The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG) announced Sunday at the Beijing International Hotel that more than seven million tickets are now on sale. BOCOG Executive Vice President and Secretary General, Wang Wei(middle) and Director of BOCOG Ticketing Center, Rong Jun(left) attended the press conference on April 15, 2007. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

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Chinese citizens can now buy tickets for the 2008 Olympic Games. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG) announced on Sunday at the Beijing International Hotel that more than seven million affordable tickets, including 26,000 tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies, are now on sale.

Our reporter Shen Min tells us more.

REPORTER: About 75 percent of the tickets will be sold domestically and the rest will be available to overseas visitors.

Residents of the Chinese mainland will be able to order tickets through the official ticketing website at tickets.beijing2008.cn or by calling the BOCOG ticketing call center at 952008. People can also hand in their application forms to book tickets at designated Bank of China branches.

The tickets will be sold in three rounds. Over the first round from April 15th to June 30th, tickets will be allocated according to a random computerized selection. The second round will take place from October to December, during which tickets will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. A real-time sales process will be conducted in phase three from April 2008 until the end of the Olympic Games, where tickets will be issued directly upon payment.

For overseas sales, the process will be determined in each country and territory by its national Olympic committee and its ticketing agent.

In terms of whether booking earlier means better seats, Wang Wei, BOCOG executive vice president and secretary-general, had this to say.

"For the first round, it doesn't, but it does for the second and third rounds. Because the distribution of the tickets in the first round is not based on ticket booking order, worry and hurry are unnecessary. Whether tickets are booked the first or last day of the first period, all chances are equal and open to the public. Ticket buyers should make a careful plan before booking tickets."

Rong Jun, director of BOCOG ticketing center, explained how they were clamping down on possible fake tickets.

"The making of the tickets for the Beijing Olympic Games adopts chip technology and other advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies. We use these technologies in a non-contact way to check the tickets in order to improve our services and accelerate efficiency for people getting into the venues."

To offer the largest number of people the opportunity to watch the Olympic Games, BOCOG also limits the number of tickets each individual may purchase. Each person may only purchase one ticket for the opening and closing ceremonies. Individuals are limited to two tickets for high-demand competition sessions.

For CRI News, I'm Shen Min.