Beijing 2008 Olympic Games 2008 olympics ticket

BEJING, Feb. 16 -- "Beijing promises not to set a dual standard for 2008 Olympics ticket prices", Beijing vice mayor Liu Jingmin said on an Olympic themed-program yesterday that aired on Beijing Television.

"If Chinese and Westerners are stimulating different prices, it will not respect the Olympic spirit."

After more than one year of study, including an online analysis, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), instituted the final ticket prices based on how much people can give, said Liu, who is also the vice executive president of BOCOG.

Liu more explained the conclusion drawn from in-depth study on both urban and rural use levels was to adopt the relatively low 2008 olympics ticket price system through the Beijing Games.

"The sum of the 2008 games fares less than 100 yuan (12.5 U.S. dollars) accounts for the 58 percent of the sum," Liu said," compared to the tickets fee of Athens and Sydney Olympic Games, 2008 fares could be cheaper.

When asked if someone with higher incomes would be charged more, Liu said "that's absolutely prohibited, it goes against the Olympic spirit of honesty, fairness and openness to all."

More work should be done to promise the fair distribution of low-price Olympic tickets

The long-awaited ticket prices for the 2008 Beijing Olympics were available on Nov.29, 2006 on the official site of the Games and the prices for seats at the opening ceremony are as low as 200 yuan (25.50 U.S. dollars). More than 58 per cent of all tickets for open sale will cost 100 yuan (13 U.S. dollars) or less, with the lowest price being 30 yuan (4 U.S. dollars).

The BOCOG will also present student tickets, which account for about 14 per cent of all locally available tickets and cost merely 5 yuan (0.64 U.S. dollars) for preliminaries and 10 yuan (1.28 U.S. dollars) for finals.