The managing company of the National Stadium, nicknamed Bird's Nest, in Beijing has drawn flak from the public for charging visitors 50 yuan (7.3 U.S. dollars) a time to visit the iconic building.

The ticket price for a visit to the Bird's Nest, open to the public from Oct. 1, is about the same as one to the Forbidden City. And there are no discount tickets for senior citizens or students.

"Even the Forbidden City has half-priced tickets for students and the seniors," said Mr. Xiang, a visitor from Beijing, brandishing a certificate showing he is over 60 years old.


A nearly full moon over the National Stadium or better known as the Bird's Nest in Beijing on early Sept. 14, 2008, which is now hosting the athletic competition for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. (Photo Source: China Daily/Agencies)
The CITIC Group consortium, currently managing the Olympic venue, said the price was not unreasonable. "We have to take into consideration the maintenance cost. Besides, we couldn't use the stadium for other purposes when the public is visiting," Zhang Hengli, spokesman of the company, said Wednesday.

Bird's Nest is now run solely by CITIC Group consortium under a30-year agreement with Beijing State-owned Assets Management Co., Ltd., a wholly state-owned company that holds 58 percent of the stadium's shares.

The stadium attracted 60,000 tourists on its opening day, and an average of 20,000 to 30,000 visitors every day since then, according to Zhang.

Unlike other public tourist sites in China that offer tickets with a 50 percent discount for students and people over 60 years old, the Bird's Nest only has free tickets for children under 1.2 meters tall and soldiers that were injured or handicapped while on active service.

Dai Xuefeng, deputy director of the Tourism Research Center of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Legal Daily it was understandable that the operating company wanted to cover its huge maintenance costs by selling tickets.

"But," added Dai, "as the Bird's Nest has become a national stadium famous across the world, people here have taken it as a public facility. Whether the tickets can be priced by the company itself needs further thinking."

An official in charge of tourist site ticket pricing at Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform said, "The company running the Bird's Nest now has the right to price tickets. It's not within our scope of power."

Tourists also needed to pay 30 yuan (4.4 dollars) to get into the Water Cube, the Olympic swimming and diving venue. The public area of the Olympic park, otherwise known as the Olympic Green, is free.