Hosting Winter Games viewed as the start of a process

Chinese athletes' performances at the 2022 Winter Olympics will be an important factor in judging whether the event is a success, according to a top tourism official from Tyrol, the Austrian state that has hosted two Winter Olympics.

Florian Phleps, head of the Tyrol Tourism Board, said: "For Beijing 2022 to be one of the most successful Olympic Games will depend not just on the sport, but also on how successful Chinese athletes are. But I am really confident it will be successful, given how great the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were and how well organized they were."

Citing Austria as an example, Phleps said the country has a very long tradition in winter sports and tourism, but most important, has athletes who perform well at the Winter Olympics.

"Parts of the country have no mountains or winter sports tradition, but the whole nation is enthusiastic about winter sports because of the athletes' success," he said.

It was a fluke that Innsbruck, capital of Tyrol, got to host the Winter Olympics twice, he said.

The first time it did so, in 1964, established Innsbruck's and Tyrol's reputations as popular winter sports destinations globally.

In addition to the sports facilities, the Games ensured many infrastructure projects for transportation and accommodations were completed.

Just 12 years after it hosted the Winter Olympics, Innsbruck did so again after Denver in the United States withdrew at short notice. These Games made important contributions to Innsbruck and Tyrol in terms of tourism and the development of a motorway network.

"The Olympics were the chance to get new infrastructure and to be on the international stage, especially in terms of tourism," Phleps said. "So, if China's goal is to have a really good high-quality tourism product, efforts have to be made in these areas."

Phleps believes organizers should not look at the Winter Olympics as the end of a process, but the start.

"If the nation's goal is to have more than 300 million active winter sports participants, it has to be a long-term process that puts China on the international winter sports map, but then it has to keep going," he said.

According to the 2018 International Report on Snow & Mountain Tourism, the Chinese ski industry is on a sharp learning curve.

Richard Walter, head of the Tyrolean Ski School Association, said: "In China, what is missing is somebody or some organization that is in charge - who can set the rules for ski instruction, who is responsible for getting instructors into the country, and who is able to build up a system for Chinese skiers. That is very important."

Walter, who also heads the Austrian Ski School Association, said countries including Austria, Switzerland and Germany have organizations dealing with teaching methods and accreditation of instructors, making it much easier to ensure the ski industry moves in the right direction.

For Chinese athletes to excel at winter sports, it is crucial to get the fundamentals right, he said.

"The first thing they have to do is get instructors, because, for the basics, you have to start right from the beginning," he said. "If you don't learn skiing the right way, sooner or later it's not fun anymore. Once you've got the basics, the rest is just building something up."