[photopress:olympicwelcome.jpg,full,alignright]The big test for Beijing hotels will be the Olympic Games. Dr Du Jiang, a professor and university president before appointed Director-General of the Beijing Tourism Administration (BTA) in April this year, in a recent interview with Beijing This Month magazine, spoke about how the city’s tourism industry is preparing for the Olympic Games. On the specific subject of hotels he said:
When bidding for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing promised to provide 800 star-rated hotels with about 130,000 beds during the Games. The city now has 4,761 hotels, inns or hostels for visitors, 658 of which are star-rated hotels. Another 80 star-rated hotels are being built or renovated. Though the total number of hotels is slightly under 800 right now, the number of beds in these hotels will meet the target. More existing accommodation units will bid for star-rated-hotel authentication before 2008.
Of the 658 star-rated hotels, 112 have signed contracts with BOCOG to ensure excellent services are provided for overseas spectators and the media. Of special note, only 70 to 80 per cent of these hotel rooms are booked for the Games. The remainder will be for regular tourists and business people. During the Games, the general hotel rates will be lower than at the 2004 Athens Games.
If more rooms are needed in 2008 we will use hotels in Hebei Province and Tianjin that are within 100 kilometres of Beijing. We have already discussed this with the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and related government agencies in Hebei and Tianjin.
Source: China Daily