Hotel boom peaking in time for 2022 Winter Olympics

SHIJIAZHUANG－The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics skiing venue of Chongli, North China's Hebei province, is seeing a hotel boom, attracting international high-end hotel brands, such as InterContinental, Four Seasons, Sheraton and Banyan Tree.

The mountainous district in Zhangjiakou city will be dotted by a total of 21 high-end hotels－including nine five-star and 12 four-star properties－by 2022, according to the Chongli district administrative examination and approval bureau.

Chongli, which is around 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing, was selected by The New York Times as one of the"52 places to travel to in 2019" for its booming ski industry after being chosen to host most of the skiing events at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, which started operation at the end of 2019, has shortened travel time from the capital to just one hour.

Zu Zhiwu of the Chongli district administrative examination and approval bureau says district authorities have streamlined approval procedures to help hotel brands get a foothold in Chongli. The approval period for a hotel has been shortened from between two and three months to about 10 days.

"The location near Beijing with convenient traffic and skiing resources are the key factors for international hotel chains to choose Chongli," says Chen Wei, marketing manager of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in Chongli.

The Olympic town currently has 160 hotels.

"There will be a total of 184 hotels in Chongli by the time the Winter Olympic Games in 2022 roll around. So far, 34 hotels have been designated as the games' official reception hotels," says Zu.

The skiing destination received 4.42 million tourists in 2019, bringing in tourism revenue of 3.33 billion yuan ($469.6 million). More than 30,000 local people are employed in the tourism sector, which also draws talent from big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

With more high-end hotels, Chongli is attracting an increasing number of tourists with more diversified experiences such as catering, fitness and entertainment, among others, says Liang Lifang, a local tourism official.

Xinhua