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July 31st, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda - Games have pulled 100,000 foreign tourists into the capital, much lower than the 300,000 expected in a typical summer
- Leading London attractions see visitor numbers fall by 35 per cent
- Hotel bookings in London ‘very substantially down’
- Businesses near sailing venues in Weymouth and Portland say this year’s summer tourist season is the worst in half a century
By
Rob Preece
17:55 EST, 30 July 2012
|
11:33 EST, 31 July 2012
The number of foreign tourists visiting London has fallen by two-thirds during the Olympics in a trend businesses are blaming on warnings of traffic chaos and overpriced accommodation.
The Games have helped pull some 100,000 visitors into the capital from overseas, with sports fans eager to watch global superstars such as sprinter Usain Bolt and basketball player LeBron James in action.
But this figure is well below the 300,000 tourists who would be expected to visit the city in a typical summer, and the Government was today facing accusations that it had ‘overhyped’ the benefits of the Games.
Businesses based near the Olympic
sailing venues of Weymouth and Portland, in Dorset, have seen a similar
trend, with some claiming the current summer tourist season is the worst
in half a century.
Where is everyone? An unusually quiet Regent Street in London. Businesses say the centre of the city has become a ‘ghost town’ during the Olympics
Shunned: The Games has attracted 100,000 foreign visitors to London, but this is well below the estimated 300,000 who come during a typical summer
Parts of west and central London have been likened to a ‘ghost town’ by a businesses who fear the stay-away factor could be damaging to the economy.
Hotel provider JacTravel, which books more than 500,000 bookings a year in London, said numbers were ‘very substantially down’ compared with the same period last year.
Shops, museums and theatres have also seen their takings hit, with trade down by as much as 35 per cent.
David Tarsh, of JacTravel, said: ‘The Olympics, whilst they have attracted a lot of
people for the sport, have created an environment in which regular
leisure tourists are put off.
‘People
believe that, if the Olympics are on, the place will be extortionately
expensive, overcrowded and hard to get around, and so they don’t come.
Down the Tube: Olympic stewards wait to give tourists assistance at an unusually quiet Piccadilly Circus
Quiet: Streets in the central shopping area of Greenwich looked almost deserted as the final stages of the team equestrian event got under way
Central reservations: Foreign visitors in Trafalgar Square, with the National Gallery in the background. Major attractions have reported a fall in attendance around the Olympic period
‘In
addition, regular tour operators who do bring tourists in all the time
can’t negotiate rooms on the terms that they normally can, which makes
it effectively uneconomical to offer breaks in a host city.’
Mr
Tarsh said the Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
should shoulder some of the blame for the fall in visitor numbers.
He added: ‘During the Olympics hotels
offer completely different terms to the terms they offer during the
regular leisure tourism season.
‘They want the money up front, you
have to pay them more and the tour operators have said, “well, on that
basis, we’re not going to come.”
‘If they can’t get enough people to fill all the rooms they have reserved, they lose their deposit.
Subdued: The normally bustling Carnaby Street in London’s Soho has looked very different since the Olympics began at the weekend
‘It is easy to blame the hotels for
asking extortionate rates, but they deserve a little sympathy because,
in most cases, they haven’t catered for Olympic tourists before.
‘You can definitely blame the
Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who have
overhyped the event and have claimed it brings more benefits in terms of
tourism than are realistic.
‘The consequence of that is, because
they’re the Government and the IOC and they’re the people who ought to
know, hotels have been suckered into taking their word.’
The
Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), which represents 42
popular venues including the British Museum and London Zoo, said visitor
numbers had fallen by between 30 and 35 per cent in the last two weeks.
The
body’s chief executive, Bernard Donoghue, said: ‘For some of our
members, it was the wettest spring and early summer that they could ever
expect and those attractions that depend on the weather were severely
affected.
Empty: The scene on Millbank, outside Westminster Palace, at 6pm, when the roads are normally congested
Roomy: Pedestrians walk on the pavement but there was a surprising lack of cars on London Bridge at 2pm
‘But the other
factor that has affected visitor numbers is something they did expect –
every Olympic host city has seen its overseas visitors go down during
the period of the Olympics.
‘Many Olympic visitors think it is going to be crowded and potentially too pricey.
‘The
type of overseas visitors who normally come are staying away and the
visitors who do come tend to be Olympics-focused and may not go to
galleries, cathedrals and museums.’
Mr Donoghue added that the drop in foreign visitors could benefit Britons who want to see attractions which are normally busier.
‘The good news for Brits is there has never has been a better time to visit an attraction in London,’ he said.
‘There are fewer queues, tickets are guaranteed and many of the attractions have longer opening hours.’
Despite the fall in visitor numbers,
Mr Donoghue said attraction bosses believed they would eventually see a
tourism boost as a result of London’s staging of the Games.
Incredible: London Bridge Underground station was also totally clear during the supposed rush hour
Clear run: Despite a packed Games schedule coinciding with the start of the working week, London’s usually packed roads were at times as empty as they are on Christmas Day
Easy rider: This biker practically has the road to himself. The surprising turn of events was partly credited to staff being allowed to work from home
He said: ‘All of the visitor
attractions are taking the long-term view, which is that the Olympics is
good for London and good for Britain because it is showing Britain off
to the world’s biggest-ever television audience.
‘We would assume we will get the most benefit from hosting the Olympics not now but next year and the year after.’
WESTFIELD’S OLYMPIC BOOM
While customers have deserted west and central London, a shopping mall in the east of the city is enjoying an Olympic boom.
The 1.9million sq ft Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, near the Olympic Stadium, has attracted thousands of competitors, volunteers and spectators from across the globe.
Westfield also has a mall in Shepherd’s Bush, west London.
A spokesman for the company said: ‘Traffic is meeting our expectations. Westfield has increased trading hours by up to 30 per cent at both London centres.’
The number of shoppers visiting the West End on Saturday was down nearly 12 per cent compared to last year.
Smaller vendors on Oxford Street reported a 30 per cent drop in sales.
The Earl of Bradford, owner of
Porters restaurant in Covent Garden, said takings had been only £1,600
last Friday, down by more than £4,000, or 72 per cent, on the same day
last year.
‘This is nothing short of disastrous
at Porters,’ he told the Evening Standard. ‘We have been concerned about
the Olympics for some time but the reality is even worse than we
thought – the whole Covent Garden area is so quiet, when it is normally
humming with activity.’
Theatres have also seen a significant decline in ticket sales.
Nimax Theatres, which runs six venues in the West End, reported that last
week was its worst this year.
It has forecast that sales will be down 30
per cent over the summer.
The company’s chief executive, Nica Burns, said: ‘We’re bleeding. For my six theatres, last week was the worst this year. I think the Olympics are great, but I feel like I’ve been the bullseye for the archery competition.’
Hotels
began cutting their prices in June in an effort to fill empty rooms.
The
website hotels.com said the average room price in London was slashed by
a quarter after it was warned there was a 30 per cent drop in bookings
during the Games.
Joel Brandon-Bravo, UK managing director of the travel website Travelzoo, said: ‘As with the royal wedding, it does look like many hoteliers overestimated demand and are now left with empty rooms to fill.’
Spot the car: Drivers heeded official advice to stay out of the centre of the capital during the Games fortnight
David Cameron, who took the Tube to
the Aquatics Centre to watch British diver Tom Daley compete yesterday,
had pledged that the
Games would bring £13billion of economic investment over four years.
But critics have complained that there are few short-term benefits.
Mark
Field, a London Tory MP, said: ‘The message has been going out for
months that London would be packed to the rafters – and the transport
system would be under pressure – and that has put a lot of people off.
‘The high-end hoteliers are fine because of all the official Olympic guests, but many others have not benefited so much.’
Business
leaders in Weymouth and Portland, where the Olympic sailing venues are
located, told a similar story today as they hailed this summer’s tourist
season as the worst for half a century.
Visitors’ concerns over traffic congestion and inflated prices appear to have sent them elsewhere.
John
Pearce, owner of award-winning Alf’s Traditional Fish and Chip Shop in
Weymouth, said this summer’s trade had been down by 30 per cent on last
summer.
He said: ‘We
haven’t known anything like it. This business has been here since 1955,
and this is the worst summer season of the lot.
Happy: In a further attempt to show the world how well the Tube is coping, David Cameron tweeted a picture of himself in a carriage on the way to watch the synchronised diving
‘We
were hoping for a bumper summer but a lot of our regular holiday makers
have said they thought Weymouth would be extremely busy, so they have
gone elsewhere.
‘Customers say signs on the M3 (the
main route from Greater London towards Dorset) with an advanced notice
of heavy traffic into Weymouth have made them think about going
elsewhere.’
Bob D’Agostino, proprietor of the
Riverhouse Inn in Weymouth, said his business did not have a single
booking during the next fortnight, during what is traditionally a
lucrative and crucial time for accommodation providers in the area.
He said: ‘There were a lot of
roadworks in the months leading up to the Games, which affected trade,
but we accepted it because we were told we would reap the rewards.
‘But that couldn’t be further from
the truth. We are normally booked one month in advance during this time,
but there has been so much talk about traffic that people just haven’t
turned up.’
Weymouth and Portland mayor Margaret
Leicester admitted local traders had been hugely disappointed with what
was anticipated as an excellent fillip for waning businesses.
She said: ‘A lot of work has been done to improve access, and a lot of money spent.
‘But I know much of the trade has
been in the beach area, and not spread out to the shops and businesses
elsewhere in Weymouth and Portland.
Bare: The surprisingly empty roads was credited to staff being allowed to work from home and the decision to open some of the Olympic carriageways to other drivers. This shows the A4 close to Earl’s Court
‘A lot of the cab drivers are
complaining, shops are saying trade is down. It might be that those
visitors who are coming just want to enjoy the Olympics, and are not the
traditional-style holiday makers we are used to.’
The mayor said the full extent of the summer trade would be debated at the end of the season.
In London, Mayor Boris Johnson has been warning travellers for months to avoid the centre of the capital if possible.
Yesterday usually jammed roads such as The Embankment and London Bridge were completely clear of traffic.
The surprising turn of events was
credited to staff being allowed to work from home and the decision to
open some of the Olympic carriageways to other drivers.
The Games Lanes, which are generally
reserved for Olympic athletes and VIPs, were at times turned off because
they were not being used by officials.
Mr Johnson revealed International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge travelled on the Docklands Light Railway yesterday.
He
said: ‘We’re pleased with the way it’s working so far, everybody at
London Bridge was working well, the Tube is working well.
‘We’ve been able to turn off a lot of
the Games Lanes because so many people are going by public transport.
Jacques Rogge himself today took the DLR, I’m proud to say, and was
conveyed in stately style and comfort.’
Change of plan: Officials turned off some Games Lanes after Olympic VIPs opted to use public transport
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Gosh…for a moment I thought that was Poland..:) 🙂
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Hardly surprising in Rip-Off Britain. I hope the hotels fail. Our beloved Government can’t get anything right these days and they promised milk and honey, but the visitors didn’t come. So much for helping fuel the recovery.
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Why visit ripp-off Britain with its high prices and rain ???
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Negative and premature postings, the games have only just started, sure people have made alternative arrangements in fear of congested traffic etc, that is what was meant to happen. But why Oh why do we now blame this Government and the Olympic Committee, these games were championed by the previous government in an “No expenses spared” presentation to beat Paris for the privilege of holding them. This Government is left to make the best of that commitment as it has to do with the wrecked economy left by the same previous government. Whatever the outcome, the financial commitment has been made, enjoy it, whatever happens most of us will never see it in the UK again, so instead of moaning go out there and support it. Be proud to be part of Team GB and do something positive, then who knows it might just rub off on the rest of our lives and fortunes.
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so let me get this right the DM over hypes the olympics telling us daily to expect trains being over crowded and 15 mile cues to get in cars gridlocked unable to move and then when it doesnt happen as most people knew it wouldnt complains about people over hypeing the possibility of all the things it told us would definitely happen truely amazing
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it seems a certain American is right about London readiness to host a successful Olympics beneficial to the host city
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Manna from heaven for the gloom doom merchants it has made their day
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it seems a certain American is right about London readiness to host a successful Olympic
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London looks on a sunday
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They’ve been spooking us for months about how crowded it was going to be.
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