Freebies pump millions into economy

Despite the fact that tourism authorities in the capital tried to give away two million free tickets to local attractions last year as part of a massive promotion, only 346,000 people made the most of the offer.

The freebies guaranteed entry to almost 50 tourism hot-spots in and around the city.

"Beijing was the first city to give away free tickets in China's tourism market," Wang Jian, director of the No 1 promoting department of the Beijing tourism administration, told METRO yesterday.