Accommodating all those wishing to attend the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer may prove to be a tough task for the event's organizers.
Thus, the Chinese capital's Tourist Bureau is taking extra steps to meet the massive demand for accommodations by turning to the private sector.
According to a report carried by Xinhua news agency last Friday, a thousand Beijing families will be picked by the bureau to rent their apartments to visitors during the two-week period in August.
The total number of foreigners expected to pay a visit to Beijing during the Games may reach around 500,000 people, RIA Novosti reported.
Of these, approximately 220,000 tourists are scheduled to stay in the city's 806 star-rated hotels.
Smaller hotels and self-catering accommodation could provide lodgings to a further half million, the report says. However, fearing that existing accommodating capacities could be insufficient to handle the influx of tourists - both domestic and foreign - Beijing authorities have decided to back them up with an invention of their own, entitled "Olympic family hotels."
The authorities will select 1,000 privately-owned apartments that have all the appropriate facilities. One of the mandatory requirements to apartment owners is that at least one member of the family renting out their flat is an English speaker. The hosts should also be "neatly dressed" and willing to assist the guests during their stay.
Such dwellings will cost between $50 and $80 per day - considerably cheaper than day rates at Beijing's five-star hotels ($400) and even two-star hotels ($160), the report concludes.
By Bojan Soc
