The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports with the participation of thousands athletes. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations will participate into the games. The Games are currently held every two years, with alternating of Summer Olympic and Winter Olympic Games. As short, they occur every four years within their respective seasonal games.
In this year, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August. London was selected as the host city on 6 July 2005 by defeating Moscow, New York City, Madrid and Paris and London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times which having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948.
The Olympic Games is an event which can potentially have a significant economic impact on the host city. For smaller country, it can also impact the economics of the host nation as a whole.
What is ‘economic impact’? According to Harper, 2009, economic impact is a measure of the spending and employment effects of a specific project- in this case ‘London 2012 Olympic Games’. She also stated the effects are generated by capital costs such as spending on construction and transport upgrades, operating costs such as policing and broadcasting, plus spending by tourists, or inward investment or trade. Total economic impact from the Olympic Games is the sum of the combination of direct, indirect and induced impacts which are resulting from the Games. Direct impact is from the purchases of organisers in the preparation and execution of the Olympic Games. Indirect impact is felt in goods and services firms supply the firms that receive expenditures by the Games’ organisers. Induced impact is from the spending by public employed directly or indirectly by the Games expenditures.
The economic impact of London