CHINA: China says tickets to watch the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing are now up for sale

Whether you are an ordinary Chinese fan or an international sports enthusiast, you can now order tickets for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Officials are taking extra precautions to prevent counterfeiting of the tickets, whose design has not yet been unveiled. Beijing began taking orders for tickets to next year's Olympic Games on Sunday (April 15) , with organisers promising to do their best to get the general public involved -- offering 7 million "very affordable" tickets. Wang Wei (pron: wahng way), secretary general of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, said three-quarters of tickets will be reserved for domestic sales, while the rest will be for overseas spectators. "(We have) taken into full consideration the enthusiasm of the public for taking part in the Olympic Games, and have strictly controlled the availability of the seating and tried to sell as many tickets as possible to the general public," Wang told a news conference in Beijing. The ticket design is still tightly under wraps, but Wang said they would be made with environmentally-friendly materials. "In line with the Olympic spirit on environmental protection, while printing the tickets we will try to use environmentally-friendly materials," said Wang. To ensure fairness, group or block bookings are banned, except for some corporate sponsors and youth groups. And people can buy only one ticket each for the opening and closing ceremonies and at most two for popular events, officials said. "Limiting tickets to just one per person is a problem for sure, but there are just too many of us Chinese. We've taken this policy to ensure many more people can watch the games. Although it is not an ideal situation, (we have done it) in order to allow more people to watch the games and more people to share in the happiness of the sports competitions. We think the advantages of this policy outweigh the disadvantages," said Wang. For oversubscribed events, a random computerised selection process will be used. People must also place their ticket orders before June 30 and tickets will be assigned between July and August. Officials said microchips would be embedded in the tickets in order to avoid fraud. "In order to ensure the safety of the games, and to eradicate fake tickets and prevent scalping, the Olympic ticketing centre will embed microchips into the ticket and use other (security) methods. All buyers should present their ID cards while buying the ticket, and people who buy tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies should submit a photograph," said Rong Jun (pron: rohng jwin), head of the Olympic Ticketing Centre. Tickets will all be sold over the Internet, by telephone and at certain branches of Bank of China. Prices range from 30 yuan (about 4 USD) for preliminary shooting events and up to 5,000 yuan (about 650 USD) for the opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008. The organisers expect income of 140 million USD from ticket sales -- a tiny fraction of the billions the government is spending on the event.

ITN Source | April 15, 2007

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