China vows speedy entry for Olympics tourists

BEIJING, Apr 19 (Reuters) China will streamline procedures to help tourists swiftly get through airport immigration during the Olympic Games next year, a senior immigration official today said.

The Chinese capital is expected to embrace hundreds of thousands of international visitors during the Olympics, which start on August 8, 2008, and the immigration bureau aims to move them through border entry points within 25 minutes of arrival.

''Departments of border inspection, customs and health supervision are researching measures to simplify procedures...

for the possible vast number of tourists coming here during the Olympics,'' Zhu Jiqing, the deputy chief of China's Public Security Immigration Bureau, told a news conference.

A bureau report said efficiency efforts would include education of immigration officers and the posting of easy-to-read information billboards for tourists.

Previous host countries for the Olympics have had to balance streamlined immigration measures with heightened security concerns for the high-profile sporting event.

REUTERS AKD HS1443