For the 8,000 residents of Kuehlungsborn, a German Baltic resort, life is much different these days as the usually quiet town has been flooded with more than 4,000 journalists and 1,000 policemen.

With just one day to go before the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations starts, the venue of the annual gathering -- Heiligendamm, which is just 8 km away from Kuehlungsborn, was blockaded by policemen a few days ago.

Most of the journalists covering the event are confined to Kuehlungsborn, with strictly limited access to Heiligendamm.

According to German media reports, the German government has mobilized more than 16,000 policemen to be stationed around Heiligendamm in a bid to have a perfect G8 summit. A 12-km steel fence have been built around the venue.

With helicopters hovering around the area routinely, Kuehlungsborn residents are experiencing a brand-new life.

"Many residents began to travel to other areas on vacation several weeks ago for fear of possible violence stemmed from anti-globalization protests," said Heinz Kosste, 70, who has been living in the town more than 40 years.

Local government leaders, who have tried unsuccessfully to cut down the region's high jobless rate of around 18 percent, had expected that foreign tourists would flock to Kuehlungsborn because of the G8 summit. But Kosste said it remained a doubt as riots which occurred during the anti-globalization protests in nearby Rostock earlier this week have been the dominating picture prior to the annual event.

"Kuehlungsborn is a beautiful sea resort, but many people don't know that," he said.

On Saturday, demonstrations in Rostock, 25 km from Heiligendamm, turned into riots with more 400 police officers and around 1,000 protestors injured in the port city. Cars were burned and windows smashed.

Some 500 protesters demonstrated against the arrival of U.S. President George W. Bush in Rostock Tuesday afternoon, with one of the banners reading "No to U.S. Imperialism."

The summer is colder than normal years here, with few tourists coming to visit the scenic spot, except the 4,000-plus journalists.

Joerg Schoof, who makes a living by renting chairs on the beach, said that although the "chilly" weather has to blame for the lack of tourists, lots of travelers had obviously been distracted by possible riots during the summit.

Nevertheless, Schoof said it is good to see the world's major leaders hold discussion on issues of common concern, especially climate change and African development.

The three-day G8 summit, which concludes on Friday, is expected to focus on climate change, the development in Africa, the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization, the U.S. plan of deploying a missile defense shield in Central Europe.

The leaders may also talk about Iran's nuclear program and the security situation in the Middle East.

The G8 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Besides talks among themselves, the leaders of the world's major economic powers are scheduled to have two outreach sessions, one with five major developing countries -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, and the other with African countries -- Algeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.