London 2012 Olympics Tickets Tours and Hotels: When to book your London 2012 tour?

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"Got any rooms?" London 2012 is
turning out to be a tourist's nightmare.

I doubt there was this much conflict under the communist Chinese for Beijing 2008! If ever there were an example of excessive litigation, look no further than the London 2012 Olympics.

According to a recent report from Europe, advance-booking demand for hotels during the LondonOlympic Games is down by 80%, but hotels are still keeping rooms off the market. That report raises the classic dilemma of would-be Olympic Games visitors to the London Games next summer, July 27-August 12, and it leaves at least one reader in a quandary: If I want to take in the Games, should I buy now or wait for a bargain price?


As my colleague Christine Sarkis recently blogged, the ticket sale process has started through CoSport, the official reseller for Games tickets to residents of the U.S., Canada, Australia, and a bunch of European countries. The "ticket request phase" runs through April 22, and "hospitality package sales" started on March 15. So far, CoSport isn't showing any prices, but it is accepting registrations and requests. The official London-based Olympic ticket website specifically states that it will not sell to foreign visitors. However, if you have some friends in the U.K., you might have them inquire about buying tickets for you there.


In some prior Olympic Games, host-country and regional demand for tickets has fallen far short of expectations and national allocations. In those cases, local authorized sellers have released ticket inventory to foreign agencies and tour operators basically, to any outfit willing to buy them. In other years, Games admission has become the "hottest ticket in town." Whether U.K. demand will exceed or fail to meet expectations is anyone's guess. In any case, various U.S. ticket resellers, such as TicketCity are also taking requests for tickets, which may come either through CoSports or from initial allocations that originally went to other countries.


As always, as opening day approaches, you'll see a secondary market in event tickets: Will they go at scalper prices or distressed levels? That's the big question, with no answer yet in sight.Tour operators of all stripes are organizing Olympic packages, some through CoSports, some through sports tour specialists, some through mainline tour operators. So far, the only hard prices I've seen were from Roadtrips, which lists a four-night package starting at a mind-boggling $3,695 per person, excluding airfare and event tickets. I suspect that, at least early on, other package prices will also be very high.


As noted, London and nearby hotels are holding most of their room inventory out for Olympic packagers and direct sales. So far, none of the big hotel chain or online agency sites is even quoting prices more than a year in advance, so I can't give any examples. But you'll be able to check prices starting this July. Typically, host countries always anticipate a great shortage of accommodations during the Games, and they try to line up accommodations in student dormitories, private houses, and other places that don't usually cater to short-term visitors. London is doing this, as well, and you can look for special websites set up for accommodations searches.


If anyone believes airfares can be forecasted accurately more than a year in advance, I have some great bridges I'd sell him or her. Overall, the long-term trend in airfares is upward, as the world's major airlines do a better job of matching seats to demand than they've done in the past. And, at least so far, no transatlantic low-fare lines have emerged to challenge the quasi-monopoly of the giant lines from North America to London. Airlines don't post fares this far in advance, so you can't tell anything yet. And the onerous British "air-passenger duty" will continue to make London an unusually expensive ticket.

But the 800-pound gorilla in the airfare room is the price of oil. If oil remains at current levels, you can expect higher airfares in 2012, but an easing of oil prices will certainly ease airfare pressures.


London has spent a lot of time and money in beefing up transport services in and around the primary Olympic site on London's East Side. Expansions and improvements include the Docklands Light Railway to Stratford International, upgraded rail stops at Stratford and adjacent Stratford International to accommodate both conventional and high-speed trains, and expanded underground stations and platforms. Special high-speed trains will make the trip from St Pancras Station to Stratford International in seven minutes. Although the Olympic Park will host a majority of events, others will occur as far away as Greenwich to the east, and Wembley and Wimbledon to the west. As far as I can tell, all venues enjoy good public transport. Apparently, British ticket buyers will automatically receive a " Games Travel Card" providing for transport between the primary Game venues and all nine London transport zones. Presumably, foreign visitors will be able to buy similar cards.


At this point, I can provide only a few general suggestions for prospective visitors:

•If you prefer to lock in your experience, buy in early register for Games tickets, accommodations, or packages immediately and be prepared to pay top dollar.


•If you're willing to gamble, you may find some "sale" prices on tickets, accommodations, and packages as opening day approaches. But waiting runs the risk of paying top dollar. Don't adopt a waiting strategy unless you're willing to miss out entirely on the Games.


•No matter what, if you don't want to get involved with the Olympics, stay clear of London entirely. Visiting during that time and probably several weeks or so before and after is an open invitation for a royal fleecing.


Get fleeced or risk not going not an attractive choice. But nobody said life was fair.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our package tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, including London Olympics hotels, London 2012 tickets, and summer games VIP access, please visit our websites http://www.london-olympiad.com/ http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Sports & Performing Arts

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An A-list roster from across the arts world, including Mike Leigh, Toni Morrison, Damon Albarn, Cate Blanchett, Rachel Whiteread and Jude Law, will take part in what was today billed as an "extraordinary, once in a lifetime" series of events to coincide with the London Olympics. More than three million people are expected to attend the Cultural Olympiad's London 2012 festival, which if successful, will represent a spectacular turnaround for a project which has been widely derided as a potential flop. David Hockney, asked if he'd like to send a message of support, emailed an artwork from his iPad which included the text "See you in 2012". His Olympics contribution will be a major exhibition at the Royal Academy during the 12-week festival, which will begin in June 2010 – about two months before the sport starts – and run until the end of the Paralympics, which follow the main Games.


Announcing some of the works already commissioned, Cultural Olympiad director Ruth Mackenzie, said: "This is just a small, small taster. We are still 18 months away and we want to hold our fire for when we actually start selling tickets in October 2011. But we are going to tease." So the launch at the Royal Opera House included headlines rather than details. In the visual arts, Rachel Whiteread will be doing "something" in east London, while Martin Creed will be creating a new sound piece, and Olafur Eliasson will be creating an unspecified work. The Nobel-prize winning novelist Toni Morrison is collaborating with the Malian singer Rokia Traoré and the director Peter Sellars on a Desdemona inspired work, while Damon Albarn and his Gorillaz partner Jamie Hewlett will create something new with theatre director Rufus Norris. Regular collaborators, director Deborah Warner and actor Fiona Shaw, will create what is described as "an extraordinary coastal installation".


Ironically, one of the most detailed project synopses came from an artist famous for giving precious little away. Mike Leigh has been co-commissioned by BBC Films and Film4 – normally rivals – to make a short film which will, according to the publicity, be "an Olympic reflection on athletics in general and running in particular, as well as aerobics, karate, football, swimming and Pilates, not to mention taxis and secondhand cars." The accompanying photograph of the Mile End Road in east London may be something of a give away to its setting. Not everyone will have noticed, but the Cultural Olympiad, which has £83m at its disposal, has been going on, with a series of events around the country, since the Beijing games ended in 2008. It was criticised as too uncoordinated and directionless – 'we don't know who's running it' was the complaint among arts leaders – until the arrival of first Tony Hall as chairman a year ago, and then the experienced arts manager Mackenzie as director.


They soon decided that the Cultural Olympiad needed a big bang finale as its main event, hence the 12-week festival in the runup to the Olympics. Mackenzie said they wanted to create an "extraordinary, once in a lifetime" series of 1,000 events that had excellence at their core. The festival is UK-wide; so choreographer Akram Khan will work with post-graduates from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds; the composer James MacMillan will produce a new work to commemorate the anniversary of Coventry Cathedral, 60 years after Benjamin Britten marked its opening with War Requiem; and the film writer Mark Cousins will present a 12-hour history of innovation in cinema that will be screened across the UK.


The festival kicks off at the Ebrington Barracks in Derry with an event devised by the Peace One Day charity which promotes the idea of having one day, 21 September, which is free from conflict – a global day of truce. Jude Law, an ambassador for the charity, will co-produce the event.There will be a lot of Shakespeare in 2012 but full details of the World Shakespeare Festival, co-ordinated by the Royal Shakespeare Company, will be announced next year. A few Bard scraps were though revealed including the fact that the RSC will present plays around the theme of 'What country, friends, is this?' – from Twelfth Night – and there will be specific commissions of Romeo and Juliet from the Iraqi Theatre Company in Baghdad with the Montagues and Capulets being Sunni and Shia; a Richard III inspired spectacle from Rio de Janeiro's Companhia Bufomecanica; and a reimagined Coriolanus from Mike Pearson and the National Theatre of Wales.


The big question was whether the organisers of the Cultural Olympiad would return to the custom of the earliest games and treat the arts as a competitive event, perhaps even awarding their own gold medals. Instead, they've opted for the more conventional model of a festival. The organisers have chosen a risky slow-striptease strategy, in which they dangled a few names yesterday – Mike Leigh, David Hockney, Toni Morrison, Cate Blanchett – while warning that these are only a fraction of the eventual commissions. This is potentially a clever approach – because pundits can be told that the best will be in the rest – but, with tickets not even going on sale until next October, it risks encouraging anticipation fatigue. But the biggest danger for the Cultural Olympiad's director, Ruth McKenzieRuth Mackenzie, on the basis of the repertoire sketched out today, is that she will be accused of turning Britain into a vast Barbican centre.


The events about which she became most excited at the press conference – the UK premiere of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's experimental epic, Einstein on the Beach, and a rare chance to see here a play by the German dramatist Botho Strauss – are all niche theatrical events of a sort familiar from the London International Festival of Theatre: the artistic equivalent of the small-bore shooting rather than the 100 metres. Beyond theatre, there are creators with broader appeal: Olafur Eliasson, after attracting two million people to the Tate with his fake sun, deserves another big stage, and dancer Akram Khan, whose choreography appropriately combines aesthetics and athleticism, is another good fit for this gig. The overall theme of "truce" – including a Peace One Day concert in Derry – is potentially problematic, given that the failure of Osama bin Laden and his followers to sign up means that the games will take place amid one of the biggest security operations in history.


Many will be sceptical about why a sporting event needs an artistic sister – the Ashes and the FIFA World Cup manage without – and, if Mackenzie and her team are going to make the case for spending £83m on supplementary culture, they must find at least some events which match the mainstream, feelgood appeal of the topline sports.


Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Hotel Rates May Double During Olympics

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He won't see a windfall during London 2012.

When demand far exceeds supply, prices spiral out of control. We've seen it happen during the Tour de France (http://www.tdf-tours.com/) and Running of the Bulls (http://www.pamplona-spain.com/). London's Olympic Games won't be any different.

Hotel prices across London may more than double during the London 2012 Olympics, according to market intelligence company Rubicon. However, while hoteliers can expect bumper profits during the course of the Games with demand for the city's 120,000 hotel rooms reaching a high, they could risk losing out in the long term with corporate business expected to plunge by up to 80% over the whole summer period. Traditional package business from overseas visitors is also expected to fall over the summer with tour operators fearing they may be priced out of the market. Rubicon has based its predictions on evidence gathered from Vancouver earlier this year, during the four months around the winter Olympic Games.

Rubicon managing director for Europe Andy Storey said the study shows that hotels should be mindful of losing the revenue they make during the Olympic Games. "Generally hotel owners fail to put enough attention on the shoulder seasons either side of sporting events, and this is what causes them to do worse than in normal years. "It is no surprise that hotels will be busy during the event itself, but London properties should heed warnings and set pricing and market accordingly." Meanwhile, Rubicon believes towns within an easy commute of central London could be the winners during the Olympics, with business travellers and tourists forced to head further afield to find reasonably priced hotel rooms.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ and http://www.london-tours-2012.com or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Budget Cuts to Affect Games?

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

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What will be the fate of the London 2012 Olympic games when the Cameron government announces its cuts on October 20?

Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson told insidethegames he is ready to face impending cuts to his budget, with D-Day approaching in less than three weeks. The Government is set to announce huge expenditure cuts to practically all departments as part of a major spending review on October 20 - with sport in Britain almost certain to face a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in its annual budget.


However, Robertson said he is braced for the worst and has plans in place to help sport through what is set to be an extremely difficult time. Robertson told insidethegames: “It is my absolute intention to protect the funding for athletes and to make sure that all sports have their plans to increase participation up and running. "Any money we have left over will go directly towards the London 2012 legacies we are planning.


"We know what we want to do but obviously we’re not going to release the exact details until we know for sure how much money we’ve got to play with. Sport is one of those things that could almost absorb an incontestable amount of money. You could triple the budget and I could do all sorts of wonderful things, like ensure everyone going through the British education system has full opportunities to participate in every single sport. That would be fantastic but it’s completely unrealistic as we’ve inherited a horrible situation which means that cuts simply have to happen. The fact is I’m going to do my utmost to protect sport regardless of what the financial settlement is on October 20."
Robertson also gave his full support to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, claiming he is fighting hard to secure sport the best possible settlement when the cuts are made. He said: "To be fair to him, Jeremy is doing everything he can to protect the DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport) budget and treat all sectors of it equally. "I know first-hand from being in all of the meetings with him that he is doing everything he possibly can to protect both the DCMS budget and the Olympics budget to the best of his abilities. Clearly though, I am the person inside Government who speaks up for sport and tries to defend it. Once we know what the settlement is, I am determined that we don’t just ‘salami slice’ the top off everything we are funding as I want us to actually sit down and look carefully at what is working well and what isn’t. I obviously want us to carry on doing the things we are doing well. That’s going to mean full funding and fully backing projects that function well and probably cutting out a number of things that don’t function well. I’m determined we don’t simply bumble along as we are, doing everything as we are now, but just rather less well than we have in the past because of the funding cuts."

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

The Yanks Are Coming! London 2012 Summer Games Tickets & Tours

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The Yanks are coming! Never a nation of half-measures, the Americans prove once again they do everything bigger...and better? They are landing in East London to create their own ‘beachhead’ ready for the London 2012 Olympics invasion.The US Olympic Committee is taking over part of the University of East London’s campuses at the Royal Docks and Stratford, just a javelin throw from the Olympics Park, as its base for athlete training.

More than 1,000 athletes, coaches, scientists, medical practitioners and support staff are to use university’s state-of-the-art facilities.University vice chancellor Patrick McGhee said: “Hosting some of the world’s greatest athletes in their preparations for 2012 is an inspiration for our youngsters. It’s an opportunity to build a sports legacy that will continue beyond 2012.”Team USA will be using the halls of residence, setting up onsite sports science, medicine and media centres as their operational base.

They will also use the new £18 million (US$27 million) sports and academic centre at the Docklands campus due to open next year with its gym and fitness suite, a large indoor sports arena, 10 badminton courts, two competition basketball, volleyball and netball courts, cricket bays, two five-a-side football pitches, sports café and covered seating for 400 people.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: "Next" Latest Olympic Sponsor

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Fashion chain Next has been given its biggest design challenge yet – to create clothes to inspire British athletes to Olympic glory. The Leicestershire company will help Team GB's quest for gold after being asked to produce about 5,000 outfits for athletes and officials to wear at the opening and closing ceremonies of 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in London.

The retailer will also provide formal suits, as well as furnishings and linen for the athletes' village. Next, which will be an official sponsor, would not say how much the deal was worth.It said some jobs would be created at its Enderby design studio. Experts said sales would increase as a result of the deal, which will see the group create a range of London 2012 clothing and homeware for its stores. Christos Angelides, Next executive director, said: "We are all proud of the British athletes and look forward to helping in a small way to make them look great at the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. "We also look forward to providing our customers with exclusive access to a range of clothing and homeware that reflects the excitement and atmosphere of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games."

A Next spokesman said: "There's going to be a group of designers on this."A few new jobs will be created as a result." Paul Deighton, chief executive of London 2012, said: "I'm confident Next will create a fantastic look for the athletes, officials and staff as well as helping us to make the London 2012 product available across the country."Julie King, head of fashion and textiles at De Montfort University, said: "It's a great coup for Next. "I think it will have a positive impact on their sales."David Hughes, chief executive of Prospect Leicestershire, the agency charged with promoting county businesses, said: "It will be great to see a Leicestershire firm so prominently flying the flag for Team GB at the Olympics. "It will really help to put the county on the map."Next is not the only Leicestershire company benefiting from the London 2012 Games.

Plumbing and heating equipment supplier BSS Group, of Lee Circle, Leicester, and powered access equipment hire firm Lavendon, of Lutterworth, are helping to operate one of two plant hire centres used by builders of the Olympic Park.

Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC (Canada). For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Et tu sponsor?

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Since the Los Angeles games in 1983, or the McGames referring to over-sponsorship, London Summer Games Organisers have been at pains to balance much-needed sponsorship revenues with, well good taste. Enter Adidas.

Adidas became London 2012's third sponsor in a deal worth more than $201 million. Adidas becomes the official sportswear partner for the games and also will provide clothing for the 70,000 volunteers and officials. The deal also covered sponsorship for clothing and equipment used by British athletes for the 2008 Beijing Games, the recent 2010 Vancouver Games and 2012 London Games. "No other host city has made such progress in its domestic sponsorship five years out from the games," London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said.

Adidas flew in world champions Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix for a glossy London launch and the pair ran on a mock racing track on the Millennium Bridge over the River Thames to highlight the deal. The sponsorship announcement also featured five-time Olympic goal medalist Nadia Comeneci. England soccer star David Beckham also made an appearance via a hologram -- speaking of his joy competing in front of crowds in his native London. Adidas joins British bank Lloyds TSB, which has signed up as a banking and insurance partner, and EDF Energy, which has the utilities sponsorship. London hopes to name a fourth sponsor by Christmas. The other categories are telecoms, automotive, airline, oil and gas and a clothing and homeware manufacturer.

The top-tier sponsors will help raise $4 billion for the London Olympic organizing committee.
"It's a really important commercial message as well," Coe said. "It's not just the importance of coming to the table with serious help, in terms of helping us deliver our financial commitments. These are partners coming to the table that can bring other levels of expertise. A separate budget for venues, infrastructure and regeneration projects total $18.6 billion. Adidas chief executive officer Herbert Hainer said the sponsorship was the biggest single investment that the German company had made in the British market. He said he wanted Adidas to be the leading ports brand in Britain and the largest sportswear maker in Europe.

For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics Tickets and Tours: Organisers Already Looking Beyond London 2012

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Genuine effort or is this just an interesting photo op? The BBC reports that a group of young people from depressed east London will help decide the future of the 2012 Olympic site, the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) has said. Aged between 13 and 21 and from the five host boroughs, they will visit the site over the next five months.

OPLC Chief Executive Andrew Altman said the idea was to give young people "a sense of ownership" of the site. The panel's 22 members come from Newham, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Greenwich and Tower Hamlets. The group will make several visits to the Olympic Park site, which straddles parts of the five boroughs. The different areas will benefit from regeneration as a result of the Games. The youth panel will also visit local schools and make suggestions as to what events they would like to see in the Olympic Park site after 2012. They will also get to have a say in the long-term planning and urban design of their local boroughs.

Mr Altman said: "We want young people to feel a sense of ownership towards the Olympic Park because they will be the generation that will most experience the change to east London over the next 25 years." Panel member Shaneice Bailey, 14, from Cardinal Pole RC School in Hackney, said: "I joined the Legacy Youth Panel to develop my confidence and share young people's views with others and to have our say. "I joined the youth panel also because I am interested in sports and the Olympics and want to find out more about what is happening first hand."

Olympic organisers have long been at pains to involve British youths, often with mixed results. London's Olympic logo for example received mixed reviews despite trying desperately to be hip.

For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics: London Stadium Ahead of Schedule

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It's all doom and gloom in England these days. With the pound sinking and British economy in ruins, London is spending massive amounts of taxpayer money on Olympian development projects. Case in point: the Olympic stadium is going to cost double the initial estimate. There is a long history of cost overruns associated with hosting the summer Olympics and London's summer games are no exception. By my calculations, the games normally cost taxpayers 2 to 6 times initial estimates and sadly London's Olympic stadium is proving me right.

Initial estimates put the Olympic stadium's pricetag at £270 million (approximately US$405 million) however the costs have, ahem, gone up somewhat. According to the Guardian, the stadium will now cost a staggering £537m (US$752m). The 80,000-seat stadium is located at Marshgate Lane in Stratford in the Lower Lea Valley. Organisers broke ground in mid 2007 although the official construction start date was scheduled for May 22, 2008. However piling works for the stadium's foundation unofficially began four weeks ahead of schedule.

Chief architect Rod Sheard, of HoK Sport, said the stadium would make a big impact, but not in the same way that previous Olympic stadia had. "This is not a stadium that's going to be screaming from the rooftops that it's bigger and more spectacular," he said. "This is just a cleverer building. This is a cleverer solution." The design is apparently modular but comes at a pricetag.

Unlike the profligate Chinese, London 2012 summer games organisers were at pains to reduce, re-use and recycle their various stadia. The design concept is for an 80,000-seat stadium for the summer games. Post-games, the stadium will convert to a smaller 25,000-seat structure that can be re-used for (paying) smaller venues. That was the concept. The reality is proving a bit more problematic. While London 2012's promotional video (see above) suggests a transformer-like switch from 80k seats to 25k, the conversion will eventually cost £100m which in Olympic parlance means £200m-£600m.

Regardless, I think the design is quite striking. Unlike the logo fiasco which does truly look like Lisa Simpson performing a lewd act, the stadium is beautiful. Unlike every other Olympic stadium, the Brits are keeping to a strict construction schedule and may even complete the stadium on time (an Olympic first). Hopefully the removable stadium seats won't collapse while Spyns' clients are watching the opening and closing ceremonies.

For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com/ or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

Spyns London 2012 Olympic Tours: Ballooning Costs an Olympic Tradition

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Why do countries so love grandeur? Nations vying for the games always fugdge the cost during the application process when the final bill is always double or triple the estimate. London has recently fallen victim to Olympian math. Here is a brief analysis of the estimates vs. actual costs for past summer games:

Beijing 2008 Summer Games
Estimate: $4.4 billion / Actual Cost: $58.5 billion* = Cost overrun $54 billion
These figures are difficult to confirm as the Communist Party of China isn't known for its transparancy.

Athens 2004 Summer Games:
Estimate: 4.5 billion euros / Actual Cost: 9 billion euros = Cost overrun 4.5 billion euros

Sydney 2000 Summer Games:
Estimate: AUS$3 billion / Actual Cost: AUS$6.6 billion = Cost overrun AUS$3.6 billion

Montreal 1976 Summer Games:
Esimate: CDN$310 million / Actual Cost: CDN$1.5 billion = Cost overrun CDN$1.2 billion

On average, it costs 6x the initial estimate to actually host the Olympics and London's 2012 Olympiad seems destined to follow this trend.

In keeping with Olympic tradition, Britain's Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who also has special responsibility for the games, revised cost estimates (ahem) upward. The Olympic organising committee originally budgeted 2.4£ billion. The Labour government now projects a total pricetag of 9.3£ billion (approximately US$14 billion). Based on historical averages, the final pricetag should be somewhere between 9-14£ billion or approximately 200£ for every single British citizen. That's quite a lot of cheddar. Here is a chronology of the uptick:

2003: Consultants Arup put total cost of building and staging the Games at £1.796bn
2003: Tessa Jowell launches bid in May telling MPs it will cost £2.375bn - including a 50% contingency
2005: Bid succeeds in July with "prudent" estimate of preparing for games of £2.4bn
2006: Tessa Jowell says Olympic Park costs up to £3.3bn
2007: Olympic Park budget now at £5.3bn - including regeneration and infrastructure
2007: Total budget, including contingency, security and tax, reaches £9.35bn

Why do countries host the games? From a financial standpoint, they can bankrupt a nation like Greece for example. Is seems nations are more than willing to open the public purse for that Olympic moment. Right Athens?

For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

London 2012 Olympics: 80% of Brits Hate Logo

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Fuschia? Someone call Sir Elton.

Unveiled in 2007, the 400,000£ logo for the 2012 games in London caused quite a stir. Some called it "visionary" others found it "ghastly." An Ipsos poll found that two-thirds of British adults disapproved. Journalists even dusted off the worst new-media insult: "It causes epileptic seizures." Some say it resembles Lisa Simpson giving Bart oral pleasure. Reviews are mixed to be sure.

Sadly, the logo is here to stay. The colours are striking but it fails to convey a coherent message in my opinion. The designers said it reached out to engage Britain's youth. The result feels a bit "Ikea Gansta" conveying a level of incongruity not seen since June Cleaver spoke jive in "Airplane." Not surprisingly, the design team was from Wolff Olins which has no offices in Harlem according to the firm's letterhead. Far from tapping Snoop Dogg's street cred, I imagine a group of bald Swedish men sitting around saying things like, "Yo' Svend. What up?"

By contrast, the best Olympic logos convey the host city/country, year, and energy. Although dated, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic logo instantly conveys a truly American message. I also found the Albertville '92 winter Olympic logo actually (gasp) conveyed such vanguard ideas as "winter" and "Olympics."

If the purpose of a brand is to convey an instant message, this design is rather off the mark. To me this logo says, "Yo Svend, they Limey mofos paid 400 large for dis."

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London 2012 Olympics Tours: Tant Pis Paris

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Spyns is an active travel company based in Whistler, BC. We will be offering tours to the London 2010 Olympic games including hotels, sporting events tickets, and VIP access to the opening and closing ceremonies.

London won the games as we all know. I lived in France for a number of years, my wife is French, and my children speak French fluently but I'll be damned if I understand them. Case in point: Paris was the hands-down favourite for the 2012 games and yet lost to arch-rival London in a close 54-50 vote. Why? Nationwide strikes during an official International Olympic Committee visit to the French capital probably didn't hurt. Therein lies the story.

The French are non-conformists. While dining with French friends or family, I often delight in making sweeping generalizations like, "The French are all non-confirmists!" and titter when one of them takes the bait. "I disagree," said my Burgundian father-in-law. By disagreeing, he only proved by point. Whereas the Yanks, Canadians (Editor's Note: the author is Canadian), and Brits long to be loved, the French couldn't give a damn and this nonchalance eventually cost them the games. Most of France supported the games yet a few belligerent French unions saw another opportunity to stage nationwide strikes. What a shame.

Paris would have been the ideal host city - perhaps even better than London. The city of London is terribly overcrowded with creaky infranstructure. Paris on the other hand is a sprawling city with excellent infrastructure and an unparalelled transportation system. It all works remarkably well but devolves into utter chaos during the frequent transportation strikes. Such is France.

Case in point: I always enjoy skiing in France but the lift lines are complete and utter chaos. I'm always astonished at the French love of queue jumping. Everyone from well-to-do Parisian grandparents to helmet-sporting pre-schoolers crush skis in a bizarre attempt to get ahead of eachother. It's the same fiasco at any French airport, bus stop or taxi stand. For a nation founded on fraternité (brotherhood), I have never once had someone give me their parking space or say, "No please. After you." Not surprising then at the unions saw a golden opportunity to promote their agenda at the expense of Paris's failed bid.

And so London 2012 became a reality. Tant pis Paris.

For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.

O Boris Where Art Thou?

http://www.london2012-tours.com
http://www.london-tours-2012.com

What better way to start a blog about the London 2012 Olympics than with Boris Johnson (London's mayor). An unabashed Anglophile, I was thrilled when London bested arch-enemy Paris to win the 2012 summer Olympics. Then the world imploded but we'll get to that in another blog.

I've always enjoyed Johnson's politically incorrect television appearances. Things got better when he was elected mayor of London, perhaps because no one was more surprised at the win than Boris. Johnson is the quintessential dishevelled Etonian and is quite happy to play the buffoon in front of cameras. Therein lies his genius. Imagine my anticipation when he flew down to Beijing for the traditional "passing of the Olympic flag" at the 2008 Olympiad's closing ceremony. He did not disappoint.

Boris was smartly turned out for the closing ceremony. An unabashed colonialist who once suggested England could solve its overpopulation by repossessing northern France, he looked a little overwhelmed while waving the Olympic flag. But who wouldn't? To everyone's surprise, he was elected mayor of London and other than a few stints as a journalist in Brussels, had little experience in international affairs. Cut to the closing ceremony. A billion people were watching him so Johnson put down his gin & tonic and enthusiastically waved the Olympic flag. Mouth firmly shut, he did an excellent job but a storm was coming.

Following the ceremony, Johnson spoke at an impromptu press gathering and rambled on for a few minutes before declaring "ping pong is coming home". Prime Minister Gordon Brown fidgeted in the background. It was a masterful performance although the reference to ping poing, a rather obvious slight against China, was unfortunate. Hopefully Johnson will still be mayor in 2012.

Changing gears, my tour company (Spyns) will soon be launching its London 2010 tours website. We are setting a rather ambitious goal of 500+ clients for the next summer Olympiad. I've reserved http://www.london2012-tours.com/ as a website and fully expect some City trademark lawyer to threaten a lawsuit for using the terms "London 2012." Damn the torpedoes! Before the Olympics, I will also interview and have a photo taken with Sir Boris.

For more information about Spyns and our tours to the 2012 London Summer Olympics, please visit our websites http://www.london2012-tours.com/ http://www.london-tours-2012.com or call us toll-free at 1.888.825.4720.