All hotels that will accommodate media and members of the Olympic Family during the 2008 Olympic Games need to pass an examination to ensure that they meet relevant environmental standards, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics (BOCOG) said on Thursday.

According to Xiang Ping, vice-director of the BOCOG Games Service Department, BOCOG hopes that the process will be completed by the end of this year.

"The hotels that fail to meet the environmental standards will be struck off the list of Olympic hotels," Xiang told a press conference.

So far, a total of 112 star-rated hotels have been designated as official hotels of the 2008 Games.

"Green Olympics" is one of the three key concepts upheld by the Beijing Games and the organizers are determined to integrate the concept into every aspect of the Olympic preparations, including accommodation services.

BOCOG formulated a guidebook in 2003 which requires all official hotels of the Games to meet a series of environmental standards in management, energy-saving, pollution prevention as well as in their guest services.

In early 2006 the National Tourism Administration released the LB/T007-2006 industrial standards defining the so-called "Green Tourist Hotels".

"Any hotel that passes the 'Green Tourist Hotels' verification standards will be considered as having fulfilled BOCOG's guidelines, because the two standards are almost the same," Xiang said.

Xiang also promised that enough rooms will be reserved for accredited media, sponsors and people from national Olympic committees and international sports federations during the Games.

Source: Xinhua