Ｔｈｅ Ｏｌｙｍｐｉｃｓ Ｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃ Ｂｏｎａｎｚａ（ＩＩ）

ＤＥ　ＹＯＮＧＪＩＡＮ

THE demand for capital and financial services in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympic Games is immense. Come August, over 10,000 athletes, 70,000 working personnel and 21,000 registered members of the press will gather in Chinas capital. Entries to the PRC by foreign nationals are expected to exceed 4.6 million, representing an estimated RMB 4.5 billion worth of consumption. Demand for foreign currency exchange, credit card facilities and applications for bank cards are also rising inexorably.

Booming Demand for Finance

The Games have generated a need for vast sums of credit. In order to prepare for the event, China has poured over RMB 100 billion into the construction of Olympic venues and the upgrading of urban infrastructure. According to official estimates, around 70 percent of this money has been committed by banks, which translates into RMB 126 billion worth of fixed asset loans for Chinese financial institutions.

The Bank of China, the official financial partner of the Beijing Olympic Games, has been conducting a range of Olympic-related business activities for some time, including fund management, and the sale of Olympic tickets and licensed Olympic merchandise. People are able to pay for tickets in outlets across Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao. The bank has also released a series of Olympic-themed products, such as bank cards, a VISA credit card, “Olympic Fuwa deposit accounts,” and “Olympic growth accounts.”

During the Games, the Bank of China will establish temporary service centers in the Olympic, Media, and Athlete villages, as well as the International Broadcasting Center. All these service centers will have extended business hours. In addition, the bank plans to install 2,500 “point-of-sale” (POS) devices in major visitor-related sites such as airports and hotels, and ensure that all Bank of China ATM and POS machines accept foreign bank cards.

The Games have also engendered a boom in insurance services. Any event on the scale of the Olympics is rife with risk, from personal injury to event cancellations to product quality issues. Consequently, insurance premiums for the Olympics are invariably huge. The Games in Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004 each represented more than US $30 million in insurance costs. Estimated total insurance premiums for the Beijing Games are on the order of RMB 300 million (a little under US $42 million).

Beijing Real Estate and the “Olympic Effect”

As well as the construction of actual Olympic venues, Beijing has been experiencing a major overhaul of its urban infrastructure. New subway lines have opened and others are currently being built. Pollution has also been reduced and air quality improved. New transport facilities and the green environment around Olympic sites have helped real estate prices to skyrocket in these areas. The “Olympic effect” is particularly evident in the following zones around the city.

Olympic Park Estates: The area with Beijings highest concentration of Olympic venues, the 1,000-hectare Olympic Park contains landmark structures such as the National Stadium (aka the “Birds Nest”) and the Aquatics Center (aka “the Water Cube”), as well as 680 hectares of afforested land. As the Olympics nerve center, demand for real estate here is huge.

A variety of companies have gathered around the park, pushing prices up to US $2,000 per square meter – and prices keep rising. The areas green infrastructure has also made residential properties popular. The park is traversed by light rail to handle the vast crowds that will attend major Olympic events, and the high number of trees is set to create Beijings biggest “lung,” providing a green shield against invading sandstorms from the north. In addition, after the Games many of the venues will become top-ranking sporting and recreational facilities for the public, greatly enriching the physical and cultural life of the areas residents.

Western District Estates: Beijings west is home to eight Olympic venues that will host the basketball, baseball and cycling events. Chinas famous steelworks run by the Shougang Group has moved out of the area in preparation for the Games, significantly improving the environment. After the big event, Wukesong Indoor Stadium will become a large recreational facility. Predictably, house prices are rising.

Northern Suburb Estates: Beijings northern district has taken on an entirely new look in recent years. Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park has undergone major reconditioning, creating a “green belt” running through the area. Villas along the river have gone up significantly in market value.

The “University District” and “Embassy Zone”: Other Olympic venues are scattered throughout Beijings “university district” in the northwest and the “embassy zone” in the citys east. With its cluster of famous Chinese institutions of higher learning, the university district enjoys a rich cultural life. The embassy zone is particularly popular with the citys expatriates. Besides foreign embassies and easy access to Beijings Capital International Airport, the area offers numerous “Western-style” restaurants and services, and adjoins Beijings central business district. Both the embassy zone and the university district have witnessed rapidly escalating real estate prices in recent years.

The Booming Olympic Collectables Market

Real estate and financial services arent the only Olympic-related booms sweeping Beijing. Olympic souvenirs are selling like hotcakes on the collectors market, and prices are rising accordingly.

For example, in July 2001 the Central Bank issued 60,000 commemorative coins, selling for RMB 220 each, to celebrate Beijings successful bid to host the Olympics. During 2007, these coins started changing hands for eight to 10 times their original price.

There are currently two other big- selling sets on the Olympic coin market. One is the first set of “Beijing 2008 Noble Metal Commemorative Coins,” made from pure gold and silver. At issue, the price per set was RMB 8,300, but they are now selling for over RMB 14,000 each. The second is the “Olympic Fuwa Commemorative Coins,” which originally sold for RMB 108,000. Only 1,000 of these sets were made, so they have attracted many serious collectors despite the high price tag.

Another set was issued recently which is certain to become a prized collectable. In August 2007, at the start of the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, the International Olympic Committee and the Organizing Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games authorized the release of a “Collection of All Previous Olympic Emblems and Mascots.” The set comprises 29 pure gold and silver coins.

Stamps are also a popular Olympic collectable. Fifteen to 20 million sets of “Olympic logo and mascot” stamps were issued in November 2005, with a per-stamp value of RMB 8. The price has now reached RMB 170 for one of the original stamps in good condition – a 22-fold rise.

Last year, China Post issued a 6.33-meter-long stamp scroll, containing 128 stamps depicting Olympic logos, slogans, mascots and sporting events. The complicated printing procedure caused delays in the scrolls release, but when it finally hit the market, stocks sold out in a short period.

As the Beijing Olympics draw near, vintage Olympic souvenirs have become a focus of collectors as well. A souvenir badge issued by Coca-Cola for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, for example, now sells for more than US $1,500. A Coke can from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is worth around RMB 3,000 (just over US $400), while a glass Coke bottle with an Olympic logo sells for over RMB 1,000 (US $140). To celebrate Beijings successful bid in 2001, Coke distributed 720,000 cans of golden souvenir cola, which now fetch around RMB 1,000 each among collectors.

According to collectors forecasts, Olympic tickets will be the hottest collectable commodity once the Games are over, especially those for the opening and closing ceremonies. The prices of related products, like Olympic posters, telephone cards and newspaper supplements from the day Beijing won its bid, are also sure to keep rising.