Those who tried for hours on Tuesday to get Olympic Games tickets only to see selling suspended will be served first when the booking service resumes.

The director of the Games' ticketing center, Rong Jun, said at a press conference Wednesday that the organizers will give priority to those who left their contact information after waiting outside Bank of China outlets or on the phone.

More details will be announced next Monday together with new ticketing information.

Sales of the second portion of Games tickets reserved for Chinese citizens were halted on Tuesday after the booking system crashed from the overwhelming demand.

The first-come-first-serve scheme saw 1.85 million tickets on sale through websites, a hotline and designated Bank of China branches. In one hour, 8 million people visited the website. And in the first three hours, 20 million people visited, when there were just 1.85 million tickets available.

Only 43,000 tickets were sold when the service was suspended at 6 pm.

Rong said organizers "underestimated the situation and enthusiasm of people, and did not prepare fully and have a good contingency plan".

Rong said ticket orders remain valid and those who got the tickets offline will have more time to pay.

Rong said organizers are working with the ticket service providers, a joint venture between the United States firm TicketMaster and two Chinese firms, to upgrade the system.

The Beijing Olympic Games, which will open next August, has 7 million tickets available, with about 75 percent reserved for domestic sale.

(China Daily November 1, 2007)