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Beijing Olympics will boost China’s tourism
Published on 29/07/2008
By Hilary O Itela
If you work in sports tourism, then the recent headlines don’t make great reading: China apoplectic over Tibet and the unfortunate earthquake that claimed thousands of lives in Sichuan province and South Africa with xenophobic attacks, as well as President Thabo Mbeki’s refusal to condemn Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.
Combine that with the threat of a global recession fuelled by escalating crude oil prices courtesy of ‘The Opec Goon Movement’, then you have to sympathise with the organisers of the Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Fifa world Sup in South Africa.
Beijing is just a few days away (August 8 ) which makes the Chinese situation all the more worrying. But for all the background noise, there’s a high likelihood that the Beijing Games will go on well and that tourism will reap the rewards.
Recent tourism figures underline the growing fascination with China and its capital. In the first nine months of last year, 3.2 million overseas visitors visited Beijing, up 12.6 per cent from a year earlier. Within this figure were 440,000 Americans, a rise of 19.4 per cent year-on-year.
Perhaps most significant was the high number of Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese flocking to the city. When you consider the historical animosity among these three groups and mainland China, it’s a good indicator of how powerful the pull of Beijing has become.
It’s also a reminder that a big slice of the globe’s population is within touching distance of China — unworried by the length of the journey!
China is reckoned to have spent at least $40 billion (Sh2.7 trillion) on venues, facilities and a range of construction projects in the run-up to the games.
The scale of that figure is important because it is a reminder that hosting the Olympics is much more than sport tourism revenues to Beijing.
A recent study by China’s National Bureau of Statistics estimated that domestic and international tourism would bring just under $1 billion into Beijing this year.
However, that figure is dwarfed by the $13.2 billion that will be added to the city’s total economic output from 2004 to 2008. All told, the study estimated that 1.82 million jobs would be created while preparing for and hosting the games! The construction industry alone will provide 430,000 new jobs.
This is not, however, to underestimate the importance of tourism to China, since the first hand experience of foreign visitors will shape our perception of the country for years to come as a place to visit and to do business.
Assuming the Tibet situation doesn’t get out of hand, and a contingent policy to indemnify visitors against potential natural disasters is soundly instituted, China is anticipating over 5 million foreign arrivals in Beijing this year, with another 120 million domestic visitors drawn to the capital.
At least 500,000 people are expected to travel to Beijing during the games, to be confronted by a swathe of new hotels, shopping malls and commercial buildings. A further sign of how seriously Beijing is taking its role as host is that it has already invested $16 billion in anti-pollution measures.
But perhaps above all, the airport terminal is the most apt symbol of the energy and investment China has lavished on the Olympics.
Published on 29/07/2008
By Hilary O Itela
If you work in sports tourism, then the recent headlines don’t make great reading: China apoplectic over Tibet and the unfortunate earthquake that claimed thousands of lives in Sichuan province and South Africa with xenophobic attacks, as well as President Thabo Mbeki’s refusal to condemn Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.
Combine that with the threat of a global recession fuelled by escalating crude oil prices courtesy of ‘The Opec Goon Movement’, then you have to sympathise with the organisers of the Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Fifa world Sup in South Africa.
Beijing is just a few days away (August 8 ) which makes the Chinese situation all the more worrying. But for all the background noise, there’s a high likelihood that the Beijing Games will go on well and that tourism will reap the rewards.
Recent tourism figures underline the growing fascination with China and its capital. In the first nine months of last year, 3.2 million overseas visitors visited Beijing, up 12.6 per cent from a year earlier. Within this figure were 440,000 Americans, a rise of 19.4 per cent year-on-year.
Perhaps most significant was the high number of Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese flocking to the city. When you consider the historical animosity among these three groups and mainland China, it’s a good indicator of how powerful the pull of Beijing has become.
It’s also a reminder that a big slice of the globe’s population is within touching distance of China — unworried by the length of the journey!
China is reckoned to have spent at least $40 billion (Sh2.7 trillion) on venues, facilities and a range of construction projects in the run-up to the games.
The scale of that figure is important because it is a reminder that hosting the Olympics is much more than sport tourism revenues to Beijing.
A recent study by China’s National Bureau of Statistics estimated that domestic and international tourism would bring just under $1 billion into Beijing this year.
However, that figure is dwarfed by the $13.2 billion that will be added to the city’s total economic output from 2004 to 2008. All told, the study estimated that 1.82 million jobs would be created while preparing for and hosting the games! The construction industry alone will provide 430,000 new jobs.
This is not, however, to underestimate the importance of tourism to China, since the first hand experience of foreign visitors will shape our perception of the country for years to come as a place to visit and to do business.
Assuming the Tibet situation doesn’t get out of hand, and a contingent policy to indemnify visitors against potential natural disasters is soundly instituted, China is anticipating over 5 million foreign arrivals in Beijing this year, with another 120 million domestic visitors drawn to the capital.
At least 500,000 people are expected to travel to Beijing during the games, to be confronted by a swathe of new hotels, shopping malls and commercial buildings. A further sign of how seriously Beijing is taking its role as host is that it has already invested $16 billion in anti-pollution measures.
But perhaps above all, the airport terminal is the most apt symbol of the energy and investment China has lavished on the Olympics.