Of Olympics, Beijing and questions

BEIJING 2008 Olympics Games is fast approaching and more infrastructure projects are coming to completion, bringing a new look to Beijing as a MICE destination.Overseas buyers interviewed by EVENTS at the China International Business Travel Mart (CIBTM) held in Beijing in July said they are most concerned with transportation, hotels and venues directly related to the Olympics such as stadiums and auditoriums.Regarding transportation, by 2008 the overall distance covered by o Beijing’s underground lines will have reached 500 kilometres. An urban rail transit line connecting the airport and the downtown area will have been finished, and a dedicated line to the athletes’ village will have been put into operation. The completion of the No. 3 terminal building will increase the throughput capacity of Beijing Capital Airport. Currently, work on the major stadiums and auditoriums for the Olympic Games are nearing completion and will have been finished by the end of this year.The News Centre in the Olympic Village will be transformed into the National Conference Centre, the largest one in Beijing, after the 2008 Olympic Games. Phase I of the new International Exhibition Center near the Capital Airport will have been finished by the end of 2007. This new Centre will replace the current International Exhibition Center, which will break the bottleneck of limited exhibition space in Beijing and attract more international meetings and conferences in the future.This new centre will have two hotels, one four-star and one five-star. Beijing promised there would be 800 hotels to provide accommodation during the Olympic Games. At present, there are already 721 star-rated hotels and over 3000 non-star-rated accommodation facilities. Among there hotels, about 122 have contracted with the Olympic Organizing Committee. All this will guarantee enough overnight accommodation for the coming Olympic Games.It is predicted that during the Olympic Games, about 500,000 to 550,000 people will visit Beijing. Considering worries about the tourist market after the Olympic Games, this author sees no reason for such worries. Beijing’s development is fundamentally based on China’s economic growth and not merely on the Olympic Games. The latter only adds to the attractiveness of the city.Recently, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism has launched a three-year tourist promotion programme. New CI has been designed for the tourist image of the city. Advertisement will be made on BBC, CNN and other international media networks.This promotion will be composed of three annual promotion campaigns, each with a slogan of its own: i.e., Experience Beijing, Explore the Olympics (2007); Experience Beijing, Feel the Olympics (2008); and Experience Beijing, Recall the Olympics (2009).