Gold Medal Cities

Olympic Impact

By Katrina McDowell on Jul 26, 2024 in News

The 2024 Summer Olympics are here! The Olympics can profoundly influence host cities, bringing both benefits and challenges. Let’s explore this impact.

The economic impact of hosting the Olympics is a double-edged sword. While it boosts tourism, job creation, and increased business for local vendors and hospitality sectors, it can also lead to economic displacement for local businesses and residents. Host cities can have the potential for an increased global profile, leading to sustained tourism and investment.

The 1992 Olympics was a historic event that transformed Barcelona. Passeig Marítim, Barcelona’s seafront promenade, is one of the city’s most noteworthy adaptations from the Olympics, creating two miles of beachfront using sand imported from Egypt. Today, it still attracts locals and tourists and connects them with shores lined with bars, restaurants and shops.

Another example is Atlanta, GA, from the 1996 Summer Olympics that added major hotels, condos and one of the most prominent legacies, the Centennial Olympic Park, in the city’s heart. But the park is only part of the Olympics’s $5 billion economic impact on Atlanta. The games also planted the seeds for an epic tourist attraction—The Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the western part of the world!

The Olympics does pose the risk of debt and financial strain due to the high costs of hosting the games. Operational costs for security, logistics, event management and staffing can be quite a strain, as well as marketing and promotions for advertising, branding and tourism campaigns. Debt and budget overruns can occur for host cities. Yet, they can balance overruns with adequate planning and management to minimize costs and leverage public-private partnerships to share financial risks and benefits.

For example, the Olympic Games in London 2012 saw significant economic growth, especially for East London, due to its preparation from the beginning, embedding a legacy into the Games. It brought substantial success stories for employment, education, and enterprise growth and accelerated regeneration investment into East London. The Olympics was transformational for the local community, with almost 40 percent growth in local employment.

Infrastructure impact. Many host cities for the Olympics will have the construction of new sports venues, transportation improvements, urban regeneration projects and upgraded facilities. But comes with a long-term price. Some may experience displacement of residents, “white elephant” buildings and environmental degradation due to large-scale construction.

Underutilized venues become at risk since many host cities will build new sports facilities, and then they become “white elephants” if they are not adequately planned for post-game use. Greece gets the gold medal for overspending in the 2004 Olympics. Though it is not the sole reason for this nation’s financial mess, some may point to the games as at least an illustration of what has gone wrong in Greece. According to the Economic Times, it cost nearly $11 billion, not including the infrastructure projects rushed to completion (many sites are now barely used or empty) and more than $1.2 billion in security.  

Social and cultural impact. Increased community pride will come within the host city of the Olympics. Many nonprofits/NGOs will get an increase in volunteer opportunities, and culture exchanges will take place through international visitors.

The Winter Olympics brought in billions for Salt Lake City in 2002 despite 9-11 the previous year, putting them on the map as a destination for winter sports enthusiasts at the elite and recreational levels. Tourism and international exposure got Salt Lake City global attention and helped showcase Utah’s beauty, amenities and capabilities, gaining notice particularly from business investors. Thanks to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, almost 3,000 schools across China now have winter sports added to their curriculum.

Due to an increase in population, host cities for the Olympics risk the potential for social disruption, gentrification and changes in local community dynamics. According to the Washington Post, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games caused displacement of residents for 300 households, some of who were displayed previously for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

So may the best athlete win that gold medal, and may this year’s summer Olympics unite the world for a few weeks with cheers of positivity, devotion and zest!