Tourism Legacy of London 2012 Olympics

This report examines the multifaceted legacy of the 2012 London Olympic Games on UK tourism. It analyzes both short-term and long-term impacts, including socio-cultural, economic, and urban policy effects. The report highlights the significant increase in tourism following the Games, attributing it to increased interest in sports and recreation, improved infrastructure, and targeted marketing efforts. While acknowledging initial concerns about disruption and overcrowding, the report emphasizes the substantial economic benefits, including increased GDP, job creation, and investment in infrastructure. The report also discusses the long-term strategies implemented to sustain the positive impact of the Olympics on tourism, focusing on collaboration, skills development, regulatory reform, improved transportation, and enhanced visitor experiences. Overall, the report concludes that the 2012 London Olympics had a significant and largely positive impact on UK tourism, leaving a lasting legacy for the country's economy and its image as a global tourist destination.

Tourism Legacy
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................9
References..........................................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
The London Olympic Games has emerged UK as the fastest growing nation in term of
tourism and other kind of legacies. Olympic Games attract number of people towards the country.
Present report is based on legacies of London Olympic Games 2012. It covers legacies as socio-
cultural, economic and issues related with urban policy. Along with that, regeneration, destination
image and tourism legacy also included. In the current report, main emphasis has been laid on short
and long term impacts of the games on London/ UK tourism. In addition to this, critical evaluation
will also be done by considering the selected legacy.
Tourism of UK is fast growing sector due to attractive destinations and many other facilities
provided to visitors. It is the central location where visitors come frequently in order to get good
experience of tour. The London Olympics play vital role to give upward direction to UK tourism
industry in direct and indirect way. This is because London Olympics is the key attraction factor for
visitors which explore scope of tourists destinations which are available in nation (Bramwell and
Lane, 2000). This is because Queen Elizabeth Country Park was Olympic Park which was
transformed into new one. This transformation brought several kinds of improvement in country
with regard to transportation facilities and shopping centers. This aid to increase tourists base and
create employment opportunities for number of UK residents. Furthermore, this transformation ease
many of people to involved in the Games activities and host world class events. It assists people to
invest their capital in such profitable field and earn huge amount of profitability (Ziakas and
Boukas, 2012).
It is one of the prominent aspect for attracting tourism in the developing field and providing
good experience to people who come to visit UK. However, prior to Olympics the scope of tourism
in London and Britain were going down. This is because visitors tend to stay away from major
event host city like London. This is because fear of disruption, overcrowding and expense (Hartman
and Zandberg 2015). Thus, in August 2012 UK has 5% decrease in number of visitors just because
of opposite psychology of tourists. However, in the month of September number of tourism started
to increase. It had positive impact on overall tourism industry of UK.
The London Games could generate approximate £41 billion by 2020. It is because 1.5
million more adults are showing their interest in sports and recreation activities since 2005/06. In
the same way new generation is motivating towards games and sports and in turn it explore tourism
sector of UK to a great extent ( Williams and Elkhashab, 2012). Furthermore, Olympic legacy is
multi-faceted outcome
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According the fast developing scenario, tourism industry of UK provides employment
opportunities to people and increases gross domestic product of country. It aids to determine
development of nation to a great extent. It enables management of tourism to deliver good quality
of services to large number of buyers and increase number of tourists to at rapid speed.
The Olympic has negative impact also on the performance of tourism industry. This is
because three outcomes have been found from tourism like enhanced business capacity, additional
tourism spending and regeneration (Wearing, Buchmann and Jobberns, 2011). Apart from this, the
venue Olympic Stadium aid to reduce carbon emission and energy efficient as well as sustainable
for large number of visitors. For example several measures were taken to host the game program
effectively and in sustainable manner. This is because number of people come to the country just for
Olympic (Oskam and Karijomedjo, 2015). Furthermore, counter argument might be that due to
mega event city become overcrowded which in turn increase pollution in country. This also affects
schools and campuses in negative manner. However, it explore opportunities for people are interest
in the field of sports.
Furthermore, during Olympic other sectors operating in travel and tourism get opportunity to
serve large number of people. This is because individual come from different areas just to get good
experience from London Olympics (Henderson and et. al., 2010). In this regard, they also like to
visit attractive destinations of UK. At this juncture, tour operators promote their holidays packages
effectively. It facilitates to explore the opportunities for tourists to get effective packages in the
affordable prices. Similarly, tourism of UK work with media effectively by which visitors get full
support in term of detail information related to attractive destinations. Apart from this, during
Olympics tourism of UK plan for promotion of services effectively.
For example, tour operators contact to travel agencies so that they can provide information
related to special offers which are being provided during the particular season. It aids to attract
visitors and generate positive attitude among them. This is the reason that number of individuals are
attending the Games organized in London (Sinclair and Boger, 2006). Thus, Olympics is the
effective way to secure longer term promotional impacts and cover wide range of media in order to
attract buyers.
The Olympics set new standards for sustainability thereby new destination are emerging
with effective tour packages. With this government of UK can provide immense support for
corporations which are operating in this particular sector. Further, Olympian made it possible for
government of UK to issue visa to Chinese. Similarly the process for issue of visa will be
simplified. The government of UK also announced in 2013 that visa process will be simplified in
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order to increase the number of Chinese visitors in UK.
At this juncture, 24 hour super priority visa services will be offered so that barriers can be
removed long term growth and development of tourism. However, plan had also been made to
expand the mobile visa scheme which is already operating in Shanghai and Beijing. This in turn
affect the bond of China and UK at commercial level (Huarng and et. al., 2012). Also, it will have
positive impact on the tourism of UK. It aids to create competitive edge at international level
thereby need of tourists can be fulfilled in an effectual manner and over Gross domestic product of
nation can be increased in the same manner.
Furthermore, Olympics and Paralympic Games are exploring hotel industry as well that
indirect support tourism in country. With this effect 32 new hotels were opened in London in 2013.
It can be critically evaluated that during the first phase of 2012 there was drastic decrease in number
of tourists. Furthermore, additional expenses are incurred during London Olympic thereby negative
environmental impact can be noticed (Dolnicar and Leisch, 2012).
Future developments
The aforementioned report reveals that Olympic gave tourism legacy in several ways by
which country get fruitful opportunity to present itself in front of global audience. By using this
opportunity government of UK noticed that tourism is deriving greater profitability for whole nation
with increased scope for employment and other related facilities. Owing to this, The British
Hospitality Association announce to reduce the VAT on tourism so that there can be further
increment in number of visitors (New plan to drive tourists beyond London, 2015). Apart from this,
new plan has also been proposed to drive tourists beyond London. In this plan focus will be laid on
five key areas which are mentioned as follows-
 Well coordinated sector-Under this, the plan is focusing on collaboration of organization
operating at local level in order to reduce competition and boosting tourism at global level.
 Skills and jobs-Here, experienced personnel are being acquired and retained so that nation
can provide good quality of services visitors who come from different countries. In this
regard continuous efforts are made by government to drive and retain fresh as well as
experienced talents. It facilitates to create competitive edge of the sector international level
of provide rich experience to visitors (Pranić, Petrić and Cetinić, 2012).
 Regulations-The regulations will be reformed to drive competition and enhance the scope
of tourism by offering attractive packages to tourists. It aids tour operators to develop new
promotional strategies and promote the services effectively so as to generate positive
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attitude among visitors.
 Transportation-After the craze of Olympic among huge number of people, transportation
facilities are also developing with active efforts of government of UK. Here, forging links
between tourism and transport is ensured in order to persuade visitors to travel across
country without any kind of barriers.
 Improved welcome-In order to enhance scope of tourism in UK government is working on
several program (Pezenka and Buchta, 2012). Furthermore, several tour strategies are
formulated to attract tourists and also others who can provide immense support in the
development. For example Rail for the tourism innovation is the effective means to make
UK as the center location for the visitors attraction.
It has been one year since the London 2012 Olympics began and the Olympic legacy has impacted
many things in the economy of UK. Tourists in London for the 2012 Olympic Games have helped
and lifted British economy out of recession (London 2012 legacy continues to be felt across the UK,
2004). Olympic Games held in London showed a vast increment in tourism aspects of London and
this has even changed the ratio of tourism. The data collected by the tourism department has
revealed the fact that more than 590,000 people have visited London after the Olympic Games and
they had also spent more than £1,300 during their visit. The London 2012 Olympic Legacy has
showed many benefits and effects on the overall economy of London and most importantly, it has
raised interest of people towards tourism. London is such a place which has been involved in
different events and activities that acquires attention of people and all such events encourages
economic and cultural prospects of the country (OLYMPIC LEGACY, 2013).
In terms of Olympic Legacies, it is an apparent fact that the games had a positive impact on
unemployment levels and several experts have reported that while preparing the games, a
unemployment ratio has been reduced to round 1.2% (Law, 2013). Thus, it is clear that the
Olympics has a affirmative effect on economic aspects which further also allows the tourism sector
to grow and prosper more. Prior to Olympics, Britain were anticipating a decrease in number of
visitors during the Games time because of several issues. During the first week of the Olympics
Games, the media recorded that London was considered a ghost town; however after the event, 31
million overseas visitors visited to London. Thus, in that specific year, even the domestic visitors
have spent 16% more in tourism (Gibson, 2013). The place has plenty of things to reveal about
tourism and TFL invested around £6.5bn in upgrading the transportation and infrastructure aspects
so that ticket holders could reach to the venues.
It is clear from the discussion that London's attraction as a global visitor destination
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remained immensely strong in the year 2012 due to the Olympics Games. Instead of having
economic stress from the currency of the country, London's core European markets performed well
with a worthy improvement which farther highlights that London is still a major destination for
European visitors (Miller, 2013). The same scenario continued in London in 2013 as well where
visitors enhanced the capital amount of the country by acquiring more services. The Olympic Park
were the event was organized has been transformed into the Queen Elizabeth Country Park. The
place became the permanent venue for new leisure services to the area. The increased focus on these
games have improved a lot of things related to tourism such as (transport links, new shopping center
next to the Park) which has augmented visitors numbers in tourism area. There are other permanent
venues in London such as Velodrome and the Aquatics center that not only provides affordable
services to the residents but also it provides luxurious services to host world class events. Hence,
these aspects also encourages tourism to London (LONDON 2012 Benefits of hosting London 2012
will be ongoing, 2015).
From many research studies, it is articulated that hosting the London 2012 Olympics and
Paralympic Games could generate up to £41 billion gross value added to the economy by 2020.
London has been getting high spending from the overseas visitors in the UK after the Olympics
which could provide net growth to economy of UK of about £600 billion (Ainsworth, 2013).
London Olympics Games have the power to deliver the lasting benefits to the community because
the games have shown a tremendous catalyst for changes in the host country. Hence, each edition of
the Olympic games provides significant legacies as a whole to the economy. The report on the
successful legacies from London 2012 reveals that the British economy has seen a trade and
industry boost by £14 billion. Tourism plays crucial role in British economy because of its
contribution in the overall development of the country (London 2012 to provide long-lasting
economic benefits, 2013). London 2012 was once a generation opportunity to showcase that Britain
can generate long term profits for the economy and according to many research studies, it has been
found out that British companies are now winning contracts to help other nations in managing
Olympics Games.
The 2012 London Olympics and Paralympic Games was an opportunity for the hospitality
and tourism industry to depict the talent of the country on a high profile global platform. A range of
changes have been observed after the Olympics Games in all the major areas of tourism industry
(Visits to the UK for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics, 2013). From the last
decade, it is recorded that Britain faced a recession where in no hotels were there in the
development list. Instead of that, the hospitality and tourism sector has driven a construction value
of £12.4bn and this has played a major role in stimulating the services of the industry. While
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visiting London for the Olympic Games, people have invested an average spending of £1553 on
their visit and the amount has been doubled at the time when people secondly visited the country.
Most of the Olympics and Paralympic activities took place in the South East of England; thus the
event has changed its tourism concern by improving diversified places. A total of 10 million
international and UK residents are expected to attend London 2012 events and anticipatory legacy
impacts mean the 2012 games and all the associated events have generated a net increase in tourist
visit of 10.8 million between 2006 to 2014 (London 2012 legacy continues to be felt across the UK,
2004).
This extra tourism expenditure will generate a £2 billion contribution to GDP and this has
also encouraged the ratio of employment. The research studies previously conducted has revealed
the fact that London has spent lower amount in Olympic period compared to Athens and Sydney
Olympics. In terms of Tourism legacy, domestic business travel volumes increase by approx 2% per
games. Thus, it can be said that the 2012 Games is attracting spectators from within the UK and
abroad. This distinction is important because foreign residents bring additional income to UK which
further increases the overall income aspects of economy of UK (LONDON 2012 Benefits of hosting
London 2012 will be ongoing, 2015). Thus, from the entire discussion, it is clear that tourism sector
of UK has achieved a lot of recognition from people after the event held at Queen Elizabeth
Country Park. Involving such games has not enhanced the economic capacity of the country but
also it has persuaded people to visit the destinations from different places. This is one such aspect
through which legacy of London 2012 is greatly recognized from all the departments. The ratio of
visitors have increased and this probably leads the customers to promote the place to other clients as
well.
Considering all the aspects about London Olympics 2012, it can be said that the value of
tourism is encouraged up to a greater extent and this has also promoted other destinations of UK as
well (Gibson, 2013). The large number of tourists who flocked to London for the 2012 Olympic
Games also helped lift the British economy, with figures released by the Office of National
Statistics showing that the 590,000 people who visited the city for the Games, or attended a ticketed
event, spent an average of GBP 1,290 during their visit, compared with GBP 650 by other visitors.
Looking towards the overall description of the statistical data, it can be said that the profitability
aspects from the tourism department has been continuously increasing. According to the games
mentioned in the Olympic 2012, tourist destinations have updated their country's infrastructure in
both quantitatively and qualitative manner which promotes the city's destination. For example-
Barcelona is a popular tourist destination and it enjoys a very positive image from the visitors,
whether they come for business or for other leisure purposes (Miller, 2013).
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Such entire prospects ensured a high degree of objectivity for the country; thus an analysis
of the city's tourist resources and the potential of the future Olympics Games has made it clear that
tourist sector made many efforts to encourage the country's value. The synthesis served as the basis
for the marketing policy and it also develops other proposals to promote tourism in the city
(Ainsworth, 2013). During that time, it is also predicted that London might get another opportunity
to organize the event in future as well due to prominent services it delivered in the year 2012.
Hence, the entire efforts have made it clear that travel and tourism sector both have direct
contribution in country's (UK) prosperity. All the statistical data depicts that London Olympics 2012
proved to be a significant event for economy of UK.
CONCLUSION
The report concludes that tourism legacy is derived from Olympic Games in 2012. However,
negative impact were observed prior to boom in 2012. It can also be said that Olympics gave
upward direction to tourism of UK and accordingly this sector create employment opportunities for
local residents. Furthermore, future development are taking place by focusing on increasing interest
of people towards Olympics. In addition to this, proposed future plan in tourism sector are going the
expand tourism at global level.
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REFERENCES
Journals and books
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Dolnicar, S. and Leisch, F., 2012. One legacy of Mazanec: binary questions are a simple, stable and
valid measure of evaluative beliefs. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research. 6(4). pp.316 – 325.
Hartman, S. and Zandberg T., 2015. The future of mega sport events: examining the “Dutch
Approach” to legacy planning. Journal of Tourism Futures. 1(2). pp.108 – 116.
Henderson, H. and et. al., 2010. The men from down under: the legacies of Australia II.
International Journal of Event and Festival Management. 1(3). pp.186 – 201.
Huarng. K. and et. al., 2012. Forecasting tourism demand by fuzzy time series models.
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Oskam, J. and Karijomedjo, G., 2015. Tourism in Tomorrow's World, 23‐24 February 201.
Renaissance City Center Hotel Doha, Qatar. Journal of Tourism Futures. 1(1). pp.80 – 85.
Pezenka, I. and Buchta, C., 2012. Measuring the resemblance between pictorial and verbal city
image spaces. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research. 6(4).
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sport tourism events in transition countries: Evidence from Croatia. International Journal of
Event and Festival Management. 3(3). pp.236 – 256.
Sinclair, D. G. and Boger, E. P.,2006. Golf tourism – World Cup Cricket 2007 – Guyana prospects.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 18(7). pp.583 – 592.
Wearing, S., Buchmann, A. and Jobberns, C., 2011. Free Willy: the whale‐watching legacy.
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