The head of sports affairs in Sapporo says bidding for the 2026 Olympics has special meaning for Japan's northern city.

"Winter sports have become popular in Asia with more people participating, so (hosting the games) will lead to a surge in inbound tourists. The city is aiming to become a hub for sports in Asia," Toshiya Ishikawa, the director general of the city's sports affairs bureau, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.

Earlier this month, the International Olympic Committee announced five other cities and one united effort by three Italian cities had expressed an interest in hosting in the 2026 Games.

As in Sapporo potential organizers in Graz, Austria; Calgary, Canada; Stockholm; Sion, Switzerland; Erzurum, Turkey, and the Italian cities of Cortina d'Ampezzo, Milan and Turin are now in the dialogue stage. This is where they explore the benefits and opportunities of hosting, before moving on to submitting candidature proposals.

Sapporo, the capital city of Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, previously hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, although some of its 2026 rivals have also been there before.

Calgary staged the 1988 Winter Games, while the 1956 and 2006 Games took place in Italy's Cortina d'Ampezzo and Turin, respectively. Stockholm hosted the 1912 Summer Olympics.

"Sapporo has received high marks for its ability to host and manage the games," Ishikawa said of the 2017 Asian Winter Games host. "But there have been remarks that East Asian countries are hosting successive games with Pyeongchang (South Korea) in 2018 and Beijing in 2022, and (the host cities) lack geographical balance."

"Countries, some with experience of hosting the games, have applied, meaning it will probably be an extremely difficult campaign for us."

But he hopes a successful 2026 Olympics bid will resolve some problems Sapporo faces nearly five decades since the 1972 games.

"The major facilities of our winter-sport-loving city were used during the 1972 Olympics. We need to think about what to do about those 46-year-old facilities even if we don't host the games," he said. "The city has been explaining to the residents that is why the bidding comes at this particular time."

"There are some who say 2030 would be a better time to host, with the Hokkaido Shinkansen expected to reach Sapporo in 2030."

The 2026 host city will be selected at the IOC Session in September 2019 in Milan. Ishikawa says the next step is to come up with the estimated costs of the games, presenting that to residents and measuring their support through a survey.

"We have no hope of hosting the games...if the residents reject it in the survey. We just need to do everything we can to build momentum," he said.