London Olympic Tourism Strategy Plans 2012

The UK’s national tourism agency, Visit Britain and London’s tourism board, VisitLondon Wednesday revealed their Olympics tourism strategy, 1400 days ahead of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

London and Britain have already been placed firmly under the global sporting spotlight following the recent acceptance of the Olympic flag from Beijing.

The nation will be promoted by VisitBritain’s international network of offices as the place for watching and participating in sporting events as well as a unique destination which combines a natural ambience of history, culture and entertainment.

VisitBritain CEO, Tom Wright says: “Britain is a sporting nation: our reputation has been earned in part by the popularity of our world-renowned events, as well as experiences, accommodation and attractions at destinations in every nation and region. Britain’s Olympic Games in 2012 – and the four years leading to it – are a wonderful opportunity for us to present the character and assets of our destinations and experiences to the world.”

According to recent VisitBritain research, more than one fifth (22per cent) of potential visitors strongly agree that they would be more likely to visit Britain over the next few years because London will host the 2012 Olympics.

Tom Wright continues: “One in ten visits from overseas – 4.7 million and 14 per cent of the total – involve watching a sporting event or taking part in sporting activities. Australia plays an extremely significant part in this, with 25 per cent of the 957,000 annual visitors to the UK from Australia watching or participating in sport during their stay.”

London Deny Demolition Olympic Stadium After Games

London 2012 bosses have denied they are seriously considering a plan to flatten the Olympic Stadium after the Games.

Reports have suggested the £525m venue could be demolished and replaced by a Premier League football ground.

But the London Development Agency (LDA), the body responsible for the post-2012 use of the site, has moved quickly to play down these claims.

And a spokesman for London Mayor Boris Johnson said Johnson was “not aware of any plans to demolish the stadium”.

He added that the mayor remained committed to finding a viable, long-term use for all the permanent Olympic venues and wanted “athletics to be part of that legacy”.

A spokesman for the LDA said “no stone had been left unturned” in exploring all the options for the Olympic venues and the drawing up of a range of possible scenarios was part and parcel of the legacy planning process.

A source close to the process told BBC Sport the leaked demolition plan was simply one of “more than 10″ options currently on the table. He also strongly hinted it was the most radical – and least likely – of those choices.

The favourite option remains converting the 80,000-capacity venue into a 25,000-seat stadium with an athletics track and at least one “anchor tenant”, a football or rugby team capable of filling the venue on a regular basis.

A guaranteed revenue stream is crucial to the venue’s future as no local or national authority wants to be responsible for the upkeep of a rarely used athletics centre – all interested parties are desperate to avoid the mistakes of previous Olympic hosts and their expensive “white elephants”.