Beijing will restrict the number of visitors to heritage sites during Olympics

Beijing will restrict the number of visitors to heritage sites during the Olympics next year in order to protect the fragile old buildings, said Shu Xiaofeng, director of the Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage in Beijing.

But officials of the office did not respond Monday to the question of the number of visitors expected during the games on sites like the Forbidden City, Great Wall and Summer Palace.

Experts estimated 30 000 visitors per day at the Forbidden City, with a maximum of 50 000. Now more than 114 800 tourists have visited May 1, the first day of the week to leave the Labor Day holiday in China.

Beijing plans to invest 600 million yuan (77.92 million dollars) in the repair and conservation of ancient monuments over the next five years, Shu said that no major maintenance project would be undertaken next year on heritage sites in the urban area of Beijing to not create inconvenience for tourists. All projects on old buildings in the suburbs.

Last year, a resident has sued the Forbidden City that he was denied a reduction of the ticket and for not clearly informed visitors that the Forbidden City was largely under renovation. The work, begun in January 2006, will be completed in late 2007.

The proposed renovation of the old Confucian Temple and Imperial College, the most expensive for 50 years with an investment of 8 million yuan, should be completed before the opening of the Olympics, said Shu.

All heritage sites provide information in Chinese and English before the Games, “he added.