The influence of the Beijing Winter Olympic games on the demand for winter sports: An empirical analysis based on the Baidu Index

BACKGROUND: The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is a representative large-scale sporting event, which not only promotes the development of the national and regional economy, society, and culture but also increases the demand of residents for winter sports, thus helping achieve the grand goal of “encouraging 300 million people to participate in winter sports.” This research explores the influence of the Beijing Winter Olympics on residents’ demand for winter sports in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and Yangtze River Delta urban agglomerations in China. METHODS: Applying big data mining techniques, the Baidu Index of Winter Olympics-related terms are used to measure residents' interest in the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the ratio of the Baidu Index of five winter sports (ice skating, ice hockey, curling, luge, and skiing) to the number of internet searches is used to capture residents’ demand for winter sports. Moreover, we explore the spatial–temporal pattern of the interest in the Winter Olympics and the demand for winter sports and construct an econometric model to test the driving effect of the Winter Olympics empirically. RESULTS: The results show that 1) since 2011, interest in Winter Olympics has been on the rise, and the interest of residents in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei has been higher than that of the Yangtze River Delta; 2) the demand for skating and skiing, which are two popular winter sports, shows a declining geographical concentration, indicating that the popularity of these two sports is on the increase; 3) the demand for winter sports in the peripheral cities in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei shows a trend of specialization, while Beijing, Tianjin, and some cities in the Yangtze River Delta present a trend of diversification; and 4) the interest in the Beijing Winter Olympics influences the demand for winter sports positively. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the increase in interest in the Beijing Winter Olympics boosts residents’ demand for winter sports, which implies that hosting Winter Olympics successfully drives winter sports participation in China.