Winter Games now headed for Italy

Marco Zardini, president of Cortina Skiworld, a consortium of lift managing companies in the resort, said: "Investments have already been pulled in to upgrade the infrastructures, renew the exiting lifts, and improve the accessibility. This will create new work opportunities, which can help keep the young people in the mountain areas.

"Cortina 1956 was all about creating. A lot of new infrastructures were built, including the Olympic Ice Stadium, the Trampolino ski jumping hill, new slopes in the Tofana area, new hotels and new roads, supported by the Italian economic boom," Zardini added.

The 2026 Olympics will be about preservation, he said. "It will be dedicated to ecology and sustainability, thanks to a project in which the key words are the recovery of existing structures and resources optimization," he added.

An example of such conservation is the Olympic Ice Stadium, which was built for 1956 Olympics, but will be renovated to host the curling events in 2026.

Another example is the Faloria Mountain Spa Resort, originally known as Pensione Silvano, during the 1950s and 60s. The hotel was originally built to cater to accommodation of guests coming in for the 1956 Olympics.

Giulia Wedam, sales and marketing manager of the hotel, said "We were part of the legacy of 1956 Olympics, and we definitely would like to play our part in the 2026 when the Winter Olympic comes back to the town."

At the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the majority of Chinese audiences had their first look at Cortina in an eight-minute presentation after the Olympic flag handover.

Francesco Corte Colo, marketing manager for new markets at Cortina Marketing, said: "This whole Olympic link between Beijing and Milan-Cortina, has created a first step. From this occasion onwards, we want to make the most of creating relations with the whole Chinese world of travel, so as to be ready to welcome the Chinese guests, and give them the chance to experience what it is like to ski and practice winter sports, not just in Cortina but the whole Dolomites area."

With more Chinese taking up skiing and other winter sports following the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Corte Colo said he is confident that more tourists from China will come to visit Cortina in the run up to 2026 as travel restrictions are lifted.