Capital sees progress in consumption

Beijing's efforts to turn itself into an international consumption center have achieved positive results, officials said at a news conference at the 2022 Beijing Media Center on Tuesday.

The city's total consumption rose 11 percent year-on-year in 2021, with consumption of services up 13 percent and the value of retail sales increasing by 8.4 percent.

The city's consumer market has now climbed back to the pre-pandemic level seen in 2019, officials from the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau said at a news conference on Tuesday.

To boost culture and tourist consumption in Beijing, endeavors have been made to explore in depth the cultural values of the ancient city.

For instance, more than 200 tour routes that take visitors to historical sites, including the central axis of Beijing, the Grand Canal and the Great Wall, have been established to enable visitors to go sightseeing and immerse themselves in culture. Tour packages involving trips to the Universal Beijing Resort, which opened in September, have also been created.

To keep abreast with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, more than 20 ice-and-snow-themed premium tour routes have been opened to meet the public's need for winter entertainment, said Liu Bin, deputy director of the capital's culture and tourism bureau.

The city has been continuously holding cultural products competitions to raise awareness of traditional handicrafts, local specialties and other commodities from Beijing that people can purchase.

"These events are helping restore the vigor and vitality of the culture and tourism industry," Liu said.

The capital also aims to launch a project in the near future that will seek to identify classic buildings that best represent Beijing and reveal the stories behind them, allowing tourists to appreciate the city's architectural beauty from cultural, historical and artistic perspectives.

Beijing will also enhance its exchanges with other cities favored by travelers around the globe as it prepares to resume international tourism in the post-pandemic era, Liu added.

The news conference also highlighted the Winter Olympics' positive influences on the host city's economic growth, the development of the ice and snow industry and the improvement of people's livelihoods.

The Beijing ice sports training base has been put into use, and the city has built 49 standard ice rinks that each cover about 1,800 square meters. Since January last year, the city has issued more than 46,500 coupons to encourage residents to participate in winter sports at rinks and ski resorts, stimulating ice-and-snow-related consumption, said Meng Qianghua, deputy director of the municipal sports bureau.

Fifty-four ice and snow venues were open during Spring Festival and received 740,000 visitors during the weeklong holiday, Meng said.

Xu Hejian, director of the 2022 Beijing Media Center, said the Winter Olympics will leave Beijing with precious legacies, such as the sports venues that combine traditional Chinese culture and Olympic elements, and prompt the transformation of Shougang Industrial Park and other areas of Beijing.

"Becoming the first city to host both the summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games, Beijing will further improve its international influence and competitiveness and be able to attract more talent and quality investment from abroad," Xu said.