Nazifa Tasneem Ahmed :
Taking a bold leap in reverting to the old normal, Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics games finally took place after being held back for a year. It took place in Tokyo from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The host country, Japan, spent at least a whopping $15.4 billion constructing enormous stadiums, well-facilitated athlete’s village and fortifying infrastructure and roadways to accommodate the large influx of people. However, most of it went in vain as a travel ban of foreign tourists and a Covid-19 state of emergency was imposed in Japan to keep the novel corona virus infections away from infecting athletes and keeping it under control overall. Though revenues through ticket sales are considered the mainstream of returns for investments, it was not the case in the costliest segment of the world’s biggest game. However, despite the $ 800m loss from the sale of tickets to tourists and locals, it did have an economic benefit of $55.75 billion on Japan’s economy.
A national stadium with accommodation of 68,000 audiences and seven other sports venues were built; in addition, 25 other related facilities were renovated just for the Olympics. All such added a boost to the economy by $3 billion. Construction of the athletes’ village in union with surrounding roadwork and infrastructure added a synergic lift of $ 490 million economically. For example, the National Stadium and Tokyo Aquatics Center and others will be repurposed to hold future international competitions. Japanese athletes can also use these train themselves after the conclusion of the summer games. The athletes’ village will be converted into apartments to satisfy the inhabitation demands of the world’s most populous metropolitan area.
This game was indeed memorable for Japan. Not only did they host the competition, but they also earned 58 medals in total. The Japanese conquered the third-highest rank in the games, obtaining 27 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze medals. Females achieved 15 out of 27 gold medals. All three medalists of women’s park skateboarding were born in Japan. Kathy Matsui says that it will serve as an encouragement for females to pursue athletics. This also indicates the diminishing gender gap in male-oriented Japan.
Due to restrictions to watch matches upfront, the Japanese people poured their investments on small and big screens to make up for the constraint. An increase in sales in OLED TVs was observed during this time. Compared to the sales of OLED TVs in 2020, in July 2021, sales had jumped up by as much as 30 per cent. Also, accessibility to the games through online streaming services allowed audiences to watch whenever and wherever they wanted. This, in general, raised the viewership ranking higher than it usually is for the Olympics.
An economic boost from investments was seen as hotels and restaurants renovated themselves in anticipation of serving thousands of foreign tourists while the games went on. Though the travel ban shattered such dreams of hotel owners, all the work put in will not go in vain. This economic legacy of the games will continue to attract guests from all corners of the world as covid cases subside and travellers back are in motion again. In a report by NHK, it was said that although expected revenues may not have been generated in the short term, it will most likely be regained in the long run. As athletes would come back to Japan with family or friends to make new memories and relive those glorious days, such may affect the economy favourably in the longer run. Once tourists have absorbed the essence of Japan, they will come back, longing for more.
Tokyo 2020 was titled the “Recovery Olympics” as the government yearned to show the world how far Japan had come since the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. Olympic officials chose Fukushima as the initial point for the torch relay to put the spotlight on reconstruction efforts and selected it for holding baseball and softball games as well. Even the Olympic bouquets presented with medals were also sourced from Fukushima
Cities bid for the right to host major prestigious events like the Olympic Games for significant economic stimulus from trade and tourism benefits. Plus, it puts the host city in the spotlight globally. Not only is income generated directly from the games, but indirectly too. New businesses sprung up nearby the stadiums to cater to the needs of the athletes and spectators. Hotels and restaurants experience a rise in sales and profits in such periods. Though the traditional flow of economic events did not occur this time, it opened up our eyes to other income streams through the games and other positive economic effects that were neglected before.
(The writer is a student, Dept. of Economics, North South University).
