Chamber News: Economic Impact of Olympics

Commenting on the economic impact of the Olympic Games on Greater Manchester, Dr Brian Sloan, Chief Economist at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: "With some restrictions on publicising involvement with Olympic games’ contracts it is not easy to immediately identify the benefits to businesses in the region of the London 2012 games.

"It has been confirmed that £212million in contracts for the games has been awarded to North West businesses, with much of this accruing to businesses in Greater Manchester, and the area will have hosted nine football matches at Old Trafford by the close of the games.

"The Chamber has estimated that the revenues generated in the region, as a result of these matches alone, will exceed £30m. These are the easily identifiable economic benefits to the region, but there are also the spillover economic effects, such as new or sustained employment. There are also reports of increased numbers of rail passengers on the routes to and from London that indicate other increased activity, which is harder to directly attribute to the games or football at Old Trafford.

"There are a number of athlete training camps across the region that are having an impact on demand in these areas. We mustn’t forget that the torch relay generated considerable activity across the North West, as 1.2 million people lined streets to see it, about 1 in 5 of the population, and there are many more community-based projects that will allow the legacy of the games to have an intangible benefit to the region into the future."