To meet demand, a special team of central bank officials is now offering safe and convenient accounting and non-cash payment services for overseas individuals and institutions.

Large companies are also strengthening their efforts to boost the use of foreign-currency credit cards.

For its part, Olympic sponsor Visa has made installing more ATMs in tourist areas a primary task for 2007 and 2008.

"Major sightseeing, shopping and dining sites for foreigners are our key focuses," said Li Sheng, Visa Asia-Pacific's vice-president and head of marketing for China.

Visa added 90,000 ATMs to provide better cash access for those attending the Games, as well as expanding the number of merchants that accept Visa-branded payment cards to a network of 210,000. The company has also launched marketing campaigns targeting banks, shops and cardholders. It has created an Olympic-branded card with the Bank of China and plans to have themed sales in shops.

"Our goal is simple: We want to help visitors to China, many of whom will be first-time guests, experience more of Beijing than just the Games," said Li.

(China Daily July 11, 2008)