Beijing is standing at a crossroads with more hotels needed to cope with the massive influx of sportsmen and tourists for the Olympic Games in 2008, city officials said yesterday.

 

Vice Mayor Zhang Mao called for more low-cost hotels to be built in time for the Games, which are expected to attract more than 100 million visitors to the capital.

 

Speaking at a hotel development workshop sponsored by local tourism, commerce and investment promotion authorities, Zhang, a deputy executive chairman of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), said: "Lodging capacity is a first-line touchstone to measure any host country's performance in the Games."

 

Some 35 hotel investors, financial institutes, world-leading lodging operators and real estate giants attended the workshop.

 

It is estimated that about 4.6 million overseas visitors and 96 million domestic tourists will come to Beijing in 2008, both to see the Games and tour the city while enthusiasm for the capital and the country's 5,000-year history reaches a new high.

 

Around the Games period, 1.44 million visitors, including 250,000 foreigners are expected to arrive.

 

At least 800 star-rated hotels providing around 130,000 rooms will be needed to accommodate the influx. However, Beijing currently has only 658 star-rated hotels, with a total of 109,000 rooms and 200,000 beds. Besides that many of the city's non-rated hotels will need urgent renovation to meet the lodging shortage.

 

Du Jiang, director of the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau, said he was ambitious about the chances of improving the overall operating level of the city's hotels.

 

Lin Shan, deputy director of the China Tourism Association, said: "The Games present a great chance to boost the management and service standards of hoteliers."

 

Meanwhile, foreign hotel chains have been steadily buying into the Beijing market, purchasing hotels and merging with local hotel companies.

 

US-based Touchstone Hotel Investments Ltd launched a 200 million yuan (US$25 million) deal yesterday to reshape lodgings affiliated to the Beijing Patriotic Catholic Society.

 

Li Ming, president of the company's China branch, is optimistic about the huge potential for developing an economy hotel chain in Beijing.

 

Economy hotels' share of the business market is greater than 70 percent in most developed countries. In China however it is still at the start-up stage, with huge potential for growth, Li said.

 

Economy hotels are rapidly becoming popular among businessmen, self-service tourists and some package tours.

 

Participants to enjoy free stay for '08 Paralympics

 

All delegations attending the 2008 Summer Paralympics will enjoy free stays in Beijing for the first time, organizers confirmed yesterday.

 

"The Beijing organizing committee will pay the international transport fees and offer accommodation in Beijing for all the delegations that participate the Games," said Zhang Qiuping, director of BOCOG's Paralympic Games Department.

 

"It is the first time the participants of the Paralympics will share equal treatment with their counterparts at the Olympic Games."

 

As introduced by Zhang, starting from the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the organizing committee of the Games committed to pay such fees for all the sports delegations. According to an agreement signed between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2001, the participants of the Summer Paralympics will enjoy the same rights from the Beijing Games.

 

In previous Games, the participating delegations of the Paralympics had to pay these fees themselves.

 

"BOCOG is actually the first organizing committee that is in charge of holding both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games," Zhang said. "We are setting the budget at present, and we will propose it to the IOC in the latter half of this year."

 

The Beijing Summer Paralympics will take place from September 6 to 17, 2008, starting 12 days after the Olympic Games end. The Paralympics will be held at the same venues.

 

It is expected that the 2008 Paralympics will attract more than 4,000 athletes and 2,500 coaches as well as officials from approximately 150 countries and regions. About 4,000 journalists from all over the world will cover the Games.

 

"Since rowing will be included in the 2008 Paralympics for the first time, the number of sports at the Games will reach 20, the most sports in the event's history," Zhang said.

 

(China Daily May 20, 2006)