Although it used to be thought as a pride for the host country to hold the Olympic Games, the consideration whether the cost of the Olympic Games outweighs the actual benefits brought to the host country is becoming increasingly more common among the public throughout the world. This essay is going to discuss about the cost and benefits that the host country may obtain by holding the Olympic Games. The negative influence caused by the Olympics may include the enormous financial cost and the passive social impact, while the host country is provided an opportunity to build up country status as well as to help the city renewal.
First of all, the Olympics cost the host country an enormous amount of money to hold the game, which may then lead to …show more content…
First of all, it provides the host country a chance to display its own culture and political power and build up the country status, thus making the host country more competitive in global economic competition. Since the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony of the Olympics often raise the public attention from all over the world, the host country can display the traditional culture by holding the ceremonies. In the opening ceremony and closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese traditional culture elements, including traditional music, dance, calligraphy and fireworks, were applied to the two ceremonies, which attracted the audience worldwide both on the scene and at home (Jasper, 2008) . Increasing public as well as media attention from the world would help the country build up its own country status and show the political power (Sands, 2008) . As the host country and the host city may attain increasing attention from the world, the businesses and the tourism economy can also benefit from the oversea companies and tourists which are attracted through the media, which may then lead to a possible increase in the amount of the oversea investment and the number of foreign visitors (Chalkley& Essex, 2004) …show more content…
In addition to the sports facilities required for the competitions, the public infrastructure is also demanded due to the large number of both domestic and foreign tourists who is planning to watch the Olympic Games on the scene (Chalkley& Essex, 2004) . Since 1960, the Olympics have involved a large number of urban infrastructures, which then becomes a significant part of region development (ibid.). In order to meet with the requirement, the government would spend a large amount of money on the public transportation, environmental improvement, and the construction of other infrastructure (ibid.) . For example, Beijing government 1.1 billion American dollars on improving public transportation (Sands, 2008) . The improvements included the construction and extension of the underground subway system, refurbishment of city streets, and the introduction of traffic control system with high technology, which helps the renewal of the urban infrastructure (ibid.) . Moreover, the government invested 12.2 billion American dollars to improve the environment in Beijing (ibid.) . 200 plants which caused an enormous amount of air pollution were asked to remove from Beijing, while the coal burning power stations were well organized to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, thus improving