The Impact Of The Olympics And Paralympics Tourism Essay

The aim of this essay is to identify the impact of the Olympics and Paralympics on tourism in London, illustrating environmental, economical and social effects. Firstly, the essay will assert how the Olympics affected the environment, even though in 2005 London engaged to stage the ¿½greenest games¿½ in history. Moreover, the influence of the games upon the economy will be underlined, defining both, positive and negative aspects regarding the host of the Olympics. Furthermore, the social effects of the 2012 Olympic Games will be examined, emphasizing the evolution of not only East London area and the main tourist attractions during the summer of 2012, but of the entire city. This essay will argue that the Olympics and Paralympics had both positive and negative aspects, having an important influence upon London and causing changes in economy, society and environment.

London¿½s 2012 Olympics and Paralympics had a strong impact against the environment. The environment protection played one of the decisive parts of London¿½s bid for the games, London planning since July 2005 to stage ¿½the greenest games in history¿½. The main concept of the games was ¿½One Planet Olympics¿½, London concentrating on minimising the carbon emissions, on biodiversity, waste and advertising the protection of the environment against pollution. First of all, for the low carbon emissions, London planned to reduce the venues construction, using the existing legacy as the official website of the Olympics stated

Furthermore, the new venues built, the Olympic Stadium, the Velodrome and the Aquatics Centre were energy-efficient, created to be sustainable as far as possible. In addition to reduce the carbon emissions ¿½footprint¿½, London promoted public transport, offering one day travel pass to everyone who bought a ticket for the games and also tried to instigate people to go to the Olympics cycling or walking with the aid of the ¿½Active Travel programme¿½ as it was written in The Independent newspaper:

The environment impact was significant, even though all the measures were taken to host completely sustainable games. Thereby, the initial target of the planning committee of London Olympics was to use only renewable energy to minimise the carbon emissions. Even if the original purpose was to stage the most sustainable games, they were not entirely sustainable, though the 2012 Olympics had certainly a considerable less impact against the environment than any other Olympic Games in the history. The wind tunnels were also an important plan of the committee, helping to supply approximately 20% of the energy demanded for the games, but eventually this measure was not taken. The results of the target were harsh criticised by Darren Johnson, one of the members of London Assembly Green Party who stated in the BBC news:

Even if in great measure the Olympics affected London¿½s environment, they had positive effects too, causing important changes in the environment. The most significant positive change that happened was the waterways dredging. They invested in a multi-million pound programme for dredging the waterways around the Olympic Park, which helped to develop the wildlife, but also improved the water quality. The dredging programme helped to remove tonnes of garbage, as the study ¿½From Brown to Green ¿½ of the Olympic Delivery Authority concluded

Moreover, another well known project, which helped to improve the environment was ¿½Green Clean-up¿½, which cleaned a huge area around the Olympic Park. Hundreds of thousands of soil were purified by ¿½The soil Hospital¿½ cleaning it from contaminants and transforming it into material which could be re-used.

Economy has likewise suffered many changes, 2012 Olympics and Paralympics having a huge impact upon London¿½s economy. One of the most important impact that the games had on London economy was creating new jobs. It was announced by the government that per total, approximately 30.000 new jobs will be created from 2009 to 2012. An essential change that helped boosting the economy was building the new shopping Center, Westfield Stratford City next to Olympic Park. By opening a new shopping centre in such a poor area like Stratford provided thousands of new jobs, but also transformed one of the poorest areas into a main attraction zone for tourists as Mr. Johnson declared for BBC news:

Even if there were plenty of positive changes upon London¿½s 2012 economy, negative aspects were visible too.

Furthermore, another impact of the games was the regeneration of Stratford area and the surroundings. The London Development Agency¿½s target besides regenerating was to develop this zone for 30 years after the Olympics. Moreover, thousands of new affordable houses were built around the Olympic Park as it is stated in a report made by British Library

Although there were plenty of positive changes upon London¿½s 2012 economy, negative aspects were visible too. One of the negative impacts is that the economy grew only by 1% when everyone expected it to grow much more than it did. The hospitality industry presumed this summer will be the most prosperous because of the mega event, but in fact, it was proved to be an unpleasant surprise and most of the hotels were empty as one hotelier declared for Daily Mail newspaper:

Also, The British Museum has reported a considerable decrease in the number of visitors, in comparison with the past years, London being described as a ¿½ghost town¿½ this time of the year. Besides hospitality industry, which has not gained as much as it was expected to, also the taxi business suffered a great loss because the demand for cabs decreased by about 20-40% as the general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers, Steve McNamara Association declared in The Independent newspaper.

London¿½s 2012 Olympics and Paralympics had likewise a huge impact upon London¿½s social life. The decision of hosting the 2012 Olympics had mostly positive effects upon London. First of all, hosting the games stimulated people to discover more of London¿½s national treasures such as museums, monuments and inform tourists about the unique places that London has to offer. Moreover, another social change that took place was encouraging people to take part in more cultural programmes and activities and inform the international audience about the culture of Great Britain as it was stated in Meta-Evaluation of the Impacts and Legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games report.

Also, another positive aspect of staging the Olympics is referring to social actions and volunteering. Analyses showed an increase in the volunteering and community activities, people being encouraged to participate in volunteering programmes co-operating to help developing the society, focusing on the preparations for the most waited event, London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Another positive change upon London¿½s social life would be that Olympics will enhance and support sports activities and will invest in facilities to encourage people take part in sports activities for a healthier life.

One of the negative impacts against London¿½s social life was the fact that the city became very crowded because tourists from all over the world came to London this summer to attend the mega event. Furthermore, another negative aspect was that the quantity of litter increased taking into consideration that the number of tourists increased that much and nevertheless, hosting the games increased also the quantity of pollution. Another negative aspect would be the fact that many buildings such as schools and campuses were demolished to build instead of them the venues for the Olympic Games and people were forced to move from the Olympic Park area.

In conclusion, 2012 Olympics and Paralympics had a significant impact on London¿½s tourism. Since 2005, London¿½s tourism experienced three phases. Firstly, after July 2005 when United Kingdom won the bid to host the Olympics in 2012, tourism in London increased, visitor coming to see the hosting city of the 2012 Olympic Games. Secondly, the most important phase, during the Olympics, when millions of tourists came to London to attend the most waited event for the United Kingdom, which boosted the industry of tourism in London. Besides amplifying the tourism industry, the Olympics had also a substantial effect upon the economy, the society and the environment. The statistics reported that after the Olympics the economy grew by 1% percent, but also the social and environmental impacts were notable because hosting the games led to regenerate and develop one of the poorest areas of London and transformed it into a main attraction zone for visitors. The last phase of the Olympics impact upon London¿½s tourism represents the period after hosting the games. Although the benefits of hosting the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics were not as significant as everyone thought, they had a huge impact upon London¿½s tourism, remaining known as ¿½the greenest games¿½ in history.