Willing to strive, daring to strive, a small city can also host the
Olympics-Qinhuangdao’s strategy of kicking to the world

As the host city for the 2008 Olympics, without doubt, Beijing is one of the cities receiving most international attention this year, however, there are six Olympic support cities that should not be ignored. Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, and Qinhuangdao will host soccer games, Qingdao will host sailing and sail boarding and Hong Kong will host show jumping. Of the six, Qinhuangdao, in Hebei, is the only local-level city. Overall, it is a bit weaker than the other cities so, when it was first announced that the city had won the right to stage some Olympic soccer games many other cities also keen to develop were surprised. How did Qinhuangdao do it?  For the 12 Olympic soccer games a total of RMB 10 billion has been spent by Qinhuangdao. Although recent Olympics have brought both “face” and money to the host cities, spending RMB 800 million per soccer game seems like a big risk. Moreover, the city has to face the pressure of being compared to the other support cities. Why was Qinhuangdao willing to bet? How did it win?

The key to the Olympic dream: intelligence and insistence

In early 1999 when Beijing was still applying for the right to host the 2008 Olympics, Qinhuangdao city government established a specialized team and formally applied to the General Administration of Sport of China, taking the first step on the road to its Olympic dream. Having won praise when it was the host city for the 1990 11th Asian Games sailing and sail boarding events, Qinhuangdao was confident its experience would allow it to win the right to hold its first choice water events.

The Qinhuangdao team made over ten visits to related bodies in Beijing in less than two years in an effort to make the dream come true. This sincerity and insistence gave the General Administration of Sport of China and the Beijing Olympic Committee a good impression. As security, Qinhuangdao also applied to host Olympic soccer heats, beach volleyball and triathlon. When it heard that Qingdao would be likely to win the right to host the water events, on the one hand, the Qinhuangdao team continued on the surface with its efforts to win the water events and, on the other, the main focus of effort was quietly transferred to winning the soccer heats. Facing Dalian, Guangzhou and Chengdu amongst the competitor cities, the stamina and determination of Qinhuangdao, plus its clever change of strategy, in the end allowed it to receive the key to its Olympic dream.

Olympic Sports Center where you can hear the waves: 12 exciting soccer games for the world to enjoy

Despite being a local-level city, Qinhuangdao was keen to show what it could do and the RMB 350 million Olympic sports center was the first new sports stadium to be completed for the 2008 Olympics. Standing erect in the middle of a square, from a distance the eye-catching center looks like a white sail on the sea or like a shiny white shell on a beach. According to a worker tending the grass, to achieve a world class level no expense was spared in importing grass seeds from the US and nurturing natural grass. Even more surprising is that that in this sports stadium you can hear the sound of waves because it is only 500 meters from the sea. In terms of hardware, like seats, the stadium is quite a way from being world class, however, with soccer games held amidst the sound of the sea, plus the lush August greenery, it can be expected that the Olympic soccer heats in Qinhuangdao will leave the world with a dazzling impression.

In the name of the Olympics: Tourism resources transformed into economic benefit.

Qinhuangdao is renowned as a coastal holiday city and is known as “Beijing and Tianjin’s back garden.” During the Olympics it is expected that the city will receive 1000 athletes, accompanying officials and press and about 500,000 people will watch the games. A total of 2 million domestic and overseas visitors are expected, bringing in RMB 9.7 billion in revenues. Travel has thus become the main focus of city marketing.

Scenic areas including Shanhaiguan National Forest Park and Gold Coast International Sand Tobogganing Activity Center have been built and almost RMB 900 million has been invested in carrying out “Olympic travel” engineering projects. Ma Jufeng, Qinhuangdao municipal committee standing committee member and deputy mayor, stressed that in the next five years a “Great Wall coastal park, holiday center and excellent coastal tourism spot” travel city image will be molded for Qinhuangdao.

To expand the travel industry and strengthen its travel city brand, Qinhuangdao has planned the following travel related activities.

• First Tourism Festival and Float Parade: With a “Passionate port city, Olympic tourism” theme, the impressive parade of 30 floats, accompanied by nine performing troupes, displayed the customs and conditions of Qinhuangdao.The parade also visited Tianjin and Shenyang and other potential sources of visitors to raise the festival’s profile and attract more visitors. Also, the “Qinhuangdao Olympic Travel Development Forum and Bohai Tourist City Third Annual Meeting” provided a cooperation platform for Qinhuangdao, domestic and overseas investors, travel operators and company bosses, allowing the city to smoothly win three cooperation cases- Sino-Japanese Citizens’ Friendship Charter Flight Group, Qinhuangdao’s First Olympic Golden Wedding Ceremony and the Taolinkou Great Wall Folk Tourist Village case which has a budget of RMB 50 million.
• First Travel and Food Festival:  Based on the success of the “Travel Festival and Float Parade,” Qinhuangdao followed up with the “First Travel and Food Festival,” allowing a thousand domestic and overseas travelers to taste the local delicacy “Shanhaiguan mixed hotpot” on a historic relic, also imaginatively forming 100 hotpot tables into the shape of the five Olympic rings. This activity showed  off Qinhuangdao’s tourism advantages-culture and good food.  Qinhuangdao’s unique cuisine combines Ming and Qing dynasty styles and Shandong style-based Beijing-Donghai food and it is hoped that it can become one of the main features that attracts tourists.  .