding has been made available for the construction of nearly 1,000 such venues in more than 100 cities across China. The idea behind the programme is to make these ice rinks available to the public free of charge or at an affordable price. By 2021, the country had 654 of them, 497 more than in 2015, and their number is growing all the time
Similarly, China has more indoor and outdoor ski venues than ever before, a total of 876 of them nationwide in 2022, up from 570 in 2015. These venues have 3,500 kilometres of ski runs, covering an area of 100 million square metres.
Zhangjiakou is one ski area that has benefitted from improvements to infrastructure, with the laying of new rail tracks and the building of roads and passenger transport hubs contributing to major growth in winter-sports visitor numbers. Among the country’s largest ski areas, Zhangjiakou handles 63,700 people per hour and is now home to a thriving bed and breakfast sector and business parks where several ice and snow sports equipment and machinery manufacturers have set up. Situated in Zhangjiakou, the district of Chongli welcomed 2.462 million tourists in the 2020/21 snow season, an increase of 83 per cent on the previous season.
Winter tourism in China grew from 170 million visitors in 2016/17 to 254 million in 2021/22, an increase of 49 per cent, with ice and snow tourism generating over CNY 390 billion (USD 53.2 billion) in the 2020/21 season alone. The total value of the ice and snow economy is forecast to reach CNY 1.5 trillion (USD 208.4 billion) by 2030.
China’s drive to create more winter sports venues has been innovative, as the creation of Shougang Big Air shows. A Beijing 2022 venue built on the site of a former steel mill, it is part of a vibrant sports park that also comprises short-track speed skating, figure skating, curling and ice hockey venues. Like all the venues used at the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, it was adapted and opened for public use afterwards and supports the development of the China’s Fitness-For-All programme.
The expansion in the number of venues has also been environmentally friendly, with low-climate-impact technology being used in the construction of new facilities, thanks to the installation of natural CO2 refrigeration systems and other innovations. All of Beijing 2022’s venues, both new and existing, were certified in line with national sustainable construction standards that put the accent on saving energy, water and materials.
These efforts will continue in the future, with the focus on using existing resources, encouraging multiple uses of venues, drawing on natural water resources to create ice rinks, and installing temporary venues for public events.