CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Olympics always cost a fortune for the host country but China isn't worried about turning a profit with this year's Winter Games.
Let's connect the dots.
The host country is expected to spend about $4 billion on Olympic-specific operations. But turning a profit wasn't a priority, even before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out some expected sources of income.
Instead, China's long-term goal is to create a new domestic leisure and tourism industry with the big-ticket item being a city-to-mountains transport system.
China has allocated $9 billion for a high-speed rail linking Beijing to those mountain ski resorts. For the next few decades, those same train lines will be shuttling Chinese tourists to the slopes that have been carved out of the mountains.
For China, it's worth the cost.
The Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony is Friday, Feb. 4, and will air live on WCNC Charlotte. Click here for more information.
WCNC Charlotte is part of seven major media companies and other local institutions reporting on and engaging the community around the problems and solutions as they relate to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a project of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, which is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems. See all of our reporting at charlottejournalism.org.