Domestic travel agencies are not too sure of a tourism boom during the 2008 Olympic which they think are likely to benefit more the outbound tourism sector and high-end commercial tourism. While others also predict that less domestic travelers would visit Beijing and other Olympic cities during the year.
The Beijing Olympic Games will be held from Aug 8th to Aug 24th 2008. Check out this official website of the Chinese Olympic committee.
Yao Yuecan, president of the China International Travel Service Head Office is quoted to have said:
The prices of hotel rooms, vehicles and tour guides in Beijing during the Olympic Games will all be at least four times higher, Booking these services in advance will put a lot of pressure on our capital flows and thus create a lot of risk for us travel agencies.
Overseas tourists who would like to visit Beijing will deliberately avoid coming during the Games and perhaps even wait until the following year, when prices will have returned to their normal levels.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has decided that 75 percent of the Games’ 7-million-odd tickets will be sold via the Games’ official website and the Bank of China. The remainder are to be sold by the Olympic committees of other countries and regions.
This is totally unlike the routine practice of allowing travel agencies to sell some tickets during past Olympic Games.
Yet, other tourism experts said the ticketing policy is not a problem. Xu Jing, the regional representative for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, said:
People who have bought tickets will still turn to travel agencies to book hotel rooms and flights, and travel agencies can still gain profits from providing these service.
Well keeping aside the tourism the Olympic Games will get the country a lot more. China is focused on grand visions for a Beijing reborn to impress the world. The last Olympics gave Greece almost 40 billion hours of television time, which is more marketing than can be done in 15 years.
Source: China Daily
