Beijing's Olympic venues will open to tourists during the week-long National Day holiday beginning October 1, an official said on Wednesday.

Venues, including the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium and the "Water Cube" National Aquatics Center, would be open to the public as they appeared during the Games, said Vice Mayor Chen Gang.

Plans were being drawn up for the continued use of the facilities, he said.

An aquatic amusement park project would start in the "Water Cube" at the end of the year, he said, without elaborating.

So far, 80 percent of the media village flats had been sold, and buyers could move in by the end of the year.

Seventy percent of the Olympic village flats had been sold before the Games, and the buyers could move in during the first half of next year.

The National Convention Center, which served as the venue for fencing, the International Broadcast Center and the Main Press Center, would be remodeled for conference and exhibition use by later next year.

Nine convention and exhibition events had been contracted and another 46 were in negotiation.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2008)