On its final day of presentations to the IOC evaluation commission, Beijing 2022 highlighted the commercial value of hosting the Winter Olympic Games in China

The IOC Evaluation Commission visiting Zhangjiakou and Beijing 2022 is anticipating at least US$858m of revenues as it seeks to host the Winter Olympic Games, the bid committee told IOC evaluation commission members on the final day of presentations.

China’s economic growth is continuing to lead the world and the country is prioritising the development of sports, leisure and tourism, the bid committee said.

China has set a target for its sports industry to grow to 800 billion USD by 2025 through promoting sports businesses, developing sport facilities and opening up the market to consumer products and services.

By 2022, the bid committee anticipates that the combined sports, culture, tourism, leisure, conferences and exhibitions industries will amount to about 20 per cent of GDP of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou region, which is being developed as a “Sport, Culture and Tourism Belt”.

US$660m of organising committee revenues would be raised through sponsorship.

Beijing 2022 has already secured eight sponsors, including: Tencent Group, fourth largest Internet company in the world, Snow Beer, the world's bestselling beer brand, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world’s largest professional service network, Beijing Bank, Beijing Automotive Group, Anta Sports, True Colour Stationary and Sandaogu Travel Company.

The remaining revenue would be raised through the licensing and ticketing programmes.

Beijing 2022 is optimistic about ticketing sales, partly because the Games will coincide with the Chinese New Year festival and school holidays.

The bid committee includes Olympic marketing experts who worked on Beijing 2008.

“We guarantee that Beijing 2022 will meet the revenue targets, secure the best returns for the IOC TOP partners, as well as national partners, ensure full stadia with amazing atmosphere, in strict respect to all the IOC’s and IPC’s marketing rules,” said Mr. Chen Feng, former deputy director of marketing of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

In its bid to host the 2022 Games, Beijing is competing against the Kazakh city of Almaty, which the IOC evaluation commission visited in February and where sponsorship and marketing are newer concepts.

“The sponsorship landscape is evolving, and Almaty 2022 would help speed up this evolution,” said Alimzhan Akayev, marketing advisor to Almaty 2022 and marketing director of the Combat and Strength Sports Confederation of Kazakhstan.

“Almaty 2022, and the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan have agreed on a Joint Marketing Programme in order to optimise and protect the revenue-generating ability of the OCOG. All required guarantees were provided”.

Original title on hostcity.net:Beijing 2022 points to US$858m Games revenues