According to the Beijing Youth Daily the world's most renowned "metrology master" and 2003 Nobel economics laureate Clive Granger predicts that participants of the Beijing Olympics would reach 11,468.

Granger believes that the cost of holding an Olympics is directly linked to the number of participants. His prediction is that participants of the Beijing Olympics would reach 11,468. Since for each 1,000 athletes there will be another 500 officials, coaches, cooks and security personnel accompanying them the total number would reach 20,000. This will have the most direct impact on China's tourism while the return of and impact on the tourism economy are the most difficult to predict.

Granger also put forward a small suggestion. "Beijing could replace all road signs with Chinese ones accompanied by standard English. Do not mix them with other kinds of letters. It will be very important for attracting the Olympic tourists." He believes that replacing road signs would not cost much while the effect would be surprising.

Granger gave a very cautious prediction. "As far as I know China will have better development in the next three or five years. However, I don't think the Olympics will have great impact on the Chinese economy in the three years to come. After that the impact and changes it will have on China are still unknown."

By People's Daily Online