The
true cost of hosting the Olympics
I
had just recovered from the surprise of hearing the tremendous
news that London had secured the 2012 bid to host the Olympic
and
Paralympic
Games,
when the first 2012 jokes flooded into my in-tray:
The True Cost of 2012 to London
New
infrastructure .........................GBP 1 Billion
Transportation upgrades .................GBP 2 Billion
The look on Chirac's face ................Priceless
So much for
the jokes, although I would love to know who thinks of this sort
of stuff, and gets it out so quickly, what does London’s
tourism and hospitality industry have to do to get ready for this
mammoth event?
The London Development Agency and the DCMS commissioned a detailed
analysis that looked at a 2012 legacy for both London and the country
and below you will find some of the more interesting and perhaps
slightly controversial points from that study;
-
Hosting the Olympic Games does not just generate a short-term
fill for tourism to a destination.
- The
Games generate different types of visitors, many of them high
value business tourists. In the run up to the Games there
is tremendous scope to improve the regions success rate at winning
MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) business.
- Clearly
peak demand is during any Games themselves, and the Olympic ‘family’ generates
typically over 65,000 additional inbound visitors alone.
- In
terms of spectators, it is estimated that 250,000 tickets a
day are sold, excluding those events that can be watched for
free such as the marathon. The Australian Tourist Commission
estimates that 88% of the 110,000 who visited during the Games
were likely
to return to Australia at a later date. It would be useful to
track this figure over a ten year period. -
The Barcelona Games in 1992 have contributed significantly
to
the popularity
of the city into a leading short break destination – but
then so have the low cost airlines.
- The
geography of Britain with its high population density in London
and the South East is likely to ensure domestic tourism
will be of great significance for London.
- Much
of the domestic tourism will be in the form of day visits – is
this good or bad news for the accommodation sector?
-
The world will learn a great deal about London and Britain
and
should help
to define in the minds of potential visitors, aspects
of British life, such as our ability to manage and host complex
events, the quality of our customer service, how friendly are the
locals, value for money and reliability and dynamism – we
have a lot of work to do here
- There
is an opportunity to build a strong and convincing brand image,
for the country and the destination.
- Concerns
were raised over the transport infrastructure and stock of visitor
accommodation to cope with the large numbers of visitors
during the Games. Looking at what Barcelona, Sydney and recently
Athens did to boost their requirements included the innovative
use of cruise liners as a realistic short-term solution.
- As
for transport, Heathrow is linked to 160 destinations, London
City Airport is
just 15 minutes from Stratford – the DLR
will be completing the link in December this year, and of course
Eurostar will be serving Stratford International from 2007.
- The
Commonwealth Games took place in Manchester during the summer
of 2002, with IPS data revealing that 59,000 inbound visitors spent
time in Manchester that year, and by 2003, had increased to 740,000.
- More
than 200 nations participate in the summer Olympic Games, meaning
there will be large numbers of first time visitors to the
country. The industry will have to make extensive provision to
make these visitors feel welcome whilst offering reassurance and
guidance.
So much for the gloss then, everything is going to be rosy and
we are all going to get really rich. Well no, not quite. There
is an awful lot of infrastructure to put in place, not least of
all the stadia, Olympic Village, transport and accommodation. People
are going to loose their homes, there is going to be considerable
upheaval in East London for a long term gain of a new city with
world class facilities. There is the challenge to ensure the new
facilities are sustainable, and not left empty from 2013, and not
least of all that Londoners are left having to foot the bill if
the Games looses money.
After Infrastructure,
I think London’s most pressing need
is going to be for trained and skilled staff to make this event
successful. Where are the bulk of these people? Still at school.
We have to start lobbying the Learning and Skills Councils to work
with us to broaden their understanding of our industry and that
is it more than just “silver service” training.
Congratulations to the bid team, they did a superb job!
Mary Tebje
mary@tourismleisure.org
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