A Beijing Olympic official said on Saturday that the city's accommodation is ready to receive guests and tourists during the Games.

Xiang Ping, deputy director of the Games Services Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG), told journalists that 17,000 athletes and delegation officials will live in the Olympic Village, and about 35,000 accredited people, such as officials, sponsors and media staff will stay in the contracted hotels and media villages.

Among the 119 hotels which have signed contracts with the BOCOG, 42 are five-star hotels with 12,800 rooms, 44 four-star hotels with about 10,000 rooms, and 33 three-star hotels or lower with about 6,000 rooms.

Although all athletes are expected to live in the Olympic Village, the Dream 8 Team, the United States men's national basketball team, choose to stay in the Inter-Continental Hotel on the Financial Street.

"There are indeed many sports big-shots choosing accommodation places themselves. For instance, the Inter-Continental Hotel signed a contract with the United States Olympic Committee at an earlier time for serving as the accommodation for the Dream 8 team," said Xiang at a press conference held in the Main Press Center.

Security departments have taken measures to ensure the safety of the hotel in line with the request from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"Generally speaking, we hope all athletes can live in the Olympic Village, as the Village provides free food and accommodation, considerate services and fine entertainment facilities. The Village is also a platform for athletes from all over the world to communicate with each other," Xiang said.

"But we also respect the options on accommodation made by some sports teams," she added. "And we require the Olympic committees of different countries and regions to take responsibilities of the behavior of their athletes who live outside the Olympic Village."

At the same press conference, Xiong Yumei, deputy director of Beijing Tourism Administration, predicted that there would be 400,000 to 450,000 tourists coming to Beijing from other countries and other parts of China during the Games.

"Beijing's hotels have adequate capacity to receive the tourists," Xiong said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2008)