‘Tourism boost in Sanya is good news for Asian Beach Games’

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OCA praises Chinese authorities as Asian Games construction work resumes

KUWAIT CITY, March 18: The Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia, Husain Al-Musallam, feels the recovery of the tourist industry in Sanya, China is a big step forward on the road to the Asian Beach Games in November.

Sanya is a major tourist destination on southern China’s Hainan island province and is known as the “Hawaii of China” due to its long golden beaches, tropical climate and luxurious resorts.

The city will host the OCA’s sixth edition of the popular Asian Beach Games from Nov 28 to Dec 6, 2020 with athletes and team officials from 45 National Olympic Committees taking part.

The tourism industry has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak in recent weeks but there are positive signs of a recovery.

The city’s bureau of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports informed Xinhua Culture and Travel this week that the scenic spots in Sanya had received 74,000 tourists since they reopened to the public on Feb 21. Furthermore, 23,000 tourism workers had returned to work.

“The Olympic Council of Asia is very happy to learn that the tourism industry is coming back to Sanya after a difficult few weeks,” said Al-Musallam.

“The main aim of our Asian Beach Games is to combine sport and tourism and to give the opportunity to the host city to promote tourism through the Asian Beach Games. Sport and tourism work hand in hand.

“The Asian Beach Games gives the host city an international platform to showcase all aspects of tourism through the location of the competition venues and to project the natural beauty of the landscape around the world. In return, the tourism industry helps promote our Asian Beach Games, so it is a win-win situation.” The OCA Director General added that the Asian Beach Games, featuring 17 sports on land and sea, would attract thousands of tourists during the nine days of competition and add value to the legacy of the ABG.

The ABG began in Bali, Indonesia in 2008 and continued in Muscat, Oman in 2010, Haiyang, China in 2012, Phuket, Thailand in 2014 and Danang, Vietnam in 2016.

The fun, friendly and family elements proved so successful that the concept was adopted by the 206-member Association of National Olympic Committees, resulting in the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games in Doha, Qatar last October.

The 17 sports on the programme for Sanya are: aquathlon (swim-run), aquatics (open water swimming and water polo), beach athletics, powerboat/motorboat racing, dragon boat, 3×3 basketball, sport climbing, beach handball, beach soccer, beach volleyball, woodball, martial arts (beach wrestling and jujitsu), beach kabaddi, surfing, sailing, teqball and powered paragliding.

Meanwhile, the Olympic Council of Asia is delighted to see that construction work on venues for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, in 2022 has resumed.

 Work was halted for several weeks in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province in eastern China, due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

 But the official website of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee reports that venues within the city and in other areas, notably the cycling velodrome in Chun’an County, are busy again with construction work.

 The Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia, Husain Al-Musallam, said: “This is very good news coming out of China and it highlights the effectiveness of the measures to contain and prevent the coronavirus in the city of Hangzhou and the province of Zhejiang.

 “We sincerely hope that life is steadily returning to normal for the people and that they can go about their every-day work like before.

 “We have full confidence and trust in the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee that they are making the safety of the people their top priority. The OCA supports the decisions of the COC and HAGOC and will continue to work closely with them in the coming weeks and months.” The 19th Asian Games will be the third Asiad to be held in China following Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010 and are due to take place from Sept 10-25, 2022.

 Organising committee HAGOC reports that the decision to resume construction work on the velodrome in Chun’an County was taken on Feb 14 and that workers must undergo temperature and health checks on a daily basis before entering the site. Construction officials are confident that the velodrome will be completed on schedule by the end of 2021.

 The entire project at Chun’an County covers 32,500 square metres and includes the velodrome, five other venues and villages for athletes, media and technical officials.

 On Feb 27, the organising committee said that construction had resumed on 28 of the 40 projects being built for the Hangzhou Asian Games.

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