Olympics disappoint China business owners

[SoCalDem]

http:/http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-fi-olympics22-2008aug22,0,5816776.story



Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
A shopkeeper waits for a sale at an antique market in Beijing. Some Chinese poured their life savings into buying businesses or sprucing up their shops ahead of the Games, but it’s paid off for few.

Many in Beijing were counting on a tourism bonanza, but it didn't happen.
By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 22, 2008
Beijing

Li Qiang can't wait for the Olympics to end Sunday.

He had expected his Sichuan restaurant, a couple of miles from the Olympic village, to be packed with tourists during the Games. But it's been unusually quiet. One day this week, business was so slow that Li let two of his seven staff members go home in the middle of the lunch hour. Three others sat in the corner watching television.

"Everybody thought the Olympics would be great for business," he said. "It turned out differently." Many owners of small restaurants, hotels and shops in Beijing are wearing long faces this summer, especially those who poured their life savings into buying businesses or sprucing up their shops ahead of the Games.

About half a million foreign visitors were expected in Beijing this month. But many businesspeople think that because of stricter visa rules and other hassles, there are no more here now than there were last August, when 420,000 visitors from abroad came to the capital. In July, Air China, the nation's flagship carrier, saw its international passenger traffic fall by 19% from a year earlier. The number of domestic tourists has also been lower than expected. Fearing inflated prices for hotels and airline tickets, many Chinese apparently decided to watch the Games at home.

Wang Zhenghui, director of China's Hotel Assn. in Beijing, reckons that occupancy during the Olympics has been running about 50% to 60%. That's a far cry from the 70% to 80% hoteliers were expecting. The 120 or so larger facilities designated as Olympic hotels are doing better, Wang said, as many had locked in bookings months in advance. But some of them have had to reduce their rates to fill rooms.

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[fasttense]

1. Could it just possibly be the world wide recession

that no one will name that is keeping people from spending thousands of dollars on a visit to China?

"Fearing inflated prices for hotels and airline tickets, many Chinese apparently decided to watch the Games at home."

So high prices affect Chinese tourism but not so much everyone else?