SHIJIAZHUANG, June 4 (Xinhua) -- 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 by 2022 see a total of 21 high-end hotels, including nine five-star and 12 four-star properties, according to the Chongli district administrative examination and approval bureau.
Chongli, which is some 200 km 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 skiing events of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway that started operation at the end of 2019 has shortened travel time to one hour.
Zu Zhiwu of the Chongli district administrative examination and approval bureau said district authorities have streamlined approval procedures to help hotel brands set foot in Chongli. The approval period of a hotel has been shortened from two to 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," said 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 of the Winter Olympic Games in 2022. So far, 34 hotels have been designated as the games' official reception hotels," said Zu.
The skiing destination received 4.42 million tourists in 2019, bringing in tourism revenue of 3.33 billion yuan (467 million U.S. dollars). 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 and more high-end hotels, Chongli is attracting increasing number of tourists with more diversified experiences such as catering, fitness and entertainment, among others, said Liang Lifang, a local tourism official. Enditem
