Brussels, 12/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) has published a study on the impact that the Olympic Games will have on the tourism sector. ETOA considers tour operators and associations working in the field of tourism have often been misled, always overestimating the number of foreign visitors and the length of their stay. Instead of allowing the sector to cash in on additional profits, the Olympic Games in fact therefore cause proceeds to fall as they make the usual tourists look elsewhere fearing an overcrowded city and inflated prices, and these customers are not replaced by an exceptionally large flow of foreign visitors. For example, 132,000 visitors had been predicted for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney but over the entire period visitors totalled no more than 97,000. In Athens, in 2004, 105,000 visitors per night were expected but the final number was below 14,000. In Beijing, over 400,000 visitors were expected but only 235,000 finally attended the Games.
Some 200 leading tour operators took part in the snapshot survey on what the real impact of the summer Olympic Games 2012 would be in London and in neighbouring European towns, compared to 2011. The survey revealed that:
1) Over 68% of respondents expected business to fall in London in 2012 and of those the average anticipated drop was 30%.
2) In the case of regional England, 60% of respondents said a fall was likely with an average of 17% decline. With regard to Scotland, opinions differ. Half of all respondents expect a fall and the other half expect a rise in turnover. Those expecting a fall believe it will be by way of -17%, and those expecting a rise believe it will be +15%. For Wales, nearly 60% of all respondents predict a fall of about -20%.
3) For Ireland and the closest towns of continental Europe (Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam), some 65% respondents expect turnover to increase by about +12%.
According to Tom Jenkins, ETOA Executive Director: “Every Olympic Games in the past has misled perceptions of what will happen (…). Every city has believed that more foreign visitors will come than actually materialise. Thus the principal danger of the Games is the imbalance between perception and reality”. Jenkins, however, is optimistic about a good assessment for the Olympic Games in London, with 21 months still to go. “Whilst much of this survey is alarming, what it indicates is a vibrant industry searching for the right answers”, he said. (I.L./transl.jl)