WELCOME TO CHINA: German tourists celebrate being among the first to come to Beijing in the Olympic year on January 1. The 2008 China Olympic Tourism Year program officially began the same day

On a day in March a group of mysterious visitors arrived at a star-level hotel in Beijing. Unlike other guests, their aim wasn't to relax or have fun. They were there to do a job-faultfinding among the capital's myriad hotels.

The group was part of a drive to improve the quality of Beijing's hotels in the run-up to the Olympics.

"We have invited hundreds of people from different industries, such as journalism, to conduct secret inspections on the service quality of hotels," Deputy Director of Beijing Tourism Administration (BTA) Xiong Yumei said, adding that the BTA would publicize the results once every month.

In late 2007, China National Tourism Administration announced that its theme for 2008 is "Olympic tourism year." The target of the mysterious guests was to guarantee high quality service during the Olympic Games, when it is predicted that at least 300,000 tourists will stay at hotels in Beijing each day.

"Maximum daily demand will reach 333,000 beds," said Xiong. In early 2008, statistics from the BTA showed that there are 5,800 hotels in Beijing, with 336,000 rooms and 660,000 beds, which can certainly meet predicted demands. Among these hotels, 130,000 rooms or 225,000 beds are in 806 star-level hotels. When Beijing applied for the 29th Olympic Games, its commitments included providing 800 star-level hotels with 130,000 guest rooms. The city has fulfilled this commitment six months ahead of schedule.

At present, Beijing has the largest number of star-level hotels of any city in China, among them famous local hotels such as the Beijing Hotel and Grand Hotel Beijing, and nearly 20 from hotel chains, including Shangri-La and Days Inn. With the growing number of star-level hotels the service quality of Beijing's hotel industry has improved rapidly.

Beijing launched a standard of hotel service quality in 2006. This year a new version of the standard was created. Hotels that fail to meet the standard could lose their business licenses. Xiong explained that details like the quality of bedding and food, as well as the number of TV channels, are stipulated in the standard.

Beijing's mystery guests will test hotels to see whether they meet the standards, and the results of their inspections will be posted on the BTA's website and in other media in March and April, and twice every month from May to August.

A slice of cake

In 2005, Beijing started a program of Olympic-themed tourism. Beijing now has a series of Olympic tourist spots including the National Stadium or Bird's Nest, National Swimming Center or Water Cube, and National Center for the Performing Arts. Tourist agencies are itching to cut a bigger slice of the attractive Olympic cake.

China International Travel Service's (CITS) head office, which was established in 1954, set up a branch several years ago to study and launch Olympic-related business programs. Yao Yuecan, President of CITS, said that the service has strengthened interaction with its local divisions throughout the country so as to arrange sightseeing tours for those who already have tickets to Olympic sports events according to the regions they are from.

Many international sports events will be held in Beijing during the second half of 2008. Therefore, travel agencies plan to promote featured tourist routes between April and May. Some agencies have taken a popular line and are offering tourist services that meet with common people's income levels and consumption habits.

Along with Beijing, the other six cities that will host Olympic events-Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao and Hong Kong-will also become popular tourist destinations. Qingdao will continue to hold its traditional Qingdao International Beer Festival, which has been given an Olympic theme. Shanghai Tourism Administrative Committee also expects to attract a rising number of foreign visitors and sports fans during the Olympic Games, and is cooperating with other popular destinations such as Xi'an and Guilin. Hong Kong Tourism Board and the BTA are jointly publicizing Hong Kong-Beijing travel packages.

Small and medium-sized travel agencies are focusing on business opportunities after the Olympic Games, because they believe the Chinese people's Olympic passion will last longer than the event itself. "We will try our best to seize the opportunity after the Olympic Games in Beijing," said Huang Yong, who is from a travel agency in Yichang, Hubei Province, explaining that his agency will not join the scramble for Olympic business during the Games because it has limited personnel and financial strength.

Staff at some travel agencies believe limited tickets to Olympic events, inflated hotel prices and crowded traffic will dampen opportunities in Beijing during the Games. They are trying to cut their own slice of the Olympic tourism cake by enticing visitors to other destinations during their stay.

International travel agencies are hoping to cash in on China's sports fervor by offering tour packages to previous Olympic host cities. Expenses for these tour programs are likely to be lower than the cost of traveling to Beijing during the Olympics.

Words of caution

"Even though the Olympic Games will be the biggest opportunity for the development of China's tourism industry, the challenges might exceed the opportunities and risks will be hard to avoid," warned Zhao Xin, who is in charge of Olympic-related tourist programs at CITS.

The tourism market may not boom as expected, he said. In August, most visitors, athletes, staff and sponsors of the Games will be hosted by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and while there will be an influx of Olympic tourists, the number of ordinary travelers is likely to drop due to inflated prices.

CITS is targeting relatively stable client groups such as Olympic sponsors, and people invited by BOCOG. It is also exploring new travel programs in other cities at home and abroad.

Many of Zhao's counterparts believe that investing in developing new tourism products or building their own brands will be money better spent than on trying to catch the Olympic rush.