London Olympics may not boost tourism

THE European Tour Operators Association has warned that the Olympic Games in London in 2012 may not necessarily benefit inbound tourism, and it has called for the UK government to create a co-ordinated strategy to mitigate the event’s potentially damaging impact on the industry. According to the report, countries that host the Olympics suffer a drop in tourism growth in the years surrounding the event and there is no long-term boost to tourism. The report cited the example of Australia, which had seen a trend of over 10% growth in visitor arrivals, but this turned into a decline two years before the Sydney Olympics and the stagnation persisted for more than two years after the event. “A similar ‘Olympic Effect’ is also apparent for four out of the last five Olympics - in Sydney 2000, Atlanta 1996, Barcelona 1992 and Seoul 1988. With regard to Athens, official statistics for the years after the Games are not yet available. However, the pattern appears to be the same. In 2002, two years before the Olympics, arrivals in Greece were 8,2% up on the previous year but in 2003, numbers fell by 1,5%. This decline continued until the first part of 2004. One month before the start of the Games, visitor arrivals were 12% down,” said the report. “These findings may seem surprising because during the Games the city’s hotels are full. But this situation is short-lived. Olympic visitors tend not to be big consumers of sightseeing excursions; neither are they committed visitors to museums, historic monuments and other classic tourist attractions,” said Tom Jenkins, executive director, ETOA. “The presence of the Olympics deters regular tourists: they perceive that the city will be full, disrupted, congested and over-priced. A reduction in the numbers of regular tourists halts the conveyor belt of satisfied customers bringing more visitors,” he added. Lucy Siebert (lucys@nowmedia.co.za)