Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil: learning from Barcelona and Sydney

New Published Research linking legacy and new tourism segments to the success of large events in Brazil

This is research that explores how legacy and the new tourism segments; senior tourism and accessible tourism, can provide business opportunities for the tourism industry in Brazil prior to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.

Published in Spanish, with abstracts in Portuguese and English

Copyright © 2014 RAE publicação. All rights reserved.

JUEGOS OLÍMPICOS Y PARALÍMPICOS EN BRASIL: APRENDIENDO DE BARCELONA Y SIDNEY
Jogos olímpicos e paraolímpicos no Brasil: aprendendo com Barcelona e Sidney
Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil: learning from Barcelona and Sydney

Domínguez, Trinidad;

Darcy, Simon;
Alén, Elisa

Resumen

Entre 2014 y 2016, Brasil será sede de numerosos eventos, donde se destaca la celebración de las Olimpiadas en Rio de Janeiro. La industria del turismo será una de las grandes beneficiadas, teniendo como objetivo duplicar el número de turistas, 10 millones en 2016, y generar oportunidades de negocios. Esta investigación plantea el análisis de dicha meta a través de dos elementos vinculados a las Olimpíadas, el legado y la apertura a nuevos segmentos de turistas, concretamente el turismo sénior y el accesible. Se llevará a cabo un análisis de contenido de la bibliografía existente sobre Río 2016 para determinar el estado del arte, y posteriormente se realizará un estudio de caso de las Olimpíadas de Barcelona y Sídney, con el objetivo de obtener las claves del éxito de su legado y la repercusión a nivel turístico. Esto posibilitará identificar los pasos a seguir por Brasil para alcanzar su objetivo turístico.

Resumo

Entre 2014 e 2016, o Brasil será sede de inúmeros eventos, onde se destaca a celebração das Olimpíadas no Rio de Janeiro. A indústria do turismo será uma das grandes beneficiadas, tendo como objetivo duplicar o número de turistas, 10 milhões em 2016, e gerar oportunidades de negócios. Esta investigação propõe a análise desta meta através de dois elementos vinculados às Olimpíadas, o legado e a abertura para novos segmentos de turistas, de forma concreta o turismo sênior e o acessível. Uma análise de conteúdo será realizada sobre a bibliografia existente sobre Rio 2016 para determinar o estado da arte, e posteriormente será realizado um estudo de caso das Olimpíadas de Barcelona e Sidney, com o objetivo de obter as chaves do sucesso de seu legado e a repercussão a nível turístico. Isto possibilitará identificar os passos a seguir no Brasil para alcançar seu objetivo turístico.

Abstract

Between 2014 and 2016, Brazil will host a number of large events, where the Olympics of Rio de Janeiro are the most noteworthy. The tourism industry will be one of the beneficiaries. It has established an objective to bring 10 million tourists in 2016, doubling overseas arrivals. This can create many business opportunities for the industry. This paper analyzes this goal by examining two key factors linked to the Olympics, legacy and new tourism segments, in particular, seniors and accessible tourism. A study using content analysis of the bibliography about Rio 2016 will be applied to determine the current body of knowledge. Following this, a case study will be drawn upon the Barcelona and Sydney Games to establish the key elements of the legacy and their tourist outcomes. The findings will establish the main factors required to meet Brazil’s tourist objectives.

Photo 1: Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony © Fiona Darcy 2000

Keywords: Olympic and Paralympic Games of Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona and Sydney, legacy, accessible tourism and senior tourism

Full reference:

Domínguez, T., Darcy, S., & Alén, E. (2014). W). Juegos Olímpicos y Paralímpicos en Brasil: aprendiendo de Barcelona y Sidney. RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas, 54(2), 222-231.

http://rae.fgv.br/sites/rae.fgv.br/files/artigos/9505.pdf

For further information on the paper please contact:

Trinidad Domínguez Vila
Faculty of Business Sciences and Tourism
As Lagoas s/n,
32004 Ourense, Spain
trinidad@uvigo.es

Post Commentary on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - Observations on Disability, Access and Legacy

In a slight divergence from accessible tourism research, this article creates a series of links to commentary on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was certainly a fascinating period for disability, access and accessible tourism brought about by a major sport event. The interdependent and overlapping nature of the areas that we work mean that there are always opportunities for cross promoting equity, diversity and sustainability. While I enjoyed the spectacle, I was actively involved in writing a series of articles about alternative perspectives on the games themselves, sport participation for people with disability, equity in the Paralympic games and what I titled the dark side of the Paralympics (cheating).

• Getting to the starting line at the Paralympics: easier for some than others
• Doping, boosting and other forms of cheating at the Paralympics
• Beyond the Paralympics: where to the disability sport in Australia?

While from a distance the elite athletes were incredibly well taken care of, broke a myriad of world records and were watched by a sell-out crowds, there was still a number of serious issues of discrimination from the perspective of spectators. The most noted of these were issues that involved segregated seating policies, segregated ticket booking policies and the inability to seat a man and his guide dog in a premium seat location - articles and links below.

• Paralympics rules 'make disabled feel nonhuman': here after wheelchair user parents are told they cannot sit with families at event
• Paralympic tickets rip-off: wheelchair users forced to call high cost phone line as able-bodied can simply buy online
• Games jobsworth bars ex-minister Blunkett from Paralympic opening ceremony because of his guide dog

The only good thing about the guide dog incident was that the authorities were just as discriminatory towards VIPs as they work towards the general public as the person involved was an ex-member of the British Parliament! How could these basic considerations in the service blueprint that was a case of foreseeable customer service failure happen at the games that did everything else so well? 

On an accessible tourism front there were some good news stories about some very accessible experiences for those people lucky enough to make it to the games were a local Londoner and Paralympic games swimming medallist Andy Gilbert offers his favourite accessible places to visit.

• Paralympic games 2012: top 10 accessible days out in London

Figure 1: London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Evaluation Framework (UK Department of Sport, Media and Culture, 2009)

Now the challenge for London is to live up to the hype of legacy planning. Hopefully accessible tourism will be one of the legacy outcomes from the games. However, this won't just eventuate and requires strategic planning and resourcing. London has become the first Olympic and Paralympic games to extensively plan for impacts and legacy evaluation through an extensive framework shown in Figure 1 (UK Department for Culture Media and Sport, 2009). Unlike the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which only started to plan for legacy some years after the games had finished (Cashman, 2006; Cashman & Darcy, 2008; Darcy & Appleby, 2011), only time will tell as to what the legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be and how well it is evaluated.

References

Cashman, R. (2006). The bitter-sweet awakening: the legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games: Walla Walla Press in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies, University of Technology, Sydney.

Cashman, R., & Darcy, S. (Eds.). (2008). Benchmark Games: The Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. Petersham, NSW Australia: Walla Walla Press in conjunction with the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies.
Darcy, S., & Appleby, L. (2011). Sydney 2000: Moving from Post-Hoc Legacy to Strategic Vision and Operational Partnership. In D. Legg & K. Gilbert (Eds.), Paralympic Legacies (pp. 75-98). Champaign, IL USA: Common Ground Publishing LLC.

UK Department for Culture Media and Sport. (2009). London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Impacts and Legacy Evaluation Framework: Final Report   Retrieved from http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/files/DCMS_Olympic_Evaluation_final_report.pdf

English Tourism Awards recognise accessible tourism and the spillover effect from the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics

The English tourism awards have identified the exceptional performance being made in accessible tourism over the last few years. In particular, they identify the University of Leeds Access for All developments that have provided the infrastructure for the Canadian Paralympic wheelchair rugby team to stay, train and enjoy the accessible and inclusive environment.

http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk/awards/6822-englands-finest-set-to-battle-it-out-at-2012-tourism-awards-

This type of initiative builds on the excellent work of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games Legacy Now Program that specifically identified accessible tourism as one of the targeted outcomes of games planning and execution. One outcome has been the integration of accessible tourism within the Tourism Vancouver website. The website goes on to integrate a series of accessible tourism resources. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Tourism Australia's website that has stripped all reference to accessible tourism over the last 18 months except to suggest two other organisations to contact - http://www.australia.com/plan/before-you-go/useful-tips.aspx.

Photo 1: Tourism Vancouver welcoming tourists with disability Source: http://www.tourismvancouver.com/vancouver/accessible-vancouver/

London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games organisers have certainly sought to build upon the Beijing 2008 games, which provided an excellent accessible games experience but not necessarily an ongoing legacy of access or accessible tourism. London's approach to legacy has been at the forefront of their discussions from the involvement of youth through to the integration of disability in all aspects of the Olympics and Paralympics. Of course, legacy is a consideration that is best judged long after the games is finished and let's hope London seize their opportunity and create a lasting legacy of accessibility long into the future.

http://www.london2012.com/legacy-after-the-games

Academically legacy has only been the subject of substantive research over the last decade. A major paper on conceptualising and measuring mega-sport event legacies is Preuss' (2007) "Cube" conceptualisation that examines planned/unplanned, negative/positive, and tangible/intangible dimensions of legacy. Preuss' conceptualisations drew on the major event legacy literature but without reference to Paralympic or disability related major events. In developing the conceptualisation of legacies for major events, Dickson, Benson & Blackman (2011) extended Preuss' conceptualisation through considering Olympic and Paralympic legacy by including timeframe together with planning, tangibility, spread of impact and magnitude of the effect. These conceptualisations were then measured by the components of economics, sports participation, infrastructure, environmental, urban renewal, transport and volunteer/social capital using a radar or spiders web graphic. The inclusion of the fledgeling Paralympic legacy literature has provided another dimension to the social legacies of mega sporting events. The Paralympic legacy literature has recently been supplemented through the publication of Legg & Gilbert's (2011) book aptly titled Paralympic Legacies.

References

Dickson, T. J., Benson, A. M., & Blackman, D. A. (2011). Developing a framework for evaluating Olympic and Paralympic legacies. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 16(4), 285-302.

Legg, D., & Gilbert, K. (Eds.). (2011). Paralympic Legacies. Champaign, IL USA: Commonground Publishing.

Preuss, H. (2007). The conceptualisation and measurement of mega sport event legacies. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 12(3), 207-228.