STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Sweden's annual all-ice hotel is growing in size to accommodate increasing demand, with about 10,000 guests already booked for its chilly rooms ahead of Thursday's official opening.

This winter's Ice Hotel in Jukkasjaervi, a village 120 miles above the Arctic Circle, is the biggest ever, with an ice dome hovering 30 feet over an ice bar and a stage, hotel spokeswoman Helena Sjoeholm said.

The whole complex, including the hotel, an ice church, an art center and a movie theater with an ice screen, will cover 6,000 square yards - more area than a football field, and 10 percent larger than last year, Sjoeholm said.

The one-story hotel has 45 double rooms and 15 suites. It is built every December and lasts until sometime in May.

Most of the ice and snow complex will be inaugurated on Thursday, but the church will open on Christmas Day, Sjoeholm said.

It all started 11 years ago, when Yngve Bergqvist, the owner of the village inn, decided that making the ice and snow attractive was the best way to bring tourists to Jukkasjaervi.

The hotel, which had 9,000 guests last year, already has booked 10,000 reservations. Organizers have increased its capacity 20 percent this year.

"The demand is enormous," Bergqvist said. "At the same time, we don't want to grow too big, but keep a touch of exclusivity."

Guests crawl into thermal sleeping bags at night on beds built of ice around a wooden frame and equipped with a reindeer skin and a sleeping mat. The temperature varies between 16 degrees and 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

Those who prefer somewhat warmer surroundings can book heated "northern lights" cottages with transparent glass roofs. Guests also get a breakfast buffet, a shower and a sauna in facilities about 100 yards from the Ice Hotel.

The idea is catching on elsewhere, Bergqvist said. In 2002, the hotel will send a team to help build a similar complex in Quebec.

The Quebec Ice Hotel - the first of its kind in North America - will be about one-quarter the size of the one in Sweden, he said. On the Net: www.icehotel.com

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By TOMMY GRANDELL, Associated Press Writer