2012 Olympic Games

Lincoln

The 2012 Olympic Games offer a significant opportunity for the East Midlands visitor economy. For the 17 days of the Olympic Games and the 12 days of the Paralympics Games the eyes of the world will be not only be focused on London but also the UK as a whole.

The visitor economy has been identified as a key area of activity in the East Midlands Strategy for the 2012 Games, developed by East Midlands Development Agency’s 2012 team, which sets out the region’s ambition in the run up to the games and beyond.

East Midlands Tourism has, together with a 2012 visitor economy steering group, agreed three objectives around which the visitor economy will focus its activity.

• Develop the region’s tourism offer by building closer links with sporting and cultural events
• Support the visitor industry to raise product and service quality standards via the East Midlands’ ‘Quality Improvement Programme’, and a regional commitment to skills development within the sector
• Fully exploit the 2012 ‘platform’ to grow visitor numbers to the region before, during and after the Games, securing a wider East Midlands visitor audience as a lasting legacy

East Midlands Tourism has produced a guide, Think Smile, to help businesses prepare to welcome the international visitors who will be attending for the 2012 Games. It also feeds into the official tourism website for the 2012 Games (www.tourism2012games.org) and the accompanying monthly e-Newsletter which provides updates on tourism activity linked to the Olympic Games.