Impact of Olympics on Host Countries: Economic, Social, and Environmental Factors

This report analyzes the major impacts of hosting the Olympics on a country, including economic, social, and environmental factors. It provides recommendations for dealing with the negative aspects of these impacts.

Academic skills report
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The following report consists of major impact of Olympics in a country that is hosting the
games. These impacts are divided into three factors that are economic, social and environmental.
Along with these impacts the report consists of various suggestions for the hosting country in
order to deal with the negative aspects of these impacts on nations.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
ANALYSIS SECTION....................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
“Global events are the events of limited duration that have a global reach, require
significant public investment and have an impact on the population and built environment.”
(Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development)
Various examples of global events can be Olympic games, World Cups, Cultural
Festivals and so on. These events are used as a great opportunity by a number of countries to
successfully stimulate growth and development for their economy. These are also leading to
local development and are leverages by countries to ensure huge long-term investments in
infrastructure. There are a number of issues that are faced by countries while such events are
taking place. These issues can be positive as well as negative. The positive issues can include the
infrastructural development in country, generation of employment for unemployed, raise in
tourism and income from tourist activities which is increased during such global events takes
place (Liu, 2017). On the other hand the negative issues may include loss of natural resources
due to huge projects of infrastructure that is carried on for these events. It is often seen that
employment generated is for a short period of time and the individual are again left unemployed
once the events are closed. Other than this the natural habitat of hosting country also faces
problems of increased waste due to increase in tourism and not proper waste management system
by organisers. The major aim of the project is to “To analyse various social, economic and
environmental impact of Olympics on the host countries”.
In order to critically analyse the impact of these events the analysis in the following
report considers the Olympics events that took place in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio
de Janeiro in 2016. Analysing all these various recommendations are provided for organisers of
Olympics Tokyo,2020 which will now take place in 2021 due to the pandemic of COVID-19.
ANALYSIS SECTION
Economic Impact:
Promoting tourism: The Olympic games to be held in Tokyo in 2021 is assumed to kick
start the economy of Japan. Due to the pandemic of COVID-19 the economy of Japan is
devastated just like every other economy. It is assumed that the economy could also be in
recession until July 2021. However with launch of Olympic games a number of different
economies will see boost. This boost of any other nation will be very negligible when compared
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to Japan and the reason behind this will be increase in tourism and economic benefits from the
games that will be held for 17 days (Reckart, 2016). Japan also had to face huge losses due to
moving games a year further as a result of pandemic. However it is assumed that the surge of
tourism in 2021 will counter these losses faced by Japan. The increase in foreign tourism will
also help in enhancing the travel balance of Japan. These increases in travel balance are brought
through three different channels these are increase in number of foreign visitors and an increase
in expenditure per visitor. Therefore, Japan is expected to promote tourism which can help their
economy grow after decline due to this pandemic.
Long Term Sponsorship: There are a number of corporate sponsors those are helping
Tokyo Olympics even after the game have been postponed for a year. There are a number of
benefits these corporations are bringing for Japan as they have not asked for return of their
billion dollar funds that was invested in Tokyo. The economy of Japan is majorly benefited from
these sponsors as they will now remain with them for long run and successfully help in
development of economy. The relationship that is brought forward during the games by
corporates can be carried out by countries in long run as well. These sponsorships are to bring
benefits for both the sponsors and nation. The companies can successfully invest in countries
even after the hosting of games is completed. If the relationship is carried on for a long amount
of time the country can be affected through revenues created by sponsors, manufacturing units
opened by sponsors and tax that is paid by sponsors in order to run their business in the nation. In
this way economic condition of japan can be enhanced by long term sponsorships.
Increasing Employment: There are a number of employment opportunities generated
during the hosting of Olympics. The major employment that are provided by game are directly
related to it directly and only for a short period of time. An indirect boost in the employment
around the game is hosted is one of substantial part that is promised in the hosting country or
city. The organisations that are related to games start massive hiring but the negative part is that
these jobs start to dissipate as the closing ceremony takes place (Kim and et. al., 2019). The
overall employment is not only affected due to these organisations who take responsibility of
games but there are a number of employment opportunities that are generated by investment,
tourism and various other game related stimuli. Even though the employment opportunities are
not for long run but the infrastructural development caused due to Olympics are for long run and
helps the future in nation. Not all the jobs generated by Olympics are temporary as there is
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increase in transportation sector and the employees those who are working in these sectors keep
on working even after the Olympic games are closed.
Social Impact:
Culture Experience Impact: The Olympics in 2021 will be held in Tokyo, Japan. The
culture of Japan is often considered to be secluded. They have not opened up to different cultures
successfully in past few decades. The reach of Olympics is huge enough as it reaches to a
number of individuals through out the world who belong to different origins, races, ages as well
as social positions. Also the Olympics ceremonies have evolved overtime that are successfully
demonstrating various various dimensions of different cultures and promoting them in front of
large gatherings. Also after the 2016 Olympics in Rio the culture Olympiad have been launched
that is helping in promoting, prioritising and rediscovering the traditional culture in Japan. This
is now conducted in Japan itself within the young generation, however it will be soon shifting to
an international gear in coming time. The Japanese culture can reach to a number of nations
through showcasing it during Olympics that is a great advantage for the nation.
Increase in prices for locals: One of the major drawback of Olympics that is affecting the
society of the hosting country involves increase in price of goods and services for locals. The
rate of inflation in countries that are hosting Olympics are increasing rapidly. There are a number
of businesses that aim at achieving huge profits at the time of games. They increase the prices of
goods and services in order to increase their profits from the travellers and tourists (McConkey
and Menke, 2020). This effect of inflation is negatively affecting locals of countries because
along with the tourists they are also required to buy goods and services at a higher price. This
requires attention from the local as well as national authorities as they need to take charge and
control inflation. It is necessary to make sure that along with inflation the spending power of
locals is also increasing.
Environmental Impact:
Infrastructure: There are huge development seen in the infrastructure of the countries
where Olympics is hosted. Huge amount of investment is done in these regions and the
government and ruling party in nation takes care of the development of transport such as airports,
railways and roads along with the stadium in which Olympics will be held. However this is also
negatively affecting environment as well as flora & fauna of the region. It is necessary to make
sure that the infrastructure so developed are sustainable to bear the natural disasters such as
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earthquakes that are a regular deal in country like Japan. A number of trees are cut to free area
for infrastructural development leading to deforestation.
Large amount of waste pollution: There are a number of tourists visiting the city that is
hosting Olympics from all around the world. This is leading to generation of huge wastes and
that is required to be managed well by the authorities. Examples can be taken from the Olympics
that was held in Rio where the city was provided with a chance to clean all their bays, waterways
as well as beach fronts. However it was not successfully conducted in Rio and the goal of
achieving 80% water sanitization was not met successfully (Gérard and et. al., 2020). In addition
to this the pollution in waterways increased due to increase in tourism at the time of Olympics.
One of the major issue of waste in Olympics is also related to food waste. Due to preparation of
around 15 million meals it is assumed that the amount of food waste will also be considerable.
When considering the London Olympics a total of 2443 tons of food was waste. It is also
assumed that around 21% of this amount was rotted during storage, 34% was leftovers and 45%
was food that was thrown away during preparation. Dealing with this wastage and decreasing it
to minimum possible quantity is a great challenge for Olympics,2020.
CONCLUSION
There are a number of impacts of such huge global events that can be seen on the cities
and nations that are hosting it. It is necessary for the authorities to analyse all these impacts
specifically and take cations regarding it. With the help of following report it can be concluded
that there are a number of different factors that are impacted due to hosting such events like
Olympics. The major effects are seen in the environment, economy and social factors of country
which hosts Olympics. The increase in employment, promoting of tourism and long term
relationship with sponsors are some of the major economic impacts of events. Other than this
infrastructural changes and waste management are environmental factors. The social factors are
the impact on of price changes on locals and the cultural impact on both the tourists and the
locals of the area.
RECOMMENDATIONS
There are a number of factors that are positively and negatively affecting the host
country. The organisers are required to tale care of economic, social and environmental factors.
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Below mentioned are some of recommendations that will help the organisers to increase benefits
and reduce challenges:
 In order to make sure that the economy is blooming with the help of event it is necessary
for organisers to focus upon the promotion of events (Zimbalist, 2020). The promotion of
events will help to attract huge amount of visitors and the more tourists will generate
more revenue for country. There are also factors related to employment where people are
unemployed soon after the events are over. It is necessary for organisers to take care of
these factors and generate employment opportunities which can help the locals to be
employed even after the event is completed.
 There are also a number of social concerns faced by the locals while the events are
organised. The major problem is that the prices are rising for locals. The fact to be taken
care of here is that inflation should be managed by authorities. Also the organisers are
recommended to keep the prices moderate (Hatani, 2020). They should not put the
burden upon locals to earn profits from tourists. The profit margins must be less and the
organisers should focus on earning through economies of scale.
 In order to deal with environmental crisis that the events can cause it is necessary for
organisers to plan the event in future itself. The major focus is to be paid on
infrastructural development in such a way that it does not lead to deforestation or damage
to any flora or fauna. One of the major recommendation is to focus upon waste
management (Pratt and Chan, 2016). The waste of food is to be minimised through
proper estimation of food required, proper storage of food to avoid wastage and applying
proper cooking techniques that would not lead to wastage of food in process.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Gérard, S. and et. al., 2020. The impact of austerity on the London 2012 Summer Olympics
participation legacy from a grassroots sports club perspective: an institutional logics
approach. Leisure Studies, pp.1-15.
Hatani, F., 2020. The Political Economy of the Olympics: Misconceptions about Sustainability.
Kim, Y. and et. al., 2019. The Impact of Mega Sporting Events on Host Country's Destination
Images: The Cases of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and 2015 Beijing IAAF World
Championships. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 28(3).
Liu, E., 2017. Branding ideas for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. In Advertising and Branding:
Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 326-345). IGI Global.
McConkey, R. and Menke, S., 2020. The community inclusion of athletes with intellectual
disability: a transnational study of the impact of participating in Special
Olympics. Sport in Society, pp.1-10.
Pratt, S. and Chan, W.S., 2016. Destination image and intention to visit the Tokyo 2020
Olympics among Hong Kong Generation Y. Journal of China Tourism
Research, 12(3-4), pp.355-373.
Reckart, K.J., 2016. The Impact Increasing Public Investment to Fund the Olympics Games has
on a Host Country.
Zimbalist, A., 2020. Circus maximus: The economic gamble behind hosting the Olympics and
the World Cup. Brookings Institution Press.
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