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In the year of the Olympic flame, China is not expecting many tourists for the summer games. During the near three-week run in August, Beijing eyes up to half a million overseas visitors, compared with 420,000 in the same period last year. According to the Beijing Tourism Administration, four-star and three-star hotels in Beijing were less than 50 percent booked as of the end of last month. But Xiong Yumei, deputy director of the tourism administration, says she's not too worried. (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin with English translation) XIONG YUMEI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF BEIJING TOURISM OFFICE, SAYING: "What I am talking about here is the rate of the hotel bookings, not the actual August occupancy rate. According to our survey, the proportion of tourists from other Chinese provinces who have Olympic tickets but haven't booked hotels is relatively high." Despite China's public welcome of all to the Olympics, the government has significantly tightened visa controls. But Beijing tourism authorities downplay the link between low hotel bookings and the new visa policy. (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin with English translation) SUN WEIDE, BEIJING OLYMPIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "The purpose is to ensure the safety of the athletes participating in the games. And as noted, security is a major issue at the Olympics. It is commonly understood that security is of top importance for every Olympics, so we will take all measures possible to ensure that." The host city began 24-hour security checks Tuesday at its outskirts, a move intended to prevent terrorist attacks during the Games. Hundreds of checkpoints now await visitors to the Chinese capital, with armed police, dogs and security guards already on the ground, three weeks before the Olympics begin. In Beijing, I'm Kitty Bu, reporting for Reuters.