2008, China, & The Olympics
 

Your opinions, please. China will host the Olympics next year. Based on our experience, prices are jacked up during and after the Games. Would tourists be smart to "beat the crowd" and do their sightseeing in the months before the Games?

I was in China in May. Our tour guide said business would be down for tours during Olympics because most people wouldn't be touring, that surprised me.
Do go this fall if you can, everything is restored or in the process of completion, so the buildings at the Forbidden City and other major Beijing sites are incredible. The beautiful and vivid colors used to paint the trim on major sites are gorgeous, statues are clean, roadways are completed.

Navy guy from Army guy (OLD army guy):

I posted a while back that the City of Beijing was planning to OK hotel serious rate increases just before, during and just after the Olympics. The report referred to a 100-150% increase possible...would suggest you nail down hotels soon. The city, in my opinion, will be utter chaos from June 1-September 1. We were just there in March/April...I don't see how the city will handle the influx...traffic and air quality is impossible now...then??
Still one of the world's fascinating places.Just be careful stepping off the curb to cross the street! Death defying!

Stu T.

Yes, visit now imho. We were there in late March and it was a zoo then. They couldn't handle the crowds, pollution, etc. then so I don't think they can do it while putting on the Olympics. Too many people with so much pollution. The traffic will be TOTAL gridlock. I am officially on record as of today as predicting it before it happens :)

They say that they'll give everyone two weeks off with pay so that they won't have any traffic jams.....right. Who is everyone and how much do they pay?

I can see just the average Beijing person gleefully giving up the right to make an extra yuan on all the money that will be in town for those two weeks.

I can just see the locals fleeing in droves out of their town to make room for everyone else.(of course I have my tongue firmly implanted in cheek). Unless of course they are forced into it.

To sum it up you couldn't get me near Beijing during or after the Olympics for maybe 6 months.

Aloha!

Gee! Come on! Beijing is a big city, and as all big cities, it has traffic jams, gridlock, pollution and crowds. Just like London, Tokyo, LA, and even traffic problems on Oahu getting to the north shore.

This fall should be fine for touring. Next spring you are subject to the sand storms. You will see all the major roads lined with poplars as wind breaks to reduce the sand damage. Mid-May after the Labor Week (May 1-7) would be perfect.

As in all of China, do not lock in prices for anything too soon. Hotel pricing varies until one week before the trip, and the safest way is to guarantee, but NOT prepay, a reservation. Then, when prices drop, rebook and cancel the first reservation.

I am not sure exactly what the situation will be regarding tourism. The rumors about Athens not being prepared for the Olympics 2004 scared many people away. Yes, Beijing is crowded every day of the year. But I do not predict any massive gridlock, because people are aware of the potential problems. These things have a way of being self-limiting.

aloha, HT...

Fully agree with you assessment...in full line with my predictions.

Stu T.

"But I do not predict any massive gridlock" - I was in Beijing just before National Day in 2004, and gridlock was alive and well already - nearly half an hour to go two blocks by taxi. After a couple of tries, I settled for the metro and walking.

"I can see just the average Beijing person gleefully giving up the right to make an extra yuan on all the money that will be in town for those two weeks."

- The "average Beijing person" will have no opportunity to profit from visitors drawn by the Olympics. Only a miniscule number of the city's 13 million people have any contact with, or interest in, foreign tourists, any more than the average Athenian or average Sydneysider had. And compared to domestic tourism, foreign tourism is a fleabite in China.

I'm not sure either thta the traffic should be all that much worse than normal (which I agree is pretty bad). Where are the extra cars going to come from? And are we allowing for the impact of the massively expanded Beijing metro system?

Prior to the 2000 Sydney Olympics we were treated to daily predictions of unimaginable chaos, gridlock, public transport congestion, nay collapse, and any number of other reasons why the city would grind to a halt and expose Australia to global ridicule. In the event everything happened with almost eerie efficiency, partly because an unusually large number of residents stayed off the roads and took public transport. In the middle of the Olympics I drove through greater Sydney from south to north, a distance of 70-80 km, and have never had such a fast and smooth passage.

I wouldn't underestimate the determination and ability of the national and city governments to make the 2008 Beijing Olympics the most impressive yet.

I'd have to agree with Neil_Oz's assessment of both the local population / Chinese tourists and the city congestion.

Additionally, the government is mandating that cars stay off the roads, via even/odd numbered license plates and other means. As for pollution, the "two week holiday" includes factories in Beijing; get rid of most of the cars and factory emissions and you'll have much cleaner skies. It's my understanding that they did this once already to prove it can be done to the Olympics commitee.

None of that answers the OP's question, though - and I for one don't have a good answer! ;)

I agree with you Neil that Australia did a fantastic job in 2000....kudos! Never doubted it, knew it would be great.

"I wouldn't underestimate the determination and ability of the national and city governments to make the 2008 Beijing Olympics the most impressive yet."

Here's hoping that the Games are impressive and not oppressive!

I'll be the one watching on TV ;)

Aloha!

I agree with Neil!

After all, let's not forget China is a police state. If the government want people off the roads and out of the capital, it WILL happen.

petitepois

thats what I meant by oppressive

Hi All, I'm planning a trip to Beijing next May, most likely the on the 17th weekend for 1 week, do you think it's a good time to go during that week?

HT - well, of course it's going to be oppressive. It's the CCP! Your initial post seems to express doubt at the man-power of the government. I have no doubt at all.

To the OP -- In my opinion -- and the friends I made in the four years of living in Beijing agree -- the best time to visit China will be in October 2008. The Olympic hoopla will have died down, but you will benefit from the beautification. Will prices still be jacked up? I don't know. But now is certainly not the right time to go with construction sites on every corner and scaffolding around most of the historical sites.

petitepois, you are so right about ALL the construction, and its accompanying dust, etc. But I didn't see any scaffolding around historical structures when I was just there. The Forbidden City was shining and beautiful, as was Temple of Heaven and many other locations I visited. Maybe they restored them first?

Then again, if by historical structures you mean the hutong... Well, sadly many of those are currently rubble heaps... :(

China of course is a huge country, and you don’t say where it is you want to go. Whether prices will be “jacked up” in say, Harbin, before or after the Games is hard to say. Beijing is the number one tourist destination in the PRC to begin with, and the number 2 business destination, so it is very difficult to say whether any hotel rate increases will be due to the affect of the Games or just an overall increase in tourism and/or business.

In terms of seeing sights at their best, I am also recommending that people either go TO the Games (which I think will be fantastic ones) or go after the Games. While a good bit of the refurbishment will most likely be completed on time a few months or weeks before the Games (they appear to be on track) not all of it will be, so IMO the best chance of not finding exhibits closed or scaffolding on building exterior is after the Games. I am not just referring to activity in Beijing, as all of the PRC is preparing for visitors and undering refurbishment.

Also, many people seem to be under the impression that the Games are being held only in Beijing. That is not the case. The events are spread all over China. The equestrian events are in Hong Kong. Some of the soccer (i.e., “football”) matches are being held in Shanghai and other cites, and the sailing is being held on the coast in Quingdao which is about halfway between Beijing and Shanghai. How that will affect prices in those cities and in Beijing is hard to say. I imagine you will find some real bargains at the new hotels in Quingdao after the Games as I don’t think it will have a rush of visitors. (Great beer by the way, the Germans taught them.) You probably wont’ find prices “jacked up” in Hong Kong however, as they are already high to begin with. I don’t think you will find any change in Shanghai prices either.

petitepois -- Are you still in Beijing, or have fleed the oppressiveness, I mean summer heat?

I think we can be fairly certain that prices will go up for this period. Remember that China raises all of its train ticket prices over the national holidays, and there are rarely any discounted airline tickets available during these times. Based on these precedents, I wouldn't expect there to be much change for a huge event like the Olympics.

Hi Shanghainese -- I bid a fond farewell to Beijing in June. I miss it -- life isn't as spicy, that's for sure.