14 August 2008

MoodyÃ¢â¬â¢s: Tourism big winner from Beijing Games

HONG KONG - Hosting the Olympics has raised China's global profile, and the country as a whole, including its cities like Hong Kong, should benefit in the long run, according to Moody's economist Sherman Chan.

The seemingly immense sum spent by China in preparing for the Games was partly borne by the private sector and will not be a fiscal burden for the government, Chan said.

The economist with Moody's Economy.com put the total spending, directly or indirectly involved in the Olympics, at around US$42 billion.

The Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games said it spent over US$2 billion as operation funds, and about US$40.8 billion in upgrading of municipal facilities.

Chan said the raising of China's global profile "will help to boost tourism even after the Games end" and that "the enormous spending on infrastructure will improve the country's long-term competitiveness".

"Better airport facilities, subway networks, roads and recreational venues will all help to support continued rapid development," she said.

In the short run, however, playing host to the Olympics would neither boost nor curb China's growth in this year, Chan said.

There will be a surge in retail trade during the third quarter but much of this could be offset by the effect of special temporary measures enforced for the Olympics, she said.

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Olympics - a caution for London

After what has to be a breathtaking opening for the Beijing games despite the little local difficulty over the lip-sync mini tot...I cannot agree, there is little or no chance that the Olympics provides any long term gain for the host country whatsoever and as for regeneration, politicians worldwide will gleefully tell you that existing infrastructure projects can be slightly adapted or rescheduled to bring about an Olympics gain- have a look at the Greece Olympics park now in rapid decline and a campsite for transients... China has spent a fortune on these games, displaced many thousands from established residential areas, and the organisers are now blaming sponsors for not taking up their ticket allocations, that is why when some are saying the games are sold out we can see rows of red and yellow shirted 'cheer leaders' being bussed in for the games and some very strange home grown tribal anthems being sung. Clearly the organisers should have done deals with the rowdy element of our battle hardened UK football supporters and let, say, Millwall supporters do ritual battle with the locals and Chinese authorities, in pouring rain and seemingly deserted parks and squares. It would have paid off in terms of reduced policing costs for the UK and professionally tested out security systems for the London games...which are already way over budget and likely to be astronomical by the time the gates open...but this is a runaway train and it happens every four years. Perhaps now is the time to put a cap on the Olympics spend and get back to basics. A simple test of athletic prowess, cut out all the pagents, hangers on - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE . Theses game are for amateurs not professionals but really where can you insert the cigarette paper in between the two camps? A whole money grabbing industry has been esablished around anything taggged Olympics and it has to stop...

By JULIAN BRAY MCIPR, NUJ, MMC, Equity member, Thursday, August 14, 2008