'Long term impacts of a mega event: Case study Weymouth (London 2012)'.

Abstract

This paper investigates the long-term impacts of a mega event, using the case of the London 2012 Olympics' impacts on Weymouth and Portland (as a joint destination in Southern England). The study used the 2 sets of data, collected in 2003 and 2017, containing the residents' perceptions before and after the event. The findings revealed important changes in terms of residents' perceptions towards the impacts of the London 2012 Olympics over the 14 years, such as an improvement in perceived positive impacts, a higher level of tourism involvement, the better perception of destination attributes, the relationship between destination nature attributes and the perceived negative impacts, and the more significant role of the perceived negative impacts. Different implications for the UK tourism industry, in particular British seaside resorts, and a wider context are also discussed.