Forbidden City adopts online-only ticket model

Speakers: Li Ningjing and Sam Duckett

[Photo: thinkstockphotos.com]

The Palace Museum in Beijing--China's former imperial palace, or Forbidden City, has announced that it has begun to sell entry tickets solely through its online booking system, with few exceptions.

The move is designed "to avoid crowds at the box office, reduce waiting time and provide a more comfortable visiting experience".

Online ticket booking is available on the official website www.dpm.org.cn.

To relieve the Museum's heavy pressure and safety concerns brought by huge crowds, a daily visitor quota of 80,000 was set in June 2015, and an online ticketing system was launched. On launch day, about 7,500 of the day's 50,000 visitors--about 15 percent bought tickets online. By 2016, the number had expanded dramatically to 40 percent. As of August, it has mushroomed to 77 percent. On Oct. 2, for example, all 80,000 entry tickets were sold in advance online.

The booking system will provide tickets at different visiting hours to balance the number of visitors throughout the day.

The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI.