Soon after the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games wrapped up, Li Mei, a high school student from the Zhejiang Province capital city of Hangzhou, some 1,600 kilometers southeast, came to Beijing to see close up the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest), the primary Olympic venue and where the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies took place.

To Li Mei, who had seen the stadium on TV each day of the Games, it was a place so familiar and yet so strange. The 69-meter-high giant venue, oval in shape and with a seating capacity of 91,000, looked so huge on the screen. Inside, she was awed, being so close to the track she had seen on television. After jogging around the venue, she took some photos before the main torch, then sat in the auditorium and took it all in.

During the Games, Li Mei was not able to get a ticket for competitions held at the Bird’s Nest or the Water Cube (National Aquatics Center). Also, at that time accommodations and travel expenses in the host city were relatively high. She and her parents watched the Games on TV, but they hoped to also have a chance to visit in person and walk upon the track where those extraordinary athletes raced, leapt and experienced such extremes of joy and frustration.

Two weeks after the two Games were over, the seven-day National Day holiday began. To meet demand, during the break tourism departments in Beijing opened the Olympic venues to the public. Li Mei and her family were lucky enough to become the first group of visitors. “I never thought that I would come and have my dream come true so soon,” she said.

After the venues were complete and in use, many people hoped that some day they might enter and experience the Olympic ambience. During the Games, a limited number of tickets and relatively high cost of accommodations motivated many to hold off, to, rather, join post Games tours. They reserved Beijing tours for late September and October, when the Games were over but the strong Olympic atmosphere could still be felt.

Beijing opened the Bird’s Nest, Water Cube, the Olympic central area and a few other Olympic venues to citizens and international tourists during this year’s National Day Golden Week holiday, which began on September 29 and extended through October 5.

For a 50-yuan admission fee, a visitor could enter the Bird’s Nest to experience the venue in which five world records and 12 new Olympic records were set, and take photos before the main torch. The admission for the Water Cube was 30 yuan. Still there was the diving platform from which leapt Guo Jingjing, one of the most successful women divers in Olympic history. And there was the main swimming pool, where Michael Phelps won eight gold medals. In the future, the Water Cube will serve as a comprehensive venue for swimming, physical fitness and leisure activities. The joint admission for the tour of the Bird’s Nest, Water Cube, the international district in the Olympic Village and a few other Olympic attractions was priced at 100 yuan. But the admission for Olympic Green was free.

Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics from August 8 to August 24, and from September 6 to September 17, respectively. Eleven days after two galas that lasted for one and a half months, the National Day holiday came. The “Olympic effect” greatly boosted travel volume during the holiday.

According to the Beijing Tourism Administration (BTA), during the seven-day holiday the city welcomed a total of 2.35 million tourists, a 22 percent increase over the same period last year, and tourist revenue hit 5.25 billion yuan, a 27 percent increase over the previous year. Tourist arrivals reported by airport and railway departments were 658,000 and 1.8 million, a 34 percent and 15 percent increase over last year, respectively.

Golden Week travel patterns revealed that during the post Olympic period, the Olympic central area, where are located the primary venues, may replace the downtown Palace Museum as the most attractive sightseeing spot in the city. During the first six days of the holiday, the number of visitors to the park reached 2.17 million, with daily arrivals hitting 500,000 on October 2 and 3, greatly surpassing the planned daily flow of 250,000. The volume of visitors the park received during the holiday accounted for a quarter of total visitors at tourist sites in the city.

The Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube proved to be the most attractive places in the park. On October 1, the arrivals to these two venues were more than 240,000, surpassing the number of visitors the Palace Museum received on that day. On the same day, the Palace Museum had 120,000 visitors.

However, traditional tourist spots, such as the Palace Museum, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall, remain must-visit sites. During the first six days of the holiday, the Palace Museum received 625,000 visitors, a 78 percent increase over the previous year, with one day the number hitting a record high of 135,800. The Temple of Heaven accommodated 314,000 visitors and the Badaling section of the Great Wall 396,000, an increase of 89 percent and 58 percent, respectively, over the same period last year.

Special tourist districts and streets enrich the Beijing travel experience. The renovated and newly opened Qianmen Street, Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, Dabei Photo Studio, Zhang Yiyuan Teahouse and other venerable stores and shops were crowded with visitors. The Shichahai Scenic Area, 798 Art District, Sanlitun Bar Street and many other modern leisure and travel areas were also well trafficked.

The post Olympic travel effect was also evident in the co-host cities of Qingdao, Tianjin and Shenyang. Stimulated by the Olympic tours, also evidencing strong potential were city tours, leisure and holiday tours and countryside tours in and around large and medium-size cities, as well as eco-tours in the countryside.

According to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), during the holiday the 119 tourist areas (spots) included in its forecasting and statistics-collecting network so far, received 18.29 million tourists, a 13.2 percent increase over the same period last year. The period is regarded as the first tourist peak time for the travel industry since the nation experienced setbacks caused by a series of natural disasters.

The post Olympic travel boom seemed to come earlier than expected. Based on the experience of previous Olympic host cities, industry insiders predicted that host and co-host cities could expect a tourism boom within two to three years after the Games. They attributed this early rising tide of travel to two factors: The change in holiday periods and Olympic elements. Under the new holiday system, there are two seven-day holidays: National Day and Spring Festival. Since Spring Festival is based on hometown family reunions, National Day is about travel and touring. Olympic venues and other heritages enhance the charm of Beijing, a city particularly worth visiting after many substantial improvements were put in place in preparation for the Games.

Before the holiday, Beijing tourism departments had forecasted that it would be the first busy season after the Games. They readied a series of 10 Olympic tours, including the Olympic Heritage, New Scenic Spots in Beijing, Sports and Leisure, Charming Countryside tours.

Travel services in many cities also offered special Olympic travel routes, and added Olympic elements to traditional routes. Liu Xiaojun, spokesman from the China Youth Travel Service in Shanghai, said that the Games substantially changed the host city, and he personally wanted to visit the enhanced Beijing. He said the decline in travel expenses made the tours more attractive.

The result of a recent Internet survey conducted among 1,000 people throughout the country by Ctrip.com, the largest travel network on the Chinese mainland, indicates that 70 percent of interviewees will travel after the Games, and Beijing is the city they most want to visit.

Industry insiders indicate that, like after previous Games in other nations, the travel industry in China will greatly benefit from the Olympic afterglow.

CNTA chairman Shao Qiwei said that the post Olympic travel will benefit the entire industry across the nation, and tourism departments will encourage overseas tourists to make use of the Beijing Olympic Games as the starting point of their China tours.

Early during the Games preparation period, Beijing joined hands with surrounding areas and co-host cities to organize and promote tours linking Beijing with other parts of the country.

According to the forecast of BTA, domestic travel as well as inbound travel will boom after the Games. Vice chairman of BTA Gu Xiaoyuan said that during the post Olympics period they will organize and promote Olympic-themed tours, as well as high-end offerings, such as incentive and business tours.