The buzz around London is beginning to fade following the completion of the London 2012 Olympic games. Many are predicting a post Olympic slump in the UK economy. This was evidenced in many of the previous countries that hosted the Olympics including Australia and China.
Whilst the Olympic games were a success and we thoroughly enjoyed them, one cannot escape the fact that the Games will cost in the region of £12 billion according to latest estimates which is significantly in excess of the original budget of £2.4 billion. This is an exceptional amount of money for an event lasting only 3 weeks. Whilst there will be some lasting benefit from the redevelopment of the brownfield site in Stratford, the majority of the stadia will be dismantled after the games and will not contribute to the Olympic legacy.
The traffic chaos caused by the Olympic lanes, together with the large reduction in British people commuting to London during the games means that we can expect very low levels of productivity in August once these figures are announced. Anyone walking through London will have noticed that the city center was a “ghost town” during the games. Catering companies are likely to have performed well during the games but retailers will undoubtedly have suffered. We await the August statistics to reveal the extent of the damage.
To make matters worse for UK taxpayers, the cost of the Olympics is likely to funded by way of increased taxes in next year’s budget.