Beijing landlords reap disappointment at Olympics
Overall, I would say that the games have been a staggering success. I’m extremely happy for China.
But… since Xinhua broke the ice, one of the concerns I had leading up to the games was the shortfall of the economic benefit from expectations. Landlords didn’t get the occupancy they hoped for – 60% of the units were vacant. It will be some time before the ledgers are all balanced but I expect that it will be more than the landlords looking at much less profits than expected. A friend of mine in Beijing has decided to return to her home town because business just wasn’t happening for her.
What will the impact be?
Chops says
Beijing inbound tourism in July down 30.2 percent
“The industry believes that with the success of the Olympic Games and the coming golden tourism period of September and October, the number of inbound tourists is expected to rise in the second half.”
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6479256.html
MutantJedi says
I hope tourism rebounds in Sept and Oct. The games are a great ad for coming to visit China.
However, I expect the tourist industry to be a bit like prairie farmers and complain about when it rains. July and Aug would have had a ready labor pool of students that should be back in school Sept and Oct. Then again, the labor might be supplied by the unemployed from the July/Aug drought.
FOARP says
This was to be expected. The IOC artificially jacked-up the hotel and air-fare prices in Beijing until they were too high for the average Zhou, Jacques, Joe Bloggs or John Q. Public to afford, throw in the turn-off of the expectations of huge crowds and (probably not the biggest concern, but always there) the political considerations, and people were bound to be put off. My hope is that there is an increase in tourism in the wake of the games as people come to see what it is like when there isn’t a huge sports event going on.
MutantJedi says
Economy won’t be hurt after Olympics
Later this month, I’m looking forward to seeing some of the changes from last Feb. For example, the subway from the airport.
MutantJedi says
Beijing hosts booming tourists after Olympics
I was in Beijing for 国庆节. The often heard comment: 人太多/Too many people. But, really, the staggering volumes of people were handled very well by the city. The people picking up the trash did a stellar job.