Limited benefit to tourism in North from Olympics
Jul 10 2008 by William Green, The Journal
MINISTERS will today be accused of “overselling” the wider benefits of the 2012 London Olympics after a scathing report predicted areas such as the North East would not gain from the Games.
Hopes of teams being based at camps across the UK might have been raised beyond a reasonable level with no guarantees they would even come here before the Games, according to MPs.
The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee also warned of “limited short-term” benefits to tourism outside London.
“We doubt whether these are as great, or as certain, as the Government has suggested,” it said in a report looking at benefits of the Games to tourism. The report found the main tourism potential of the Games in London and the rest of the UK lay in creating a positive legacy by effective promotion and delivery of a top-class Olympics.
MPs also said the Government’s decision to cut funding for the country’s main tourism body, VisitBritain, was “simply baffling”, given its goal to maximise tourism spin-offs from the Games.
Hexham MP Peter Atkinson said: “The Olympics for Britain and London are a great thing and overall will encourage a wider interest in sport across the country, which must be good. But as always, this whole thing has been oversold by the Government and this confirms it.”
Committee chairman John Whittingdale said: “Tourism is one of the UK’s most important industries and yet it has been consistently sidelined by the Government, if not ignored.
“Its most recent decision to cut the budget of VisitBritain by nearly 20% seems extraordinary. To do so in the run-up to the Olympic Games, which represent a huge opportunity for British tourism, is simply inexplicable. This is a huge missed opportunity which the Government urgently needs to put right.”
The report also said the tourism industry lacked confidence in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
And while it welcomed a restructuring that devolved responsibility for tourism to regional development agencies in 2003, MPs said tourism nationwide was fragmented as the DCMS failed to give strategic leadership.
Responsibility for tourism frequently switching between ministers, the high cost of obtaining a tourist visa to the UK and poor customer service were other areas of concern highlighted by MPs.
A DCMS spokeswoman said it was delivering for tourism with £350m in public funding in 2006-07 and £500m annually to improve skills, alongside regeneration for seaside towns.
She said: “But it is up to everyone involved in the public and private sectors to make our investment work smarter by working in partnership together. This is why we commissioned VisitBritain’s ambitious and wide-ranging review of tourism support, which is expected to report shortly.”
EU PRESIDENT TO BOYCOTT GAMES
THE President of the European Parliament is to boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games because of the lack of progress in negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama over the future of Tibet.
Hans-Gert Poettering said he regretted the lack of a breakthrough last week in meetings between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the authorities in Beijing.
He said: "Given that these talks have to date proved inconclusive, I have decided not to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
"But I very much hope that the dialogue between the envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities will soon be pursued in a constructive way aimed at achieving results."
Mr Poettering said the Dalai Lama had the full support of the European Parliament in his calls for a "middle way" in Tibet, involving cultural autonomy and religious freedom instead of independence, and in not questioning China’s "territorial integrity".
Green Euro-MPs have condemned the decision of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to attend the opening ceremony, representing the EU as well as France.
The leader of the Green group in the European Parliament, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, said: "It is scandalous that Nicolas Sarkozy will not boycott the Olympic opening ceremony.
"He said that his attendance was conditional on an improvement in the human rights situation and progress resulting from talks between the Chinese authorities and Tibetan envoys. No progress has been made."
US President George Bush said he was looking forward to attending the ceremony. He made the remark after emerging with Chinese President Hu Jintao from the G8 meetings in Japan, saying to Mr Hu he was "looking forward to your hospitality".
