some areas experienced a decline in tourism demand. The domin-ance of the Games served to capture the attention and resources of visitors to the detriment of attractions that were effectively competing with the event. This situation was compounded when tour operators were unable to offer their normal services in the absence of buses that had been committed to the Games.
A desire to present the 2000 Olympics as a national event, for the whole of Australia, was contingent upon a sense of engagement by people throughout the country. Thus, strate-gies to spread tourism benefits were developed. These included attempts to encourage visits by international teams for pre-Games training and to stage events, as celebrations, to coincide with the arrival of the Olympic torch (cf. discussions of London 2012 in Chapter 10). The need for coordinated planning to achieve these objectives was one of the reasons for the formation of the Tourism Olympic Forum and its activities will be discussed in the following section.
Table 7.1
Members of the Tourism Olympic Forum Government Agencies
Australian Tourist Commission City of Sydney
Office of National Tourism, Department of Industry, Science and Resources Tourism New South Wales
Industry Associations
Australian Federation of Travel Agents Australian Hotels Association
Australian Tourism Industry Association Board of Airline Representatives of Australia Bus and Coach Association
Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation Caravan and Camping Industry Association Catering Institute of Australia
Charter Vessel Operators Association Council of Tourist Associations Federal Airports Corporation
Hotel, Motel & Accommodation Association Inbound Tourism Organization
Meetings Industry Association Motor Inns & Motels Association Motor Traders Association
National Roads and Motorists Association Ltd New South Wales Council of Tourist Associations New South Wales Special Events Agency Outdoor Tour Operators Association Pacific Asia Travel Association Regional Airlines Association Registered Clubs Association Restaurant & Catering Association Retail Traders Association Sydney Airport
Special Events Ltd
Sydney Convention & Visitor Bureau Taxi Council of NSW
Tourism Council Australia Tourism Task Force Tourism Training Australia Tourism Attractions Association Olympic Organizations
Olympic Co-ordination Authority Olympic Media Centre
Olympic Roads & Transport Authority
Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games Sydney Paralympic Committee Organizing Committee
that might be introduced to accommodate event-specific plan-ning. Thus, an emphasis was placed on information gathering.
This involved a form of network extension by seeking to form relationships with informed decision-makers within government agencies and departments of SOCOG. The need for research was recognized. A specialist library, devoted to Olympic literature, was established and new studies were commissioned. An accom-modation needs analysis that was conducted on behalf of the Forum found that 5600 extra hotel rooms would be required in the lead up to the Games. A desire to learn from the experi-ence of other host cities resulted in visits to Barcelona, Nagano and Atlanta by members of the Forum. In each case, information from representatives of the cities’ tourism and hospitality indus-tries was sought. The 1996 Games provided the best opportunity to understand the implications of the Olympics for Sydney and three ‘missions’ to Atlanta were made; before, during and after the Centenary Games.
In the second period, between 1997 and 1999, the emphasis of the Forum shifted more towards planning with a series of issues addressed by sub-committees (Table 7.2). Each sub-committee had a Chair with membership reflecting the particular interests of the Forum’s members and the expertise they were able to offer. A strategic framework was developed to plan activities for each of these issues. Examples for Access and Packaging/Distribution are given in Table 7.3.
The activities of the sub-committees were reviewed at Forum meetings, with work undertaken between the meetings. The inclusion of experts from outside the membership of the Forum who were able to make valuable contributions to the work of the sub-committees was encouraged.
During the final period, in 2000, the work of the sub-committees and the decisions taken at Forum meetings reflected
Table 7.2
Sub-committees of the Tourism Olympic Forum Branding/Positioning
Media/Publicity Access Sponsors
Packaging/Distribution Visitor Services/Information Capacity
Service Quality Regional Dispersion
Table 7.3
Tourism Olympic Forum Strategic Framework
Strategic Issue 3: Access Rationale
• Easy movement into and around Sydney and New South Wales will leave visi-tors with a positive impression and promote repeat visitation and word-of-mouth promotion.
• Benefits, including yield, can be increased by assisting visitors to easily access a wide range of places and activities.
Strategic Directions
• Assist/influence transport operators to provide easier access to activities and places attractive to visitors.
• Present tourism needs in key Forums where decisions affecting routing and timing of transport services are determined.
• Work with key public/private transport groups to facilitate integrated tourism trans-port system for Sydney (with regional linkages).
• Incorporate transport access information into the main visitor information system.
Responsibility
• Bus and Coach Association, Chartered Vessels Association, Retail Traders Associ-ation, Sydney City Council, Department of Transport, Federal Airports CorporAssoci-ation, Tourism Task Force, Motor Traders Association.
Strategic Issue 5: Packaging/Distribution Rationale
• The distribution network is different from source market to source market. Thus, each market requires a tailored approach to packaging and distribution of the Olympic related tourism experience.
• Appropriately structured packages associated with the Olympics are a key mech-anism to convert interest in a destination into an actual visit.
Strategic Directions
• Work with the designated National Olympic Committee (NOC) appointed whole-salers to incorporate Sydney/New South Wales into their Olympic packages.
• Explore the wide range of electronic distribution options (e.g., Internet) for travel to Australia associated with the Olympics.
Responsibility
• Inbound Tourism Organization of Australia, Australian Tourist Commission, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Australian Federation of Travel Agents, Tourist Attractions Association.
a move away from planning to a greater concern with imple-mentation strategies. Thus, activities under the headings of Hosting/Welcome and Visitor Information received greater promi-nence. An example of outcomes associated with the different stages of the work of the Forum is provided by the Media Centre that was built at Darling Point, in Sydney. This was a separate facility to the official Centre for accredited media that was located at Olympic Park. Participants in the Forum’s ‘missions’ to Atlanta returned with a clear understanding of the problems that had been created in the absence of facilities and services that met the needs of the non-accredited media. Subsequent, planning for the Media Centre formed part of the work undertaken by the Forum’s Media sub-committee which also sought the necessary funding to build the Centre from State and Federal agencies and from Olympic sponsors. During the Games, tourism information and tours were offered by members of the Forum to journalists using the Centre. This was designed to support the preparation of news items and stories that were consistent with tourism objectives (see discussions on leveraging Olympic media in Chapter 4).
In reviewing the role of the Forum, two features are parti-cularly noteworthy; the importance of communication and the complexity of network development. The quarterly Forum meet-ings provided the main vehicle for members to share informa-tion and to develop comprehensive, integrated strategies for the tourism industry. Reports of specific projects undertaken by the sub-committees were given at the Forum meetings. Information was also presented by senior managers of SOCOG and by Forum members who were also members of other important planning committees. This provided a vital way of disseminating informa-tion about policies of critical importance to the tourism indus-try such as changes to airport procedures, the timing of road closures and security policies at hotels. As representatives of industry associations, Forum members reported relevant infor-mation, gained at the meetings, to their respective membership, making it possible for individual businesses to respond accord-ingly. In addition to these information flows, conferences were organized by the Forum, annually, from 1996 to 1999. The popu-larity of the conferences made it possible to communicate infor-mation about particular themes, reflecting the state of tourism preparations, to large numbers of people. Each of the conferences attracted approximately 600 delegates from around Australia.
In 1996, information gathered during the ‘missions’ to Atlanta was presented under the conference title of Lessons from Atlanta.
Subsequent titles, such as Sharing the Knowledge and Getting Down to Business illustrated the conference rationales.
The Forum is consistent with a partnership that was formed to address tourism issues associated with the 2000 Olympics however, its work can be analysed as a series of network relation-ships. These included participation in interdepartmental com-mittees of the state government and a special Olympic planning committee of the Federal government that reported directly to the Prime Minister. Close links with SOCOG provided access to the ‘Olympic Family’ including members of the IOC, National Olympic Committees, Olympic sponsors and accredited Media organizations. Some of the relationships were formalized and a partnership was formed between Visa, an Olympic sponsor, and three Forum members (Tourism NSW, the ATC and the Sydney Visitor and Convention Bureau). Resources were invested by Visa to support a destination promotion campaign under the banner of ‘Australia prefers Visa’.
The ATC was a key member of the Forum and was a central player in many of its most important activities (see discussions on policy legacies in Chapter 5). It also had distinctive responsi-bilities as the tourism agency responsible for marketing Australia as a tourist destination. Activities related to this role will now be discussed.