Beijing Hotels Boost Tourism in the 2008 Summer Olympics
China, one of the world’s emerging superpowers, recently increased her exposure in the world stage as she hosted the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The Olympics is a quadrennial event which is participated by about 120 countries, with players engaging themselves in various sports, from track-and-field to javelin throwing, from basketball to soccer, from swimming to diving, you name it.
Beijing, after being chosen to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, immediately selected the site where future delegations will stay and where majority of the games will be played. The city and the national government summoned the finest team of architects, engineers and landscape designers to begin this remarkable task which would usher huge investments to the country. In addition to this, foreign hotel groups started to set up their branches of hotels in Beijing in anticipation of increased tourists during the event.
The government planned to use a site wide enough to put the various stadiums and complexes in one place. This would increase productivity of the players while reducing travel time from one venue to another. Located at the north end of the central axis of Beijing, the planners named the area the Olympic Green, where thirty-one sporting venues can be seen.
Most of the hotels in Beijing are accessible from the Olympic Green because they are located near the city’s cultural and business districts. A number of important sporting venues are located within the Green. The most notable of these is the Beijing National Stadium. Inspired by the beauty and intricacy of Chinese ceramics, the designers were finally able to construct it. Known as the ‘Bird’s Nest,’ it was the venue for the football and athletics finals as well as in the opening and closing ceremonies where 91,000 people attended.
Another unique structure is the Beijing National Aquatics Center, better known as the ‘Water Cube.’ Its design is based on the structure of soap bubbles, which are air-filled pockets of translucent plastic. At night, the structure illuminates with colors which change from time to time. This was where swimming, diving and synchronized swimming competitions were held.
The Beijing National Indoor Stadium, nicknamed ‘The Fan’ due to its design resembling a traditional Chinese holding fan, hosted Artistic Gymnastics, Tramp lining and Handball events. Also within the Green is the Convention Center, a 270,000 square-meter structure which was used for Fencing and the Modern Pentathlon. It was also the International Broadcast Center where the press covered the entire games.
The Beijing Olympic Village was the temporary home of the athletes. It resembles some of the hotels in Beijing since it is made up of twenty-two six-storey buildings and twenty nine-storey buildings.
Beijing hotels were at sky-high during the games since they had good occupancy rates continuing for months. The city and the country were the stars of the show. The 2008 Summer Olympics was indeed the coming-out-party for China and its constituents. For a nation once known as the Sleeping Dragon, she has now finally awakened!
Tags: Olympics