Olympic legacy and cultural tourism: exploring the facets of Athens’ Olympic heritage

Abstract

This study examines the effects of the Olympic Games on Athens' cultural tourism and the city's potential to leverage the Olympic legacy in synergy with its rich heritage in order to enhance its tourism product during the post-Games period. In doing so, a qualitative and interpretive approach was employed. This includes a literature review on Athens' 2004 Olympics to identify the sport facilities and regeneration projects, which constitute the Olympic legacy and heritage. Based on that, an empirical analysis was undertaken, by collecting official documents about the 2004 Olympics, and conducting five semi-structured interviews with tourism/administrative officials. The findings indicate that the Olympiad contributed significantly to Athens' built and human heritage, revealing the dimensions of new venues/facilities, infrastructure, transportation and aesthetic image of the city, and human capital enhancement. Hence, the Games contributed to the multifaceted representation and reconstruction of the city's identity and cultural heritage. However, the potential afforded from the post-Olympic Athens remains unrealised due to lack of strategic planning/management. The study concludes that there is a need to develop cross-leveraging synergies between the Olympic legacy and cultural tourism for the host city. Finally, a strategic planning framework for leveraging postGames Olympic tourism is suggested in order to maximise the benefits of Athens' legacy and heritage in the city's tourism development.

Planning and Leveraging Event Portfolios: Towards a Holistic Theory

“…In turn, the investment in Olympic projects and infrastructure can substantially enhance the host city's event portfolio. For example, the legacy of the Olympics can be associated and transferred to the host city's portfolio, hence fostering post-Games tourism (Boukas et al, 2013). This brings forth the need to extend our focus on post-Games leveraging of the Olympics, and generally, on post-event leverage in order to enhance and sustain the planned legacies of sport mega events.…”

“…A mega-event is a one-off ephemeral intervention but its legacy is long-term as is the host city's event portfolio. In this respect, Boukas, Ziakas and Boustras (2013) Based on Chalip's (2004) general event leveraging model and Weed's (2008) Olympic tourism leveraging model, Boukas et al (2013) developed a strategic planning framework for leveraging post-Games Olympic tourism. According to this framework, the two opportunities for leverage after the Olympics are the legacy of the Games and its effects on the cultural heritage of the host city.…”

For the benefit of all? Developing a critical perspective in mega-event leverage

“…In turn, the investment in Olympic projects and infrastructure can substantially enhance the host city's event portfolio. For example, the legacy of the Olympics can be associated with, and transferred to, the host city's portfolio, thus fostering post-Games tourism (Boukas et al, 2013). This brings forth the need to extend our focus on post-Games leveraging of the Olympics, and in general, on post-event leverage, in order to enhance and sustain the legacies of megaevents.…”

“…To do so, it is essential to draw attention toward leveraging the legacies of mega-events in the long-term. For instance, Boukas, Ziakas and Boustras (2013), in examining the Olympic heritage of Athens, stressed the need for developing a post-event leveraging framework to enable the leverage of Olympic-related tourism in the post-Games period. From this standpoint, the cultivation of the Olympic heritage and the subsequent development of cultural heritage tourism are viewed as an opportunity that needs to be cross-leveraged in synergy with the sport-related structures and elements of the Olympics.…”

Exploring the Nexus Between Tourism Demand and Cultural Similarity

“…Parallel to the above, the study of cultural tourism has also emerged (e.g., Boukas, Ziakas, & Boutstras, 2013;Galí-Espelt, 2012;McKercher & du Cros, 2003;Richards, 1996). Tourists are cultural tourists if they travel for their cultural needs, and the tourism they carry out is cultural tourism.…”