Cited: Daily News
On September 20, research and analysis was released by the European Tour Operators Association that shows that foreign visitors, in huge numbers, anticipated to arrive at previous Olympics did not show up. It seems that cities that are hosting Olympic have incorrectly predicted the number of visitors to the game. The estimated number of foreign visitors and the duration of their stay has been over estimate each time.
Sydney anticipated 132,000 visitors; it received 97,000 for the Games period. Athens hoped for 105,000 per night; it received fewer than 14,000. Beijing anticipated over 400,000 foreign guests; it received 235,000 for the whole month of August. The more detailed the predictions of Olympic visitors are, the more wrong they become.
ETOA’s study reveals that the nightly usage of hotels during the Olympics varied between 13,000 beds in Athens and 28,000 in Beijing. The number of foreign visitors (including press, sponsors and officials) per night averaged 26,000, 13,000 and 28,000, in Sydney, Athens and Beijing respectively.
For London many in the industry are anticipating a boom, with up to 350,000 foreign visitors predicted per day during the Olympics. This expectation of bounty creates its own problems. In London, hoteliers expect to be full with premium business, and some anticipate a displacement of demand that fills up the surrounding months.
Availability is restricted and prices rise: a hostile environment for normal tourism.
If huge numbers of Olympic visitors attend, normal guests are displaced. Sports fans’ interests are focused on whatever sport has attracted them. They have come to attend the Games. They are not interested in “tourism”, they are interested in sport. This impacts the wider service economy of restaurants, shops, attractions and theatres: all of whom depend on tourists. Theme park owners in Los Angeles saw a decline in revenue during 1984. In Barcelona the Costa Brava resorts had a drop in demand and at the Sydney games the normal attractions experienced a downturn in business.
The problem is not restricted to the host city. London is the gateway to the UK and its biggest draw. If you remove London from a visit to the British Isles, everywhere else becomes far more difficult to sell. Athens has nothing like the central importance that London occupies, yet when its visitor arrivals dropped by 6% in the Olympic year, regional Greece fell by 11%.
These drops in overall visitor numbers indicate a more general problem: the perception that a host city is crowded tarnishes the host country. Visitors tend to stay away for the Olympic year. Already ETOA members are dealing with assertions and assumptions that London (and so the UK) will be so full that it is best avoided.
The Olympics should not be a problem. In Beijing 2008, 28,000 rooms were taken by foreigners, and there were plenty of rooms to spare. London can (and does) absorb this 
number every day of every month. In August 2009 it attracted nearly 2 million foreign visitors in August. They used the 120,000 rooms available every day. This is the scale of the industry which is at risk if inflated forecasts persist.
Tom Jenkins, ETOA’s Executive Director, says “Precisely because London is one of the top international destinations, it has more to lose. At the moment a false expectation of bookings is in danger of destroying an export industry. For August 2012, ETOA members – who alone regularly deliver over 15,000 hotel rooms per day – cannot reserve space.”
Without any reservations to sell, nothing can be sold.
However, London is the first city to be bigger than the Olympics as well as to recognize the problem. In London, it is unlikely that the Olympic visitors will exceed those who attend games across the city during football season. Besides these numbers are dwarfed by commuters in the millions that regularly use the infrastructure. Message for London of the remaining 50 weeks after the 17 days of Olympic and that London is completely open, unlike any other city, for normal everyday business. London must welcome the world after this message.
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My Take: I do not get it. Either somebody is fudging on the numbers or what people see on TV during the Olympics is faked. Because it seems to me that in every Olympics, the stands have been jam-packed. Of course, it is possible that most of the people who stands for local people. However, the news keeps talking about how many tourists have arrived for the games.
I know that when the Olympic event in the United States, thousands of people went to them and many of those were not from the local area. If Denver gets the Olympics next time, I know they will be hiring Denver CO construction attorneys to make sure that everything is done right, at least on paper.
I think the advertising money should go to the community and not to the OIC. It cost thousands of dollars to advertise during the Olympics and that would help the community. The IOC doesn’t put out any money, at least for that I can tell. Take a look at who advertises during the Olympics, you’ve got the pharmaceutical companies, beer companies and athletic clothing companies and was goes on.
I think the IOC should be more concerned about safety for the athletes by inspecting construction areas, first aid stations for the athletes and coordinating with the local area on crowd control. They’re more interested in making sure they have hematology instruments to check for drugs than anything else. That way they can avoid Denver wrongful death lawyers if athlete dies because they were using performance enhancers. They could at least use something smaller like the Hemosense, which is a handheld device.
But, they are more interested in wall graphics or bleacher enclosures for advertisers even if is only one advertiser who pad wall. To me, the Olympics are fantastic but have become too personalized. They should never have allowed professional athletes into the games.
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