Visitors complain about 'Bird's Nest' entry fees Posted: 12 November 2008 1751 hrs
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BEIJING - The company managing Beijing's "Bird's Nest" National Stadium is in hot water for allegedly charging too much money for visits to the iconic venue, state media said Wednesday.
The CITIC Group consortium, which is in charge of the structure under a 30-year contract with the Beijing government, charges 50 yuan (7.3 US dollars) per ticket with very few discount options, the Xinhua news agency reported.
According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, the average Beijing household has only 60 yuan of disposable income per day.
"Even the Forbidden City has half-priced tickets for students and the seniors," a visitor from Beijing surnamed Xiang told Xinhua, brandishing a certificate showing he is over 60 years old.
The only ones who get in free are children less than 1.2 metres (four feet) tall, and soldiers injured or handicapped while on active service, said Xinhua.
Despite the price, the Bird's Nest has proved a hit with tourists, attracting 60,000 visitors on its October 1 opening day, and 20,000 to 30,000 people every day since.
CITIC Group defended its pricing policies, citing maintenance costs, Xinhua said.
"Besides, we can't use the stadium for other purposes when the public is visiting," company spokesman Zhang Hengli was quoted as saying.
The stadium, known as the Bird's Nest because of its striking design of interlocking steel girders, was the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies at the August Beijing Olympics, as well as the athletics.
The eye-catching venue seats 91,000 people in a rice bowl design made up of more than 36 kilometres (24 miles) of steel weighing 45,000 tonnes. It cost nearly half a billion dollars to build.
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