Visitors treated to more than cola

Hospitality centers in Beijing run by Olympic sponsors have been pulling in the crowds.

One that has been particularly popular is the 4,000 sq m Coca-Cola Shuang Experience Center in the central business district, which draws 12,000 visitors, in groups of 100, every five minutes, as well as 600 to 700 reporters, analysts and officials each day.

At almost any given time, people can be seen posing for photographs next to cutouts of their favorite athletes there.

Two hundred people man the center, which provides an interactive experience for visitors.

It shows people celebrating China's gold medals of the day, live competition telecasts, the route of the Olympic torch relay, and the multinational corporation's 80-year association with the Games.

Deputy general manager of the company's Olympic Project Group 2008, Vincent Gaillard, said about 200,000 visitors are expected during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The size and cost of the center were twice that of Coke'ss showcase centers in Sydney and Athens combined, but it took just four months to build, he said.

Gaillard said: "We started building in April.

"In China, this is possible. In my country, it would have taken two years.

"That Coca-Cola is the Shuang of the Games is the one key message we want to deliver aside from that, we want to tell people that we are and we want to be a fabric of China.

"It is important for us to show faith in China, to show the rest of the world what China is about," he said.

"That means showing a lot of young, educated, bilingual, friendly people. A lot of people in other parts of the world don't necessarily know that."

The Coca-Cola center will be dismantled after the Paralympics and be moved to Shanghai for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

"The idea is to pack it, ship it, store it and rebuild it in Shanghai to show our commitment to reducing and reusing resources," Gaillard said.

Source: China Daily