Coming soon: The world's biggest ferris wheel

If tourism officials have their way, visitors to Beijing in 2009 will not only have to climb the Great Wall of China, but also the Great Wheel, says Ben Blanchard of Reuters.

At 208 metres tall, the Great Wheel will be the world's largest ferris wheel — higher and bigger than both the London Eye and the Singapore Flyer which opens in March next year.

Our eyes were drawn to these lines in the Reuters report:

The giant ferris wheel will have 48 air conditioned observation capsules, each of which can carry up to 40 passengers,...

Air-conditioned capsules? Without the a/c, we're not sure how many tourists would want to ride in the Wheel. The smog in Beijing literally takes your breath away.

...and on a good day even the Great Wall is expected to be visible in the mountains to Beijing's north.

On a bad day, we assume NOTHING will be visible.

Interestingly, the company that sold the idea to the Beijing officials is the same company that sold the idea to Singapore. We think these guys are in a great business, ladies and gentlemen. Allow us to uncover their business model to you, which just consists of TWO simple steps:
1. Tell one city you can build them the world's largest wheel.
2. Once you have them sold, start building the wheel and move on to your next targets. Then repeat Step 1.

Start placing your bets where the next world's tallest ferris wheel will be now. Dubai anyone? Shanghai?

Related links
Reuters: Great Wall old hat as Beijing eyes Great Wheel
Shanghaiist: Wheel-less: City's future skyline will never be the same