Sydney Olympic Park

Today we got to tour Sydney Olympic Park and discuss the economic impact of hosting worldwide events. We were fortunate enough to meet with Tony Houhlias who is the executive manager of sports development at Sydney Olympic Park. Sydney won the Olympic bid on September 23, 1993. Sydney must have got it right because the Sydney Olympic Games are still known as “the best games ever”.

The 2000 Olympic Games had a huge socio-economic impact on the city of Sydney. The total cost of staging the Olympic Games was 6.5 billion dollars. The Federal Government contributed 194 million dollars, the private sector contributed 1.3 billion dollars, and the NSW State Government contributed 2.3 billion dollars. The Olympic Games had record ticket sales, with over 91% sold. The Games were estimated to increase the Australian economy .12% over a 12 year period. One of the goals for the 2000 Olympic Games was to increase an interest and active participation in sport and physical activity by its residents. According to Tony, this goal was achieved. A big part of the reason why this goal was achieved is because Sydney Olympic Park has turned into Australia’s premier sport and major events destination. Sydney Olympic Park holds 6,000 events per year and welcomes everyone to enjoy the facilities and festivals in the park. The Olympic Games attracted 4 million people. Currently, 12.5 million people visit the park every year! The Olympic Games have increased the visitation to the Sydney Olympic Park area.

Australia benefited as a whole from the Olympic Games. An extra 1.6 million international visitors came to Australia as a result of the Games. This generated an additional 6.1 billion dollars in tourism earnings and created 150,000 new jobs. Australia was the first Olympic host nation to take full advantage of the Games to pursue tourism for the benefit of the whole country.

The unqualified success of the Games was an unexpected impact. Also, the ability to utilize the facilities in Sydney Olympic Park and actually increase visitation and revenue since the Games was an unexpected impact. The results exceeded the expectations of the organizers.

The societal benefits, improved infrastructure, and economic advantages makes hosting a mega-event profitable. The games increased the national pride of residents of Australia. They were proud of their athletes and the Games that their country had staged. As mentioned earlier, the Games created tremendous job opportunities and tourism earnings. The future of Sydney Olympic Park will continue to thrive through increased visitation, retail, and sports participation.

 

Fun Fact: McDonalds is referred to as "Mackas" in Australia and "Scum" is the U.K. (according to our tour guide Christian)