POSTED: November 9th 2011
InDepth
Olympic tourism: Canada reports a boom while London raises questions
LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications
TAMPA: The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has taken assessment of how the benefits of hosting the Vancouver 2010 Olympics have boosted tourism in Canada from key markets, including the United Kingdom via a strong five-year tourism plan (2008 to 2012).
Michele McKenzie, CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission, said, "If there is one lesson I would strongly urge other nations to take on board, it would be to avoid the trap of thinking that you are there to promote the Games themselves.
“Though London enjoys a strong image as a city, you need to understand that tourism is about the whole country and it takes time to build the content. Start early and think of the legacy."
The CTC released an evaluation report on its findings which are significant also for future Games as they look to capitalize on hosting the Games and tourism growth prior and after the event.
It has proved valuable to integrate tourism experiences into the Olympic Games media coverage prior and during the Games and then following up with a strong post-Games tourism strategy. This has proved to be a successful business model for Canada.
The report states some significant facts:
• 290,000 British travellers were inspired by Canada's marketing campaigns to book flights to Canada in 2010 —almost double 2009 and triple the 2008 figures. Tourism revenues from this market were up over 2009 by CAD $134 million (from $256 million to $380 million), reflecting the additional traffic.
• Over 70,000 Australians shifted from considering a trip to Canada to making a firm booking in 2010—twice 2009 numbers. Revenues rose from $62 million to $117 million.
• Some 128,000 German travellers were persuaded by CTC marketing campaigns to book a trip to Canada in 2010, up from 91,000 the previous year. Revenues rose by $61 million to $196 million.
• CTC marketing campaigns convinced 120,000 French travellers to take a trip to Canada, generating $160 million in revenues.
• CTC's media and public relations activity around the Games resulted in global coverage for travel to Canada and roughly $1 billion in "advertising value equivalency" in 2010. Global audiences were reached 12 billion times by Olympic coverage with Canadian tourism messages that were influenced by the CTC and its partners.
London tourism braced for next year
A similar study was released by the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) states that London is set to suffer 95% leisure tourism slump during Games’ time.
The organization polled 38 Operators who move more than two million people annually to London and the findings state: “They revealed that they were expecting a significant downturn throughout 2012. This looks like being extremely severe in July and August, where operators are currently seeing a 60% shortfall in bookings, becoming acute during the period of the Olympic Games where bookings are running at 95% below where they would normally be. Bookings for the rest of the year are running at 20% below this time last year.”
Tom Jenkins, Executive Director of ETOA, explained the graph and how this would affect London if the trends persist: “This is still very early in the booking cycle.
“And only reflects what our normal leisure customers are doing. We always see a decline in demand for a destination during an Olympic year. Clients tend to think that a city has priorities other than being a place to visit for a normal holiday, so some of this was to be expected. But this tendency is becoming absolute as the hotel rates climb in July and August.
“During the Olympic period itself, there is currently almost no demand from regular tourists. For foreign visitors there is near total displacement by the Games.”
John Boulding President of Insight Vacations, a leading luxury tour operator said, “One of the main reasons for the drop is that the hotels believe that they are going to be full. London appears to have priced itself out of the market in July and August.
”Insight has won a Queens Award for Export, but we have had no choice but to remove London from our best-selling European ‘Panorama’ tours in July and August. Each one will start and finish on the Continent. They are selling well, but they are selling without the UK.”
The figures only represent leisure tourism trends however, according to the ETOA report London has 125,000 hotel rooms to fill. Athens 2004 had an average of 25,000 foreign Olympic visitors per night.
July and August are normally Great Britain’s heaviest tourism months with 22% foreign visitors coming in to visit. With this decline it could impact the whole British economy up to £3.5billion. The other point to the equation is that Olympic tourists don’t necessarily act like normal tourists as they are there to attend the Games and related events.
John Wales, Managing Director of Encore Tickets, who sells over 2 million tickets annually said, “We anticipate a significant decline in business in July and August 2012 for London Theatres and attractions.
“At present I anticipate sales from tourists to be at least 40% down on last year, so we are looking urgently at alternative customers to the traditional inbound visitor that has been displaced.”
Tour operators are also worried, Nick Palan, who owns Golden Tours, said, “We know that there will be a large drop in demand next summer and this is having a major impact on our capital investment plans.
“Furthermore, such is the projected disruption on the roads, there is a major concern whether any tours in London can be operated at all during the Olympic period.”
Boulding concluded, “The long term trend implications are huge.
“The UK has traditionally been part of a visit to ‘Europe’ for long haul visitors. But they can they save time, avoid high visa costs and benefit from Schiphol’s or Charles de Gaulle’s freedom from APD if they avoid the UK. The Olympics is now making them do so. The legacy of this example is not a happy picture for the UK.”
This information is useful to keep in mind for future Games’ organizers such as Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, and PyeongChang 2018 as all are in preparations mode and banking on the tourism gains from hosting the Olympics.
Keywords · Olympics · London 2012 · Vancouver 2012 · leisure tourism · Whistler Sliding Center
For more information contact:
Laura Walden ()
All original materials contained in this section are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of Sports Features Communications, Inc the owner of that content. It is prohibited to alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
