According to state media tens of thousands of tourists won’t have a place to stay when they attend the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
The Xinhua news agency says that Beijing would be about 2.2 million hotel beds short of projected demand during the Games and to fill the gap a tourism promotion conference is being held next April to attract international hotels and travel agencies to improve and expand accommodation.
An official with the Beijing tourism bureau has been quoted as saying “they could help to improve the services and the management of mid and small sized hotels in Beijing”.
And to be on the safe side reports say China has picked an 8:00 p.m. start for the Opening Ceremony, on August 8, 2008 (8/8/08). Eight is a lucky number in China because it sounds like the word for good fortune.
Meanwhile Coca Cola is planning to invest more in China hoping that by the time Beijing hosts the 2008 Games China would become the company’s third largest market, rising from fifth place, says the company’s China president Paul Etchells.
Etchells said his company would also increase its investment in production facilities and product research and development.
