Record numbers of visas issued in Beijing

Mostly domestic tourists
Fons1 via FlickrThe Beijing public security office has issued after the Olympics a record number of business and tourism visas, French media report. Between 18 and 28 September the office received twelve thousand visa requests. The number of visas issued, although no concrete numbers have been given, doubled in the weeks after the Olympics.
Both the Beijing Olympics and rather restrictive visa regulations brought the number of visitors to China's capital down dramatically. According to the Xinhua news agency many tourists preferred to wait till after the Olympics for their visit to Beijing. From October 16 also the restrictions of visas issued in Hong Kong are expected to ease.