Chinese visitors seen as game changers(2)

 The number of visitors to high street shops in London is reported to have fallen sharply, especially in the first week of the Olympics. The Research group Experian says foot traffic in west London retail centers fell 12.4 percent year-on-year on the first Saturday of the Games.

But Hunt said the warning messages were needed to ensure London's transport system ran smoothly.

"We were absolutely right to give out the message to make sure we could cope with (an increased amount of traffic)," he said.

However, he has acknowledged that the Olympics started with a period where there were fewer pedestrians, especially in the West End.

"We did have slightly quieter periods in the first week, and that happened in the Sydney Olympics (in 2000) as well, but in the second week we were reporting record numbers. So this has been a brilliant fortnight for all London businesses," Hunt said.

Following claims in the media in the first few days of the Games that London had turned into a ghost town, the prime minister, David Cameron, urged people to "come back into the capital".

His plea seems to have worked, with retailers in and around Oxford Street reporting an increase in sales and a higher footfall in the days after his remarks.

A survey by Heart of London, a business alliance representing central London's shopping district, said footfall from Aug 5 to 8 rose 11.6 percent on the previous week and 16.2 percent on the same week last year.

"Tourists who bought tickets to see the Olympics in its first week did more shopping and sightseeing in the second week," says Jace Tyrrell of the New West End Company, an alliance that represents 600 businesses in London's West End.

As the Olympic Park is located in London's East End, some West End businesses had a quieter time. "We've had a difficult first week, but the overall impact of the Olympics on West End businesses is neutral," Tyrrell says.

He agrees that the government's warning messages about the capital's overstretched transport system contributed to the lack of shoppers in the West End initially, although he says such warnings were understandable.

"London was preparing for the biggest event in the world. But after the opening ceremony, people realized it was easy to get to the West End using London's transport."

Tyrrell says upmarket stores such as Selfridges did well to cash in on Asian shoppers' demand. Olympic merchandise also sold well, including at many small souvenir stores in Oxford Street and Regent Street.

Another sector that benefited directly from the Olympics was London's hotels. The data provider STR Global says hoteliers across London reported 87.7 percent occupancy from July 27 to Aug 5, an increase of 3.2 percent on last year.

More strikingly, the average room rate of 216 pounds over the same period represented an 87.1 percent increase from last year.

Tourism industry leaders are expecting longer-term gains from the Games.

"The millions of Chinese people watching the Olympics on television would benefit London greatly," Tyrell says. "The overall impact would be a big boost."

The think tank Oxford Economics had forecast that 650 million pounds in tourist spending was likely to be generated during the five years after the Games.

Miles Quest, a spokesman for the British Hospitality Association, told the London magazine Conference & Incentive Travel that the tourism industry should return to healthy levels in the coming months.

"I think come September and October the business pattern would swing back into action and there would be much stronger business and corporate demand."

With last year's royal wedding and the Queen's diamond jubilee this year, the Olympics has helped Britain's tourism industry to gain a younger and more vibrant image.

"Britain, which is never seen as a romantic destination, is now being heavily pictured as a honeymoon destination for the Chinese," says Patricia Yates, director of strategy and communications of Visit Britain, the government tourism promotion agency.

Yates says the image of Britain for overseas tourists has changed rapidly over the past year, starting with the royal wedding. "The royals, young, in love, fashion, all that sort of British creativity, it looked beautiful."

The royal wedding also brought Britain a lot of international media coverage, equivalent to 3 billion pounds of advertising influence, Yates says.

She says she expects more people to come after the Olympics as the Games attracted billions of viewers and extensive media coverage worldwide.

"Tourism delivery happens post-Games; people want to experience Britain as they see it on the screen," she says, adding that the tourism boost will last five to 10 years, going by the experience of other host cities.