When your country hosts the Olympics, you surely have a licence to print money, don’t you? The latest warnings in the UK government have highlighted the fact that hosting the Olympics can actually mean a loss of tourist numbers when mismanagement is rampant.

The Olympics aren’t of universal interest for starters. Whilst those who actively dislike sport are surely in the minority, it is undoubtedly true that anyone who puts sport spectatorship second in their holiday plans will avoid the UK in 2012 and go on Dubai Holidays as an alternative. Even with Infrastructure improvements coming for the Olympic year, things are expected to get insanely busy. The perception will be that Britain will be ‘closed’ in some way or other during the competition. The objective therefore is to make sure that the world recognises that the nation’s other tourist attractions aren’t just going to be open, they’re going to be as ready during the Olympic week as in any other.

There is a basis for this speculation too. Though the world had much praise for the 2008 Olympics, China’s attendance had to be padded out with audiences for hire. Furthermore, 2 percent less foreign tourist arrivals were witnessed in 2008. The picture was much worse in Greece, which saw a 12 percent drop in arrivals after hosting the 2004 games.

The London Olympics will of course not find a strictly analogue case with these nations. Britain is hardly bathing under a Tropical Sky but there is still a strength in the infrastructure and number of attractions that China and Greece lack on some level. Furthermore, the Olympics may be the primary event, but the British will be able to gain tourist interest in what is also Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee year. But the danger is there that the UK will neglect its peripheral attractions next year, letting people disappear on Holidays to Barbados. The role models for Olympic success should be Barcelona and Sydney, who saw an increase in repeat visitation and suistained growth in the year. So long as London manages a favourable impression, it may reap the benefits for years to come.

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