Tour brings cycle of success to Qinghai

Cyclists head to Qinghai Lake in Xihai Township, Qinghai province, on July 2.WANG BO / XINHUA

The Tour of Qinghai Lake has seen the area's tourism enjoy a cycle of success.

As the only annual international sporting event held in Northwest China, the bike race has been leading the pack in attracting visitors since its debut in 2002.

According to the organizing committee, tourism-related businesses, including transportation, accommodation and retail, have enjoyed a boom.

The two-week event last year saw the businesses rake in 115 million yuan ($18.7 million).

The direct expenditure of the participating teams and their entourages, as well as spectators, accounted for almost half of the sum.

"It's all about the two weeks,'' said Feng Jianping, chief of Qinghai Sports Bureau and deputy director of the organizing committee.

"Most of the visitors coming for the race will stay for a few extra days, so you can just imagine how big their impact would be during a longer stretch.''

Figures released by the Qinghai Tourism Bureau showed that the province welcomed more than 15 million tourists last year while netting total tourism-related revenue of 12.2 billion yuan.

This was a twelvefold increase from its debut year.

"The event played a significant part in putting Qinghai on the world cycling map," Feng said.

Grabbing the yellow jersey for traffic and infrastructure advantages, some towns along the route have become hot destinations for leisure cycling activities, with riding clubs and bicycle rental businesses flourishing in recent years.

Located on the northeast bank of Qinghai Lake, Xihai Township, where the country's first atomic and hydrogen bombs were developed in the 1960s, has reinvented itself as an amateur riding base with more than 20 clubs.

These clubs offer a range of services to tourists and are a font of local knowledge for inquiring minds who might want to venture off the beaten, or in this case, cycled, track.

According to Yu Xihai, founder of the town's first and biggest club, "Riders' Camp", at least 100,000 amateurs cyclists head for Qinghai Lake every year and they pump an estimated 80 million yuan into the local economy.

Providing affordable bike rentals from 50 yuan to 100 yuan a day, Yu's club served more than 10,000 customers last year and registered profits of more than 1 million yuan.

"It's just the beginning as the spinoff industries, such as maintenance and parts sales, still have huge potential," said Yu, who developed his business from five bikes in 2006 to 1,500 ones now.