The World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo 2018 drew to a close on Sept. 22. Themed with "The Power of Ice and Snow," the four-day expo featured exhibitions, forums, industrial promotions, and winter sports experience events. With an exhibition area of 30,000 square meters, the expo attracted 530 brands to participate, more than 200 industry giants and scholars to speak at the forums, 24,000 professional viewers, and about 153,000 visitors.

As Beijing is preparing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, winter sports is booming in the country. Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), sent a congratulatory message to the expo, saying that the annual expo has been serving as an excellent platform for promoting winter sports as well as the winter sports industry in China since it launched in 2016.

Experiencing winter sports

The exhibition area of this year's expo attracted 530 winter sports brands from over 20 countries, featuring various devices and equipment ranging from artificial ice rinks, virtual reality machines to snow-made houses and Beijing-style ice hockey.

"Hosting the Winter Expo is an important measure for us to examine our work for the Winter Olympics," said Zhang Jiandong, vice mayor of Beijing, as he delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the expo. He is also an executive vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and a vice chairman of the Beijing Olympic City Development Association.

Zhang said the two previous expos demonstrated that there is great potential in the ice and snow industry, as many exhibitors flocked to the fairs. This year's expo is bound to further promote the winter sports and the industry as well as the related international exchange, he said.

As the guest of honor at this year's expo, Austria had the largest exhibition area. Nearly 30 brands brought winter sports consumer goods to the expo, and the country also had seven tourist destinations on display. Martin Glatz, Austrian commercial counsellor for China, said that as a winter sports powerhouse, Austria hoped to bring good experiences to China and strengthen the cooperation of companies between the two countries.

Development of winter sports industry

Beijing aims to boost the number of Chinese taking part in winter sports to 300 million. Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC vice president and chairman of the Beijing Winter Olympics Coordination Committee, said on the opening ceremony on Sept. 19 that it is also the goal of the IOC, adding that the expo is a good opportunity for people to participate in winter sports.

A research report was issued at the main forum on Sept. 19, revealing that 19.3 million people skied in China in the past winter.

This year's expo featured a main forum and more than 20 sub-forums, discussing issues including the popularization of winter sports among young people, venue design and management, industry development, and the trainings of winter sports professionals. More than 200 industry insiders, officials, and champions of past competition events delivered speeches at the expo.

Another highlight of this year's expo was the forum on the development of Olympics host cities. At the forum, a number of mayors, planners, designers and management professionals discussed opportunities brought by the Winter Olympics, post-Games legacies, international exchanges between host cities, contributing to the sustainable development of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Gian Franco Kasper, president of the International Ski Federation, said the expo showed the maturity of China's winter sports market. Olle Dahlin, president of the International Biathlon Union, said that the winter expo would boost the rapid development of winter sports in Beijing.

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