Beijing tourism authorities are drafting measures to prevent local hotels from drastically raising prices for guest houses during the 2008 Olympic Games, a local tourism official said.

An official with the Beijing Municipal Tourism Association said the substantial measures will target all local star-rated and non-star-rated hotels.

"The measure aims to regulate the prices through macro-control and make them fluctuate in accordance with the market demand," the official said.

The Beijing Municipal Tourism Administration issued a notice recently asking local star-rated hotels to report guest house prices, a move serving the purpose of making fairly prices for guest houses during the 2008 Olympic Games.

There are currently 614 star-rated hotels in Beijing. The city tourism administration authorities are trying to determine the real number of hotels in the city, including those under construction and planned.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2005)