The World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo opened on Sept. 7 to promote China’s winter sports industry. The expo features exhibitions, summits and trade negotiations on education, Olympic city development and ski resort management.

Chen Jining, acting mayor of Beijing and executive chairman of Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said at the opening ceremony that the winter sports industry in China will boom with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. He said the industry’s development is environmentally friendly and has a promising outlook, and it covers industry fields such as sports products and service delivery. The development of these fields will boost sports consumption, optimize economic structure and nurture new sources of economic growth. Domestic and overseas enterprises are encouraged to make use of the platform of the Winter Expo to exchange information and further cooperation, Chen said.

Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, sent a congratulatory message, saying that the Winter Expo would serve as an excellent platform for promoting winter sports as well as winter sports industry in China.

According to the organizer of the event, the Winter Expo covers an area of over 20,000 square meters, providing exhibition space for over 400 brands and 9,000 distributors from all over the world. The expected number of visitors is more than 120,000, including over 20,000 industry professionals. In the meantime, 200 industry elites from different countries have been invited to a feature forum to discuss various issues on the Chinese winter sports industry.

For the first time, Switzerland is invited to the Winter Expo as guest of honor. The country is well known for its sports products manufacturing, ski resorts, governmental support on winter sports, training scheme and tourism resource. It is an ideal partner to facilitate collaboration and joint development with China.

The latest progress on preparations of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games and Paralympics Games are displayed at the Winter Expo to help visitors learn more about the events and attract more participation. At the exhibitions and interactive areas, visitors could experience snowboard slope or try their hand at curling. Virtual reality apparatus and smartphone application are also introduced at the expo to provide visitors with a taste of various winter sports.

One of the highlights of the Winter Expo is the program of “snow on campus” that is aimed to enhance interest for winter sports amongst young people in Beijing. The program has gathered teaching materials, equipment and training field where young people could learn to ski or to play ice hockey and curling.

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