The ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) funds research into the big social and economic questions facing us today and the annual ESRC Festival of Social Science is part of this.

Richard Shipway’s event will be held at the EBC in Bournemouth on November 9th and covers the theme of optimising Olympic tourism opportunities after the 2012 Games. The “Going for Gold: Leveraging the Olympic tourism legacy beyond 2012” conference will see keynote speakers discuss the main tourism opportunities that will fall in the years immediately after the Games.

Following the conclusion of the London 2012 Games, the conference will investigate the potential for the London Olympics to generate tourism benefits long after the hosting of the Games.

The workshop will look at issues surrounding the management, organisation and analysis of mega event sport tourism, building on the outcomes of a previous ESRC funded project (RES-810-21-0013) which explored the impacts and issues associated with sport tourism development. 

Drawing from the experiences of both academics and industry practitioners involved in both the London Games and other global mega sports events, delegates will debate potential strategies to optimise the success of managing tourism in the post 2012 era.

The conference is aimed primarily at tourism business communities across the South West and South of England (incorporating London), exploring the potential to leverage tourism benefits.

From an academic perspective, the aim of the event is to revisit the theme of Olympic tourism by inviting delegates to consider advances which are theoretically grounded in one or more of the core social sciences. Key workshop sessions will be facilitated by stakeholders involved with the delivery of the 2012 Games including Visit Britain, Visit London, London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), European Tour Operators Association (ETOA), and leading academic tourism experts. 

If you would like to attend Richard Shipway’s event please contact Dr Rebecca Edwards on redwards@bournemouth.ac.uk or 01202 961206