The prices of a hotel room in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games are expected to rise by only one and half times, much lower than hotels in other cites that have hosted the games, according to Beijing Modern Business Times.

Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Administration, said Beijing hotels have been authorized to increase their room rates by 1.4 to 1.6 times the regular price. Hotels rates in Sydney and Torino rose two to three times their regular prices when those cities hosted the games, she said.

Beijing expects to receive 500,000 to 550,000 overseas tourists during the games and 675,000 to 774,000 domestic visitors.

Xiong said by 2008, Beijing will have 800 star-rated hotels. Beijing now has 4,761 hotels, with some 280,000 rooms, of which 658 are star-rated that have 112,000 rooms. Non-rated hotels will be upgraded to bring the number of star-rated hotels to 800.