Should the United States Bid to Host a Future Olympic Games?

The Positive Outcomes of Hosting the Olympic Games

Olympic Games are widely known for the great events that bring many nations together to participate in them. Olympics Games has a long history and many countries relate to it in many ways. Since its inception, many host countries and cities have experienced immense growth especially in terms of urbanisation. In places such as Beijing and Athens there has been increased development of transport infrastructure, environment awareness and preservation, technical training and education, increased venues such as shopping centres, universities, local theatres and much more.

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In the bid for the U.S to host future Olympic Games, they will be in a position to experience positive outcomes ranging from good infrastructure; increased social interaction and cultural diversity. They will also experience heightened local pride; destination awareness for tourism purposes; increased investment; local participation in Olympic events; celebration atmosphere; increased national income and much more according to text 2 graphic 40. Over the years, Olympics has been a source of employment to many people in the host cities. During the Olympics, the US will be able to employ most of its citizens in various sectors of the Olympics and therefore improving the per capita income of its citizens. According to text 2 line 10, the LA Games of 1984 was able to create 16,520 jobs while that of Seoul was able to create 33,500 jobs for 30 days. This is a significant number and has an impact on the economy. Olympics provide direct and indirect jobs. Other sectors such as the hospitality industry also benefit in terms of tourists who occupy hotels and consume their services. This implies that more jobs will be created directly and indirectly.

Employment and Income Generation

Income generation is one of the greatest advantages of hosting Olympic Games and in the bid of the US to host Olympic Games means more income to them. According to text 3 line 5, the initial cost of hosting an Olympic event is estimated to be very high although the outcome thereafter is incredible. These events have an impact on tourism due to global exposure and this translates to more income. Tourists will visit the destination during the event and therefore offset the aspect of seasonality in tourism as evident in text 3, line 10.

Hosting Olympic Games will also streamline the role of government as most of the income that results from Olympics is enormous. The government can also use Olympics as a tool for boosting the economy and various sectors within the government as evident in text 3 line 15. Activities such as investing in infrastructure, offering subsidised rates to airlines, boosting trade and other vital engagements can be carried out by the government as the returns are overwhelming.

The benefits of hosting Olympic Games are tremendous however, there are some aspects that make hosting the event unfavourable. Hosting the event translates to: congestion in the destination, more crime, cultural degradation, conflict between the host community and visitors, bad image reputation due to limited facilities and price escalation, commercialization of events to suit visitor needs and rivalry due to competition as evident in text 2, graphic 40.

Conclusion

According to text 2, line 5, employment that results from Olympics is temporary and therefore the kind of employment provided is questionable as people will be rendered jobless after a short while. In line 35, Olympics is seen to benefit certain people especially those with political influence, business people and those in the middle class while the poor continue to endure suffering. The income that results from Olympics is therefore not evenly distributed in the economy and therefore those that do not feel the impact of Olympics tend to view it as costly rather than beneficial.