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The Empty Games? Large areas of London a ‘ghost town’ during Olympics
Part of convincing the public to go along with the Olympic flotilla as athletes standing in to push product and political capital that staging the Games will fill retailers' coffers.
Of course, London is one of the most crowded cities in the world to begin with and there were concerns about hundreds of thousands of tourists creating a situation with people on top of people. A week into the Games, though, the streets of London are a bigger downer than the song which bears that name: volunteers instructed to bring their own shirts to cloak themselves as paying fans, next to no foot traffic for shops (or stores, to put it in English) and hotels cutting price by up to 33 per cent. (Theatres and posh restaurants seem to be faring decently).
On Wednesday, Canadian tourists could have used Westminster Bridge to make road hockey an Olympic demonstration sport. It didn't help in the court of public opinion when London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe laughed at a press conference when the retailers' concerns were raised, saying there was ample warning this would happen.
Paul Deighton, Locog's chief executive, admitted there was short-term impact on trade in the capital, but said that visitor numbers in London are "leveling off in a very satisfactory way."
In the longer term, he said, the Games will deliver a "huge economic boost" to London, he told a press conference in the Olympic Park.
However, Mr Deighton appeared to accept that the warning messages had some unforeseen consequences. "Sometimes you are victims of your own success, " he said.
As Mr Deighton was sharing a platform with Lord Coe, the Locog chairman. As he spoke, Lord Coe laughed loudly and mocked a question from a BBC London reporter, saying: "Shock horror — messaging too good."
Asked why he was laughing at questions about the Games' impact on London businesses, Lord Coe replied: "I was laughing at the idea that our messaging was too successful." (The Telegraph)
Perhaps the advisories to stay away the city centre did work too well. That's not much solace to a small businessperson who's struggling. It makes it easier to relate to why not everyone is overjoyed London is hosting the Olympics.
It's been shown staging the Games or spending more money to produce more medal winners doesn't effect change in a society's diet and exercise habits And it doesn't help small businesspeople who are politicians' best friends at campaign time in every Western country. Why did London spend $14.5 billion US on it, then?
Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.
