Palace Museum to Set Daily Maximum Tourist Number

The Forbidden City in Beijing, the home of Chinese emperors for almost 500 years, is mulling to set a limit of 80-thousand visitors per day.

The measure, to be enacted this year, is designed to protect the collections and architecture of the museum, as well as to prevent stampede accidents.

In the past three years, the museum has entertained more than 15-million visitors, with the highest daily total reaching 180-thousand.

The museum will also encourage pre-booking and internet-booking to help staff control crowd numbers.

Shan Jixiang is the curator of the Palace Museum, which manages the Forbidden City.

"We hope to better facilitate internet bookings to enable more visitors to avoid buying tickets at the counters. And they can also arrange their schedules more reasonably and accordingly. It could lower the pressure at our ticket windows and at the entrances of the museum."

The Palace Museum is planning to offer 50-percent off the ticket price for internet-bookings during the off season, which runs from November 1 to March 31.

Other flow-control measures, such as annual-tickets and themed open days, will continue.