Game for
anything DESTINATION IN THE WAKE OF THE OLYMPICS, LONDON HAS A LEGACY OF
VENUES, ACCOMMODATION AND NEW ATTRACTIONS THAT WILL BE A MAGNET FOR THE MICE INDUSTRY, WRITES CORA LYDON.
LIKE MOST CITIESthat have hosted the Olympic Games, London will have an infrastructure legacy that will be a gold- mine for the MICE industry. As well as venues, conference and incentive groups will have access to parks, gardens, attractions and improved transportation. After the Paralympics, the Games park will undergo a five-
year transformation, re-opening from next year to become a top attraction, according to P&MM Events & Communications exe- cutive director Nigel Cooper. “The vision is to create an urban landscape for a modern city and also to create one of Europe’s premier visitor destinations.” While most of the Olympic venues will be rejigged for sports,
others will be remodelled as venues. The Copper Box, for exam- ple, will become an exhibition, concert and multipurpose venue. And ideal for team-building activities will be the parks and gardens with open meadows plus a new 2000-tree wood- land complementing a new urban wetland ecology park.
26 ISSUE THREE 2012 |
WWW.EXECUTIVEPA.ASIA When the organisers first began to consider the various
venues for the Olympics, the focus was on planning for the future, not just the weeks when the athletes were in town. “The stadium itself will be slimmed down and, among other
events, will host the 2017 World Athletics Championships,” says Cooper. “The aquatics centre will also be remodelled to become the UK’s premier centre with 2500 seats.”
A TASTE OF LONDON When overseas corporate groups flooded the UK capital dur- ing the Olympics and Paralymics, outside of watching the sport- ing action the visitors spurned traditional London attractions in favour of “real British” experiences. Corporate travel and events company ATPI Group reports that
event bookers and corporate clients in record numbers were opt- ing for traditional experiences rather than theatre trips and sight- seeing. Ale tastings at gastro pubs and British cookery classes
© LOCOG/Populous
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