Used Games tickets are hot item for collectors

A man checks the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games tickets that he had bought from the head office of Bank of China in Beijing May 5, 2008.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Used Beijing Games tickets are proving highly attractive to Chinese collectors and could be a good long-term investment, China's official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

On popular collectors' websites, a used ticket for track and field was going for about 50 yuan ($7.3), while tickets from the China-United States basketball preliminary match were going for some 300 yuan, said Xinhua.

It said many collectors had queued up to buy used tickets from spectators leaving the stadium after the China-United States match.

On Internet bulletin boards, offers to buy used tickets significantly outnumbered those from sellers, it said.

Cao Xuetao, an online store owner, was quoted as saying collectors should be patient as used tickets were not a good bet for short-term speculation and should be seen as a long-term investment.

(Editing by Ralph Gowling)