Chinese tourism would play a big part in a successful Los Angeles 2024 Olympic Games



Los Angeles retains high hopes of clinching the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games after making a powerful presentation at the SportAccord Convention in Denmark.

The number of Chinese visitors to Los Angeles has rocketed in recent years, and experts say the Games there would be hugely popular for adventurous Chinese sports fans. 

Both Paris and LA made presentations this week, with LA making a strong impression with its pledge of “something creative and new – not more of the same” 

The host of the Summer Olympic Games is scheduled to be announced at the 130th International Olympic Committee Session in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017. However, IOC President Thomas Bach has suggested awarding both cities the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics at the session in Lima.

Speaking to Yutang Sports in Denmark, LA 2024 CEO Gene Sykes explained how the bid had eliminated risks associated with acquiring land and building a first-class Olympic and Paralympic Village from scratch, by using the existing facilities at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles).

Sykes, who supervises all aspects of the bid’s business, operations and activities, said LA is best placed to help the Olympic Movement deliver on its priorities for the next seven years and beyond.

"Reducing risk is the difference between success or frustration in any complex endeavour. That’s why our Village makes so much sense – it takes a huge risk off the table, for everyone.”

Sykes says LA was able to win over its public, which another US city Boston had failed to do with its bid.

“We have the advantage of the 1984 Games, many people remember it, people in their 40s were teenagers then, older people may have had some role. The public experience of the Olympics in Los Angeles is exceptional. The Games were tremendous, a positive experience for the city. It had all the characteristics that make the Games special. You hear people talk about what they did. Everyone had a very good memory of those Games. There 34,000 volunteers. You hear people say that it was a magic time. People have memories of something their family member did during the Games, that there was no traffic, which was a result of good planning. People changed their schedules, employers changed their staffing, trucks stayed away from the main arteries in the city in daytime. They did a number of things to give people a reason to adapt their behaviour to this big event.”

The Games also made a surplus, which was split between the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and the USOC (the US Olympic Committee) and the city of Los Angeles. Much of this went to endow the LA84 charity foundation. In 30 years it has given away $250 million to youth sports organisations in LA. Both Venus and Serena Williams played tennis as young girls in Compton, Southern California, funded by this foundation.

Sykes says this means people have a direct connection with the legacy of the Games.

“They’ve been thinking about the Games in a positive way. We put an effort together to host the 2024 Games, raise all the money, with great strength, in the most effective and vigorous way. People responded well, and the community expects it to be successful, magical, and that it won’t cost the community money, but will make a surplus, and they don’t worry about traffic because the last time around the city figured out how to solve it. They expect it will do the same this time. So, it is tremendous advantage to start with a positive experience and a community that is thinking positively.”      

Community involvement in LA has also avoided public resistance to hosting the Games, which became a problem for other bids, such as Budapest and Rome.

“We’ve been intentional about interacting with the community, in every moment where we made choices about where venues would be, design of the plans, and about how we would answer questions from the IOC. The decisions were very purposeful and informed by the Olympic Agenda 2020 approach, which is to make the Games credible and sustainable.

“What that means to us is to not be extravagant, to use partners and resources of partners, such as UCLA for the Olympic Village. We had athletes go there to explore and see what we could do, and they said it would be great place for a village. But it means that we don’t have to build a village, which is very complicated, and which would be a high-risk project. We avoided that, and used existing resources. Those who were hesitant, because they thought this bid may lead to a very extravagant and expensive construction project somewhere in our city, were very happy. It showed we were very disciplined about our approach, which was to keep the risk low but the experience very good.  

"We could have built a new Village, and we looked at 25 sites; but it would’ve been irresponsible to do so given the unprecedented quality and legacy that UCLA offers – and that resourcefulness is precisely what Olympic Agenda 2020 calls for."

Another advantage for the city is its massive tourism and business visitor pull. LA and Hollywood are at the centre of the entertainment industry, but California is also the centre of technology. In the past ten years, ‘Silicon Valley has come to Hollywood’, says Sykes.

“What I mean by that is the social media companies have moved to southern California. The electronic gaming industry is also centred there, where young people create or learn how they interact with entertainment – it’s all in southern California. It’s a bit of Hollywood heritage, but it is its own community. It’s the creative community in LA.”

Chinese platforms like Alibaba also now create some of their content there. One of the biggest Chinese companies Wanda has been coming to Hollywood to buy development for television and movies. Wanda now owns Legendary Pictures, which Sykes says gives it new capacity, to entertain audiences around the world on platforms that young people have access to.

Alibaba has investments in both Silicon Valley and southern California. Their ambition as a partner with the Olympics is to expand their reach beyond China, and be more influential globally.

Sykes also highlighted the large Chinese community in LA.

“We have a huge Chinese community in southern California. We have big communities from Asian countries, and there are parts of southern California that are more Chinese than English. That is the culture of southern California. 

“It’s one of the most multi cultural places in the world. The Mayor said in his bid presentation section, that nearly 40% living in LA were born in some other country. Which is extraordinary, it’s a very open place. We want the entire world to come here – they will feel at home, and a sense of attachment.” 

Tourism expert Shant Apelian, Manager of Corporate Communications for Los Angeles Tourism and Convention board told Yutang Sports that China is the city’s number two overall visitor market with 1million, after Mexico with 1.8m.

“We have three full time offices in China, in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and a fourth will open in Chengdu this year,” said Apelian. “Chinese visitors are extremely important to us as they are our number one international spenders. In 2015, they spent about 1.3 billion in the local economy, which is close to 20% of the overall $6.3billion. We expect overall visitation to grow by double-digit percentages for the next two years.

“We’ve had 650% growth in visitors from China over ten years ago. It’s pretty crazy, the market has boomed to Los Angleles. A lot of it has to do with the visa relaxation policy, but also to air support. We now have 68 weekly non-stop flights from mainland China to Los Angeles, and it’s growing. Now we want more flights from second tier cities too. The Games would give one more reason to come to LA, especially by 2024, when there would be more flights and a larger footprint for us in China. We’re the only US city to have a full time office in China.”       

The economic impact for LA would be positive, says Sykes.

“A group study looked at the overall impact on the city, which suggested the economic benefit would be an additional $11 billion ahead of the Games and during it, which would be beyond the direct cost and revenue we generate from the Games ourselves. The state of California has the sixth largest economy in the world, bigger than France for example. But the economic benefit is not what has encouraged the bid. It’s the positive experience in the past that has created enthusiasm for it.”

If LA is awarded the 2024 Games it would start its marketing plans in 2019, and may approach Chinese companies.

“If we won, it would be a joint venture, and marketing and sponsorship would be focused on the US market, but we would work closely with the IOC, and as so many communities are Chinese we would be happy to work with Chinese companies also.”

Sykes repeated that LA is only bidding for 2024, and is not considering 2028.

“We’re bidding for 2024. All of our focus is on 2024, that’s what we’ve prepared for, and so that’s what we’ve given all our attention to.”