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Olympic Lessons – TravelMole guest comment by Caroline Bremner, Euromonitor International’s head of global travel and tourism research
The euphoria of London’s successful Olympics bid was sadly tempered by the tragic events of the July 7 bomb attacks.
Although the projections are for a short-lived tourism downturn with the latest WTTC figures pinpointing 2007 for recovery in the travel and tourism industry, Euromonitor International believes that valuable lessons can also be learnt from past and forthcoming Games.
Athens 2004 was plagued by fears of terrorism along with concerns over the timely completion and safety of Olympic facilities.
Playing host, despite the honour and fame this bestows, did not provide the results that Greece had hoped for. Despite the Games being hailed a success, the country suffered a paradoxical decline in arrivals and fall in inbound tourist receipts. Visitor numbers from its key source markets of Germany and the UK were down as they shunned Greece for more competitive destinations.
Clearly, this is a scenario that London 2012 will not want to replicate.
In 2008 all eyes will turn to China. The Chinese government has invested heavily in its tourism industry and plans to take full advantage of the opportunity of bringing the Games to Beijing/Qingdao.
A mass of investment has been ploughed into the country’s infrastructure – highways, travel accommodation, security measures, source country agreements.
Euromonitor International predicts that China will usurp the US by 2008 to attain the third leading destination worldwide with 53.5 million visitors, almost double the amount of arrivals expected in the UK in that year.
As China prepares to pull out all the stops, where does this leave Britain? The travel and tourism industry had finally recovered from the devastating events that have ravaged it since 2001 to glimpse a brighter future, albeit only briefly.
Terrorism on home soil is now added to the list of scourges. Everyone in the industry will now work even harder to ensure that 2012 is a safe and successful event, however front-page news stories about a few rogue hoteliers overcharging in a time of crisis is self-inflicted damage that will be hard to recover from.
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