According to industry sources, the 1988 Seoul Games achieved a 78% increase in international visitors to South Korea between 1986 and 1990 (by 2002, up 222% on 1986 levels to 5.3 million international visitors). The Barcelona Games in 1992 was the second highest in terms of inbound tourism growth (with Spain as a whole reporting an increase of 27% between 1990 and 1994).
The Atlanta Games in 1996 saw a 4% rise in international visitors to the USA between 1994 and 1998 and the 2000 Sydney Games recorded a 16% increase in international visitors to Australia between 1998 and 2002.
However, inbound tourism growth was not recorded in all previous host cities. The number of foreign visitors to Beijing in August 2008 declined 7% to 389,000.
Over the remainder of the summer that year, visitor numbers were sharply lower, recording a 30% y-o-y decline. It should be noted that this was also at the peak of the global financial crisis.
The most recent Games in London recorded improved results. In September 2012, overseas visitors completed 2.6 million visits to the United Kingdom, or around 1% higher than the previous year.
