ATR Newsmaker Series: London, Britain, Prepare for Olympic Visitors

Experts say the British tourism industry appears to be responding to the coming of the 2012 Olympics with proper preparations for the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected for the Games. More from the latest in the series of Around the Rings Newsmaker events – this time, appropriately enough, a tea in Chicago, sponsored by VisitBritain and UK Sport.

“It’s already one of the most popular destinations for tourists, so you take that and add the Olympics, it only makes it that much more powerful,” said Jet Set Sports President Mark Lewis about the impact the London Olympics is having on the tourism brand of Great Britain.

Jet Set Sports is one of the world’s leading firms providing Olympic travel, hospitality and ticketing services.

Also appearing on the panel hosted Sep. 9 in Chicago by ATR Editor and Founder Ed Hula were Simon Bradley, regional director for the Americas for VisitBritain, and Laurie Borman, travel writer and former editorial director for Rand McNally.

Bradley says the coming of the 2012 Games offers Britain, which like other worldwide destinations, has seen a slippage in tourism numbers, a unique opportunity to grow again in the next few years.

“It’s a golden opportunity to showcase Great Britain and its brand around the world. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for a destination to show off what it has to a worldwide audience,” Bradley said, “and maybe to counter some outdated stereotypes of the U.K. as well,” he added.

Lewis, who already is making regular trips for to London to secure the accommodations and other services needed by Jet Set in 2012, expresses a high degree of confidence in the work being done to get the city ready.

“London is a busy city on a regular basis. When you take a city that runs on full capacity and then add the Olympic crush, we always wonder how a city will respond to that. But we’re not worried or nervous about it, because the partnership that exists in London between the city, the federal government and the organizing committee seems to be as integrated as any we’ve seen in any Games,” said Lewis.

None of the panelists noted any urgent needs for London to ready itself for 2012 visitors, but Borman did note the Olympic Park in east London, far from the usual tourist haunts of the city, may need a bit of an introduction.

“The neighborhood it’s being built in is not with greatest reputation, or certainly familiar for people who are travelling to London,” she says.

While recognizing London as one of the more expensive destinations in the world, Borman says people looking to reduce the costs of an Olympic visit might want to consider a commute to the Games by train.

“People -- when they come, they explore London. But I think the person who is more value-conscious will explore a little more further out. Traveling an hour, and in that case, staying in a less expensive accommodation, you can still stretch your dollar. It’s really an opportunity to see more of the country,” she says.

Among the challenges Lewis says his company will face are transportation logistics. London hotels, for example, don’t have the parking areas enjoyed in Beijing that allow buses to wait for the passengers. And he says with at least three London airport gateways, he’ll have to plan for staff to greet clients at all of them, not the simplicity than comes with only one airport.

Bradley says beyond physical improvements to the British tourist sector, attention is being paid to what he calls the “soft side” of the business: the people who will meet Olympic visitor.

“We’ve got a really good welcome program which has already started to improve the level of welcome, not just in immigration, but at other major consumer touch points, so that when people come they’ll be getting a truly British welcome at all points,” he said.

The audio of the entire ATR Newsmaker Tea is available for download, by clicking here.

Or, you can listen to the ATR Newsmaker Tea with our audio streaming tool:

The Around the Rings Newsmaker series was launched during the Atlanta Olympics and has been held since at then at the 2000, 2002, and 2008 Games.

This latest series is sponsored by VisitBritain and UK Sport. The next edition, an Around the Rings Newsmaker Breakfast scheduled for Oct. 6 in Copenhagen, will be on the sidelines of the IOC Session. The topic will be developing Olympic sports around the world – and the choice of sports for the Olympic Program.

Written by Ed HulaFor general comments or questions, click here

This coverage is proudly presented by Chicago 2016