The Rio Olympics are not going to have the "Barcelona Effect"
When the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games where held, the city was overshadowed by European capitals of tourism like Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, or London. This event is remembered, among other things, by the display of the American basketball team, called the “Dream Team” and believed to be the greatest team ever assembled in any type of sport. After the games were finished, Barcelona emerged as one of Europe’s biggest touristic destinations. This trend continues until today.
In fact, Barcelona receives more than 7.5 million tourists per year, making the city conduct several programs to limit crowds in historical places. This resurgence is known as the “Barcelona Effect”; making a city a tourist powerhouse while drastically changing its economy.
After the 1992 Olympics, Atlanta 1996, Beijing 2008, or Rio 2016 have tried to obtain the same economic results. Some of these events have generated attention and traction but none of them have come close to the “Barcelona Effect”. The strategy of aggressively investing in a country’s infrastructure and marketing the city worldwide seems like it is not enough. Additional factors played in favor of the 1992 Olympics in order for them to become so significant. Among them are the following:
In 1992, the Berlin wall had fallen and the cold war had ended. The European Union was being formed and Spain was ready for investment.
Barcelona benefited from all the tourism and transport infrastructure that already existed in Europe.
Barcelona’s urban design was remarkable at that time and it made it possible to upgrade and modernize the city quickly and effectively.
While the city was being adapted for the Olympics, a hidden gem was uncovered: Barcelona’s 2-mile beachfront. The beach is now a major attraction.
As the cold war had ended, the games were the first since 1972 to have run without boycotts.
The Rio Olympics are finishing. Eduardo Paes, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, wrote an article in a local newspaper stating that one of the event’s main objective was to imitate the 1992 games. However, Brazil is submerged in a deep crisis with political instability. Brazil is not attractive to investors.
Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful city but presents flaws in urban planning. This generated problems like traffic jams during the games. The sporting facilities that were built for the event, like the Olympic Villa, suffered construction delays which generated criticism to the event. Additionally, many athletes complained about the rooms in the villa being not finished or unclean. The games have ended and the “favelas” remain as neglected as ever.
It seems that we will not be talking about a “Rio Effect” in the near future.
The “Barcelona Effect” was a mixture of good planning, perfect timing, and luck. A phenomenon that changed a city forever but will be difficult to replicate.
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