Real-time Olympic Ticket Sales Starts; 1,001 BOC Outlets Stands Ready

According to the latest news from BOCOG, Phase Two Olympic Ticket Sales will officially kick off at 9:00 on October 30, 2007. The designated 1,001 BOC ticket outlets around the country will continue to offer ticketing service to the public.

Beijing 2008 Olympic ticket sale will undergo three phases according to BOCOG. During Phase One (April 15 to June 30), the ticket application forms were handed out and collected. BOC outlets collected a total of 132, 000 paper Application forms. Afterward, at the request of BOCOG, Bank of China started the batch payment process for Phase 1 customers who have been allocated tickets in the lottery. Where the batch payment failure occurred, Bank of China offered the customers a second chance to pay at the designated 1,000 ticket outlets.

Starting from Phase two, the designated outlets will sell Olympic tickets and collect payment through BOCOG s ticketing system on a real-time basis. Under the sale principle of first-come, first-served , the ticketing system will automatically allocate the tickets according to sequential order. To guarantee the success of the upcoming tasks and to offer safe and convenient service, Bank of China and Beijing Gehua Ticketmaster Ticketing Co, Ltd.

, the BOCOG s exclusive ticketing service supplier, have conducted several tests on the ticketing system. Accepted payment methods during Phase Two are Bank of China savings accounts, cash and Visa cards.

Phase two Olympic ticket sales will continue until the end of January 2008. Phase Three is estimated to kick off in April 2008, in addition to the real-time ticket selling, the designated outlets will also take on the responsibility of printing and handing out souvenir tickets.