Impact of 2012 Olympics on HospitalityImpact of 2012 Olympics on HospitalityProposed Working Title2012 Olympics and its impact on the hospitality industry of London.Research Background / ContextOn 6th July’ 2005 London was selected as the host city for the 2012 summer Olympic and Paralympics Games. The games is often labelled as the “greatest show on earth” which involves thousands of sports persons both men and women from around the globe aiming to reach the ultimate in sporting achievement. The Olympic Games will take place entirely in London, but the bid team had stressed throughout their campaign that the games would benefit the whole of Britain.
The proposed research is on the impact of the hosting of the 2012 Olympics in London and its impact specifically on the hospitality industry. Other studies have been done on the impact of the Olympics viz. Olympics Games Impact Study (OIGS) which is a study by Price Water House Coopers in December 2005. It was commissioned by DCMS and the London Development Agency to assess the likely benefits of hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 in social and economic terms.
This year i.e. 2008, Olympics will be hosted by China in Beijing and it is assumed that industry and people in general will benefit immensely in terms of more employment opportunities and the effects of the same will last longer. It had also given a significant boost in construction activity. With hosting of the Olympic Games in Beijing it is foreseen that the tourist arrivals in China will increase considerably well beyond 2009.
According to a survey carried out by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in association with Visa International called the Asia Travel Intentions Survey 2007 in which 9 out 10 respondents in the survey planning to attend the Olympic games intended to visit other part of China.
When we compare the impact of the earlier Olympics on the host cities it has been noted that their impact on inbound-tourism growth can range from a moderate blip on the visitor –arrival charts to an unequivocal inflection point which triggers significant long-term growth. Athens 2004 would have benefited from its investment in urban regeneration and transport infrastructure. Before the Games Sydney 2000 was a great city to visit and now is better again after its Olympic experience. Atlanta 1996 was located within 2 hours flying time from major US cities. It was a major domestic convention hub before the Games with comparatively few international visitors. But as inbound statistics reflect, Atlanta is still a major domestic convention hub with no hard evidence of an Olympics afterglow in the inbound market.
< p>In 2005 the Atlanta Convention Centre was the first of its kind in the world, with 20,000 square meters comprising an entire parking lot in front of five of the city’s major transport hubs to the east of the airport.
When the 2002 Games were held on a relatively low tourism volume, which was already well below what it would need to compete in this Olympics, Melbourne 2003 and New York 2005 became world-class venues for the major events. Sydney 2003 was, on record as the largest inbound-tourism increase when compared to the rest of Sydney (2,200) and Tokyo (3,000). The Olympic site on the north-east edge of a busy street is now the International Olympic Committee’s designated international cultural center. This was a huge step in the right direction to reduce barriers to entry for visitors at the International Olympic Committee. These two international events raised a major issue that the US’s Federal Government had been making of reducing barriers to entry to enter the Olympic Games, rather than the international games taking place. During New York 2005, though the main international Olympic venue had only 2,100 cars in traffic, it was in a good position to attract visitors from the major US cities that dominated a high-profile venue near downtown in New York’s Midtown district. As the Games became increasingly popular, New York proved an attractive place for entry into the events (particularly the London Olympics). While New York did not have enough open space there, it did have an Olympic themed park from the International Olympic Committee’s headquarters at Olympic HQ and the International Tennis Association was a good partner in that arena.
In 2007 the International Olympic Committee took over from the US Federal Government’s National Parks in Houston, Texas, and set aside the park that was still available only to large-scale visitors. Houston was also a great place to explore the outdoor game areas of the city. This was one reason the Atlanta Convention Centre was named to its 2012 list of “America’s Olympic Historic Sites” by the Houston Association of Historic Sites. This means that the Olympic Park was a great site for a large number of visitors, but the rest of the venues were not as appealing to the more traditional American tourist groups for their variety.