Journal of Resources and Ecology >
A Pre-game Evaluation of the Tourism Legacy of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games
WANG Ning, E-mail: jenny1412@bsu.edu.cn |
Received date: 2021-10-21
Accepted date: 2022-01-20
Online published: 2022-06-07
Supported by
The Key Project of National Social Science Foundation(21ATY001)
The National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Project(42001255)
The role of tourism in social and economic development and stabilizing the Olympic legacy has been widely discussed. Beijing is the first “Dual-Olympic City”. For the first time, the Beijing Winter Olympics has adopted a model of three competition areas, which has attracted much attention to the study of its tourism legacy. In the legacy plan, the construction of the “Beijing-Zhangjiakou Sports Culture and Tourism Belt” was proposed. The development of ice and snow tourism and the cultivation of the ice and snow tourism market is also reflected in many policy documents and government actions. The scientific planning before the competition laid a good foundation for the sustainable development of its ice and snow tourism heritage. This research combines Olympic legacy research with tourism destination theory, and focuses on ice and snow tourism directly related to the Winter Olympics and the significance of pre-event planning for legacy protection. At the same time, the improvement of the quality of ice and snow tourism destinations is embedded in the pre-Olympic legacy, and opinions and suggestions on how to ensure the stability of the legacy after the games are given. This study uses the literature review method and the second-hand materials survey research method, then through establishing a tourism legacy pre-game evaluation model and the use of geographic information, government reports, policies, publicly released statistics and news reports, etc.. It explores the legacy of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, aiming to lay the foundation for preserving the continuous value of the ice and snow tourism legacy during and after the Olympics. The results indicate that the Beijing Winter Olympics has made relatively complete plans and reliable progress in both tangible and intangible legacy. Complete tourism infrastructure, an optimistic sport and cultural atmosphere, and the improvement of residents’ health concept and sports awareness have become boosters for the development of ice and snow tourism in the Beijing-Zhangjiakou region.
WANG Ning , JIANG Yiyi , XU Haibin , FANG Yan , ZHANG Yue , WANG Zhe . A Pre-game Evaluation of the Tourism Legacy of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2022 , 13(4) : 578 -591 . DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2022.04.004
Table 1 Pre-game evaluation model of ice and snow tourism legacy for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics |
Legacy category | Legacy evaluation factors | Evaluation results |
---|---|---|
Tangible legacy | Sports tourism facilities | • Newly built or upgraded venues for competitions, with outstanding tourism functions • The number and quality of other ice and snow sports tourism venues and tourist destinations have increased significantly |
Tourism infrastructure | • Comprehensive upgrade of transportation facilities, and significant progress in intelligence, humanization and regional connectivity • The number and quality of accommodation and reception facilities have been significantly improved, and the characteristic homestay project has become a benchmark | |
Tourism high-tech facilities, equipment and devices | • The upgrade of smart facilities for sports events provides new ideas and new platforms for sports event tourism in the post-epidemic era | |
Intangible legacy | Mass ice and snow sports, tourism and cultural activities | • The number of ice and snow sports events, mass ice and snow activities, and other ice and snow tourism activities has increased significantly. The content of the activities is rich and diverse, and the ice and snow cultural atmosphere has been significantly improved |
Tourist destination image and reputation | • Social security had been gradually improving • Standardization, diversification and specialization of talent training • Multi-level and multi-channel publicity and promotion • Tourism complaints and handling mechanisms are gradually improved, and a consumer rights protection system had started to be established • Market rectification and supervision system had been continuing to improve |
Table 2 Tourism functions of Olympic venues |
Competition zones | Venues | Status | Current tourism functions and potential tourism functions |
---|---|---|---|
Beijing (excluding Yanqing) | Naional Speed Skating Oval | Newly built | Together with the “Bird’s Nest” and “Water Cube”, it constitutes the iconic building complex of the “Dual Olympic City” Beijing; making full use of the space around the national speed skating stadium to create a track along the artificial lake where citizens and tourists could run in summer and ski in winter. A leisure complex with a lake, a stadium (national speed skating stadium), and a track is under plan. The goal is to become a multi-functional ice center integrating “sports events, mass fitness, culture and leisure, exhibitions, and social welfare” |
National Aquatics Centre | Upgraded | The National Aquatics Center will constantly switch between the swimming season and the ice season. In the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn it will become “Water Cube” for water sports; in winter, it will be transformed into “Ice Cube” for ice sports. It will become a model of sustainable use of Olympic venues and an important tourist landmark | |
National Indoor Stadium | Upgraded | The venue is used to host various levels of ice hockey events so as to promote sports event tourism | |
National Stadium | Upgraded | The National Stadium provides ice and snow events and training, and will actively promote industrial integration, trying to create a new industry chain in which ice and snow industry, tourism, culture, and technology are deeply integrated | |
Capital Indoor Stadium | Upgraded | It is used to host short-track speed skating and figure skating events so as to support sports event tourism | |
Wukesong Sports Centre | Upgraded | The stadium can realize the conversion of the two game modes of ice hockey and basketball within 6 hours. It is the first stadium in China to hold both basketball and ice hockey professional sports events in the same venue serving as a precious place to develop sports event tourism | |
Big Air Shougang | Newly built | Its design concept is derived from the traditional flying shape in the Dunhuang murals in China, and its beautiful and unique shape make it a unique landmark. Large outdoor activities attracting tourists such as concerts and press conferences could also be held there in the future | |
Zhangjiakou (Chongli) | Genting Snow Park | Upgraded | In addition to continuing to play its role as a ski resort, it also serves as a venue for hosting high-level international competitions and extreme skiing cultural activities, and hopefully will become a popular sports tourism destination |
National Biathlon Centre | Newly built | The two venues are planned to be built into a “mountain park” and an “outdoor ice entertainment center”, becoming places for both professional training and mass sports and entertainment activities | |
National Cross-Country Centre | Newly built | ||
National Ski Jumping Centre | Newly built | Extreme tourism projects could be developed and other entertainment activities such as music festivals could be held; domestic and international competitions are used to develop sports event tourism | |
Yanqing District, Beijing | National Alpine Skiing Centre | Newly built | It will be built into a mountain sports and leisure park. It could be used as an outdoor development training center in spring, summer and autumn to develop outdoor projects such as mountain biking, mountaineering, rock climbing, trekking, grass sliding, etc.; to develop sports event tourism through high-level events |
National Sliding Centre | Newly built | The sliding centre will develop experience-based projects for residents and tourists, and host high-level sports events |
Note: Source: Legacy Report of Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 (pre-game); Legacy Strategy Plan of Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and other news reports. |
Fig. 1 Distribution of ski resorts in Beijing and Zhangjiakou in 2013, 2017, and 2021 |
Table 3 Highlights of smart and passenger-friendly improvements |
Transportation lines | Highlights of smart and passengers friendly improvement |
---|---|
Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway | 5G WiFi coverage, wireless charging, intelligent lighting adjustment, color-changing windows in the carriage; A media carriage for live broadcasts of Winter Olympics events; ski equipment storage area at the carriage connection specifically for athletes and skiers |
Beijing-Chongli Expressway | 5G covering the whole journey; construction and application of intelligent toilets, intelligent parking, intelligent robots to improve the level of intelligent operation and management; some service centers with additional caravan camps, children’s play facilities, etc. |
Public transportation lines in Beijing | Building a green transportation integrated information service platform to promote big data sharing of transportation infrastructure such as parking spaces, and deepen information services for traffic participants |
Note: Source: Legacy Report of Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 (pre-game). |
Table 4 Improvement in hospitality in Beijing and Zhangjiakou |
Actions to promote the hospitality | City | |
---|---|---|
Beijing | Zhangjiakou | |
Training of tourism operators | Yanqing District (Beijing) builds an online training management platform, which combines online and offline methods to carry out industry training for an average of 5000 person-sessions per year; the Winter Olympics guarantees hotel staff received training on Western food, foreign languages, and foreign affairs service etiquette | Relevant personnel of the city’s key catering companies participated in the training class for the establishment of national green catering and national restaurant standards |
Quality certification | “Joint Enforcement Agreement on Food and Drug Emergency Protection for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics” was issued | Zhangjiakou City has compiled and completed 6 working standards including those for accommodation and catering; “Planning for the Food Supply Security System in Zhangjiakou for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics” was published |
Diversification of tourism demand and supply | “Winter Olympics Family” has increased its efforts in passport recognition, language training, and skill improvement | Not found |
Table 5 Ski trips ranked (Top 5) by province |
Rank | Province/City | 2020/2021 | 2019/2020 | 2018/2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hebei | 221 | 136 | 235 |
2 | Jilin | 202 | 123 | 207 |
3 | Beijing | 188 | 112 | 186 |
4 | Heilongjiang | 149 | 101 | 195 |
5 | Xinjiang | 133 | 76 | 116 |
(Unit: ×104 trips) Note: Data are from 2020 China Ski Industry White Paper. “Trips” means person-times. |
Table 6 Policy documents and actions by gorvernments |
Iindicators | Related policy documents | Actions made by governments and preliminary achievements |
---|---|---|
Social security | Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games during the Preparation Period and Radio Management Regulations 2020 Zhangjiakou City Housing Construction and Municipal Infrastructure Winter Olympics Project Quality and Safety Supervision Work Plan Ski Resort Safety Management Regulations General Technical Requirements for Ski Resort Safety Nets Sports Stadium Safety Operation Management Standardize Ski Places Three-year Action Plan for Beijing to Embrace the Blue Sky (2018-2020) Zhangjiakou City Air Quality Improvement Plan Implementation Plan (Blue Sky Action Plan) Plan 2016-2022 Environmental Protection Measures Responsibility Matrix Table | λ Ski resorts and venues strictly implement the prevention and control measures and plans under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control λ Measures are taken to ensure the safety of electricity, water and air quality; Air quality has improved significantly. As of the end of 2019, the annual average PM2.5 concentration in Beijing was 42 micrograms per cubic meter, which was the lowest value since monitoring began in 2013; natural gas sales have increased year by year; power infrastructure has shown leapfrog development, and the venues have achieved a 100% green power supply. All the venues’ electricity for lighting, operation and transportation is provided by wind power and photovoltaic power in Zhangjiakou λ Providing ski safety supervisors and other ski safety improvement measures are taken λ Establishing food and drug inspection and testing laboratories to ensure food and drug safety |
Talent cultivation | Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Talent Action Plan Beijing’s Twenty Measures for Strengthening Physical Education in Primary and Middle Schools to Enhance Students’ Physical Health and Supporting Documents Olympic Education Plan for Primary and Secondary School Students in Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics | λ Carrying out the training of professional workers who are skilled at refrigeration and ice pouring, snow making, track shaping, cable car operation, etc. λ Implementing a series of overseas competition observations, overseas special training, practical skills training and other talent training projects λ Accelerating the construction of coaching talent teams to ensure the number and quality of coaches in the ski resorts λ Introducing winter sports into schools to cultivate potential ski tourism consumers. Beijing and Zhangjiakou have respectively 200 and 113 national and snow sports demonstration schools with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Olympic Education Model Schools, ranking as the top two |
Publicity and promotion | Not found | λ Enhancing the brand recognition of the Winter Olympics by presenting emblems, mascots and slogans λ Enhancing visibility and social influence through important memorial activities, such as the 100 days countdown ceremony λ Zhangjiakou City has released city brands: City logos, mascots and slogans λ Many ski resorts have promoted their brands, expanded their promotion channels through online platforms, and focused on brand maintenance, creating a wealth of themed cultural and sports activities to enhance brand influence |
Tourism complaint management, Protection of tourists’ rights and interests | Work Briefing of the High Court of Hebei Province | λ The Chongli District Court of Zhangjiakou has explored and established a “court + ski field + insurance” tourism ski dispute resolution mechanism. Through innovative implementation of the “four one” model, it has played an important role in the “two guarantees and three enhancements”, that is, protecting the vast number of tourists, the legal rights of ski enthusiasts and that of enterprises; improving the popularity of the “ski resort” of Chongli, and enhancing judicial credibility |
Market regulation | Sustainable Procurement Guidelines for the Beijing Winter Olympics Sustainable Procurement Implementation Rules Technical Rules for Sustainable Procurement | λ The Yanqing District Market Supervision Bureau of Beijing and the Zhangjiakou City Market Supervision Bureau of Hebei Province signed a cross-regional market supervision cooperation framework agreement. The two parties focus on ensuring market order, food and drug safety supervision, and special equipment safety guarantees. Especially in Beijing in 2022, for the Winter Games, the protection of the Olympic logo and the guarantee of major events, we will carry out larger-scale, wider-field, and deeper-level cooperation λ Setting standards in the procurement of products and services |
Note: Source: Legacy Report of Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 (pre-game) & official website of Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. |
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