Report claims Athens will miss out on tourism boost of hosting Olympics
by | 09 Sep 2004
A report by property and hotel agent Jones Lang LaSalle looking at the Olympic legacies in Athens has concluded that the city has not taken full advantage of the tourism prospects that holding the Games can offer.
Katie Kopec, head of strategic consulting, said: “The Olympics transform a city into a living postcard. There is no bigger marketing event on this planet, with around 85 per cent of the world’s four billion people tuning in at some point during the Games.
“For a host city’s tourism and convention industries, the long-term payback of the Olympics is potentially profound.”
However, the report claims that Athens did not co-ordinate its tourism effort well: a dedicated tourism minister was only appointed earlier this year, few new international-standard hotels were built before the Games, service levels remain below international standards and the city has suffered from bad publicity surrounding air pollution levels and traffic congestion.
Athens will also fail to take advantage of a boom in business tourism as the city does not have a dedicated convention centre – although one is expected to be completed by 2006. Figures from previous hosts – including Sydney, Atlanta and Barcelona – show all cities experienced a boost in convention delegates in the year after the Games.
London 2012’s commercial director, Charles Wijeratna, also said that the Athens organisers’ failure to secure agreements with the major hotel chains meant that many hoteliers bumped prices up by as much as 100 per cent for the three week period, meaning that potential tourists are unlikely to consider the city as value for money.
The Jones Lang LaSalle report looked at five key Olympic legacies, the others being urban regeneration, Olympic villages, infrastructure improvements and environmental issues. Details: www.joneslanglasalle.com
A report by property and hotel agent Jones Lang LaSalle looking at the Olympic legacies in Athens has concluded that the city has not taken full advantage of the tourism prospects that holding the Games can offer. Katie Kopec, head of strategic consulting, said: “The Olympics transform a city into a living postcard. There is no bigger marketing event on this planet, with around 85 per cent of the world’s
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