An e-ticketing system is under development inside China's
Forbidden City to cope with the large number of visitors.
"The initial e-ticketing plan has been formed," said Feng
Nai'en, office director of the Forbidden City, also known in China
as the Palace Museum.
Feng said the Museum had decided to make the switch because
manual selling of tickets failed to monitor visitor numbers
accurately.
"Once adopted, the museum will stop selling tickets if it
reaches full capacity." According to Feng, the museum can hold a
maximum of 50,000 visitors a day, Tuesday's Beijing Morning Post
reported.
The number of tourists visiting the Forbidden City exceeded its
maximum capacity for four days of the seven-day National Day
holiday.
"The floor was worn down with the excess of visitors," said
Feng, "and the vermeil walls have faded due to exposure to a great
amount of carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors."
As to whether the museum will cap visiting periods like some
other tourist sites, Feng said they were considering it.
Potala Palace, the former imperial palace in Tibet and one of
the most popular travel sites in China, has started to cap visiting
periods to one hour since this July and has already put a daily
limit on tourist numbers at 2,300 since 2003.
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2007)