The Beijing tourism department yesterday reassured foreign tourists that increased security at the city's parks was not aimed at them but at providing a safe environment for everyone.

Parks and other tourist sites in Beijing have adopted tighter security measures, including security checks on tourists, said Wang Pengxun, a senior official of the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks.

"The security checks did not hold back people from visiting these sites or slow down their travel for we only examined large or suspicious hand baggage," he said.

About 2.3 million people have visited the 11 parks administrated by the city government since the beginning of the Olympics, he said.

Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the Beijing Tourism Administration, said about 4.8 million tourists had visited 164 tourist sites in Beijing between August 8 and 20.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)