Games Monitor - Tourism

2014 Winter Olympics bring on the ruthless redevelopment of tourism around Sochi

Martin Slavin — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:52:25 +0100

Valery's eyes burn ice blue as he stares towards the Black Sea coast just yards from his house. The local government has given him three months to pack up and leave, as the country begins preparing to turn Sochi and its environs into an Olympic playland. "We built our houses with our own hard-earned money, unlike [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin," said Valery, who makes his living fixing refrigerators. "Why should his children and the oligarchs' children get to play in the sea while ours are chased into the mountains?"

Government lack of support for tourism approaching the London Olympics

Martin Slavin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:52:23 +0100

It is common knowledge among those of us who have investigated the track record of previous Olympic Games that the headline hype about the games 'boost for tourism' is an empty daydream.

London Olympics will lead UK's bouyant CCTV market growth to 2012

Martin Slavin — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:23:53 +0000

A new report predicts that the value of the UK CCTV market will increase by 10 per cent by 2012, with the London Olympics leading the growth. And equipment sales are anticipated to reach over £450m in the same period.

Athletics on telly is boring

Martin Slavin — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:53:45 +0100

UK Athletics' chairman, Ed Warner, has moved to patch up his relationship with the BBC, visiting the commentary team at the world championships in Osaka to explain comments last week in which he lambasted their coverage as stale, tired and "stuck in the past". Those remarks went down badly among BBC executives who believe the problem lies with the sport itself and point to the many empty seats in Osaka as evidence.

No Vancouver 2010 Olympics on Stolen Land

Martin Slavin — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:24:22 +0100

The 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver-Whistler from February 12-27, 2010, is today a very real threat to Native peoples, the urban poor (many of whom are also Native), and the environment.

Where is the money for a Cultural Olympiad ?

Martin Slavin — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 03:51:00 +0100

John Tusa, The Observer

I have lost count of the meetings I have attended to discuss the Cultural Olympiad, the showcase of British arts and culture planned to run alongside the 2012 Olympic Games.

Tennis 'Masters Cup' moving to London

Martin Slavin — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 10:39:56 +0100

The men's international tennis circuit will end with a prestigious final in London from 2009 under a four-year contract announced on Wednesday. The Masters Cup, staged in Shanghai for the last two years, is being renamed the ATP World Tour Final and is being switched to London's O2 Arena, formerly known as the Millennium Dome.

A little local difficulty in Rio before the Pan American Games

Martin Slavin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:25:25 +0100

Avoiding a drop in tourists

Martin Slavin — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:01:29 +0000

Britain's tourism industry is warning that "woeful" government underfunding could jeopardise its prospects of achieving the target of a £2bn windfall from the London 2012 Olympics. It says that cuts to overseas marketing budgets are symptomatic of the government's failure to treat tourism seriously, and claims that the benefits of staging the games have been hyped by ministers.

Kelsang Nortso's Day

Martin Slavin — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 13:14:01 +0000

Greetings everybody. Welcome to the first day of my Solar New Year. Which day I hereby name Kelsang Nortso Day. Read and see the video of my story of the day below.

Martin Slavin

The Chinese authorities are trying to limit the number of climbers on Mount Everest’s north side in Tibet. Officially the Chinese are preparing a trial run of the torch relay for the Olympic Games on the summit, but many speculate that the real reason is that Everest is close to Cho Oyu where Chinese army guards shot at Tibetan refugees in September.