http://tofflerann.com/2008/06/29/status-of-olympics-tourism/ Cultural & Business Insights, Experiences, Observations Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:23:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 http://tofflerann.com/2008/06/29/status-of-olympics-tourism/comment-page-1/#comment-13941 Dynamic Tourism, China, Business » Reflections on the Olympics Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:02:51 +0000 http://tofflerann.com/2008/06/29/status-of-olympics-tourism/#comment-13941 [...] Despite my doubts whether Beijing would pull off a successful Olympics and the controversy over free press, human rights, the Opening Ceremony, and other issues, in my opinion, China hosted an amazing Olympics. The skies were blue, there were large tracks of greenery, the Olympic Green was very attractive, traffic was not a problem, the volunteers were helpful and spoke English, security was present (most of the time, until you hear my friend’s story) but not imposing, the city was clean (almost sterile), the new subway is sleek and modern, and people were friendly and helpful. Everything was very well done, with a few exceptions. Visitors who didn’t speak Chinese were still at a loss when trying to communicate with taxi drivers and average folk. The buses shuttling spectators between venues were overcrowded and no one knew how else to get between venues. But my biggest complaint is the re-sale ticket market. There were a few scalped tickets available but nothing to justify the many half (or more) empty events. Where were all the other tickets? Where were the tickets to the Water Cube?  Nonetheless, those who know Beijing, I believe, were all similarly impressed with how well Beijing pulled off the Olympics. [...] [...] Despite my doubts whether Beijing would pull off a successful Olympics and the controversy over free press, human rights, the Opening Ceremony, and other issues, in my opinion, China hosted an amazing Olympics. The skies were blue, there were large tracks of greenery, the Olympic Green was very attractive, traffic was not a problem, the volunteers were helpful and spoke English, security was present (most of the time, until you hear my friend’s story) but not imposing, the city was clean (almost sterile), the new subway is sleek and modern, and people were friendly and helpful. Everything was very well done, with a few exceptions. Visitors who didn’t speak Chinese were still at a loss when trying to communicate with taxi drivers and average folk. The buses shuttling spectators between venues were overcrowded and no one knew how else to get between venues. But my biggest complaint is the re-sale ticket market. There were a few scalped tickets available but nothing to justify the many half (or more) empty events. Where were all the other tickets? Where were the tickets to the Water Cube?  Nonetheless, those who know Beijing, I believe, were all similarly impressed with how well Beijing pulled off the Olympics. [...]

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