ETOA's Discussion Paper on the Olympics
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On the 6th July 2006 ETOA released a discussion paper on the
Olympic Games and its effect on tourism in the host nation.
With London winning the 2012 Olympics, there has been
widespread mention of tourism as a major beneficiary of the
Games.
The study examines the extent to which the Games benefit
from tourism. It looks at sporting events and visitor
numbers, the television audience and the impact of hosting
the Olympic Games on a city's tourism infrastructure. It
ends with studies of Barcelona and Sydney: cities that have
had ostensibly "good" games for tourism.
The primary purpose of this study is to generate debate. It
shows that there is no strong link between hosting sporting
events and increased tourism. The television audiences
regularly cited for such events as the Olympics are
exaggerated. Attendees at the Games displace normal visitors
and scare tourists away for some time. Both Sydney and
Barcelona had "excellent" Olympic Games, but their tourism
industries did not benefit. There appears to be little
evidence of any benefit to tourism of hosting an Olympic
Games, and considerable evidence of damage.
It is vital that the problems experienced by the host cities
of past Games be acknowledged and addressed in order to
avoid them reoccurring.
We believe that London can overcome these difficulties if
time and money are spent on campaigns to smooth out the
inevitable post-Olympic dip in tourism numbers. London needs
to show that is going to be open for "business as usual
throughout 2012" and that it is not going to be over-priced
and "otherwise engaged".
Visit Britain responded to the discussion paper outlining
the potential benefits and opportunities for a host
destination based on previous experiences.
Download the response here
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Click on the images below to download the reports
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