Reservations for prime hotels and homestay rooms in Beijing are doing good business as the Olympics approaches, while travel agencies are preparing for a boom in customers, a tourist official of the Chinese capital said yesterday.

About 78 percent of the rooms at five-star hotels in Beijing have been booked, at an average rate of 3,464 yuan (US$505.70), 3.6 times the rate a year earlier, according to Xiong Yumei, the Beijing Tourism Bureau's vice director.

At four-star hotels, 48.5 percent of the rooms have been reserved, at an average rate of 2,185 yuan, 4.6 times that of a year earlier. Lower-ranked hotels have lower reservation rates.

There are 5,790 registered boarding facilities in Beijing, including 816 star-ranked hotels, with 339,000 rooms and 665,000 beds. Among all the star-ranked hotels in the capital, 119 had signed contracts with the Olympics authorities.

Most of the contracted hotels are five-star facilities, and Xiong said most of them were largely booked out.

Xiong, who is also the bureau's spokeswoman, said the hotel reservation rate was unlikely to change much ahead of the Games, and the priority now was to get fully prepared for incoming guests.

More than 200,000 employees have received training about the Olympics, international etiquette and foreign languages.

To supplement Beijing's hotel resources, 598 homestay households were selected, offering 726 rooms for more than 1,000 potential guests.

An authorization ceremony for those families was held by the bureau yesterday morning at Shichahai, a popular bar spot in central Beijing.

The "Olympic family hotels" program, which was created in April, offers foreign visitors a chance to experience Beijing citizens' real lives.

Xiong said travel agencies from Japan, the United States, Canada, Chile and Singapore had considered renting rooms from these families.

Up to 450,000 overseas tourists are expected to arrive in August, including 120,000 for the sporting event, she said. Beijing received 420,000 overseas visitors last August.

Local travel agencies have been promoting packages highlighting sports venues and activities, cultural relics, museums and other special sights in and around Beijing.

China International Travel Service, the sole travel agency authorized to set up an office in the residential compound for Olympic athletes in northern Beijing, plans to offer 32 tours, including half-day and one-day Beijing tours and trips to other cities.

Zhao Xin, CITS' director for Olympic projects, said the peak time would be after mid-August, when many athletic competitions would be almost done. He estimated that 8,000 athletes would travel in groups this year.

"We will not arrange meals outside the Olympic Village to prevent doping problems," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2008)