Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Despite being billed as the costliest Games ever, the Beijing Olympics won't be a financial millstone around the neck of the Beijing municipal government in the years to come, said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in a report released here on Tuesday.

    "Granted, the cost of hosting the Games is huge, and its importance to China in terms of boosting its international standing is obvious; but it appears the Chinese authorities recognize that the Olympics is not an end in itself," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Kim Eng Tan.

    Indeed, the authorities' careful planning suggests the benefits of hosting the Games will continue long after the closing ceremony, the report said.

    Many of the projects would have gone ahead whether the city had won the Olympics bid or not. Beijing is a fast-growing metropolis and, until recently, its urban infrastructure also lagged significantly behind cities of comparable importance in the advanced economies.

    Hence, most of the capital projects involved improvements that were already in the city's development plan, according to the Standard & Poor's report.

    The Beijing Olympics could be compared to the experience of Barcelona, where substantial infrastructure investment leading up to the 1992 Games helped boost its appeal for visitors and businesses alike, says the report, adding that the positive economic impact helped lift the credit ratings on Barcelona.

    With the advantage of a rich and long history, the boost to tourism for Beijing could be even greater, said Tan. "Rather than a financial burden, hosting the Olympics could give a long-term boost to the city government's credit worthiness," the analyst said.