Sustainability of Mega Event

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There arises a question that whether the sustainability of mega event is really a myth or not? there is no definite answer of this. Big events like Football World cup, Olympics, etc. and other comes in every four years. Th related committee or international agencies decides which country will host it. for this they ask countries to bid for it. this is very long process to select the best host country because success of event highly depends on it. the main aim for hosting event is to generate growth of economy (Taks, Chalip and Green, 2015). but from past years there has been many controversies involved in hosting an event worldwide.

When a country host event it creates a great impact on its entire economy. the impact can be either positive or negative. So, this has been a major concern for countries to bid for it. moreover, it has become difficult to cities to make mega event sustainable. This is because such type of events are one time. the city has to deal with critical consequences before and after happening of event. For example – while hosting FIFA World Cup 2014, there was many protests occurred within Brazil. The people were against mega event. The reason was country was underdeveloped and poor people have to suffer a lot. The government were not providing necessity things for poor people. Instead they were highly focused on making event successful. In addition to this, poverty was also a main reason. This negatively impacted on economic situation of country as government invested large amount of funds in building infrastructure within country. this protest became headline worldwide. It forced agencies to focus on organizing events in developed countries.

Another example can be taken of India when in 2010 they hosted commonwealth games in Delhi. For this preparation was done at large level (Schofield, Rhind and Blair, 2018). government spent huge funds in building infrastructure. But after sometime it was found that the expenses were much more than expected. In an investigation done by CAG, serious corruption by officials of the Games' Organising Committee, delays in the construction of main Games' venues, infrastructural compromise. It was found that Sports minister was involved in case of corruption. The overall cost was triple than estimated. There was no legal action taken. Also, a committee was formed to investigate on this matter. But nothing was done to recover cost. Despite the fact that almost one third population lives below poverty line, India hosted it. there was also a negative impact on environment as 400000 people were relocated from there place.

There are both positive and negative impact of hosting mega event. This depends on nature and type of event (Advantage and disadvantage of hosting mega events. 2015). Also, the level of impact depends on country overall condition. Hence, it is necessary to analyze impact so that effective decision can be taken whether to host event or not. The impacts are described as below :-

Positive impact

1. Hosting of mega event is a big opportunity for city as it helps in contributing in GDP in many ways. Through this, profitability of city raises. Thus, the profits raised from it can be used in giving economic benefits to people. For example, cities like Beijing, Sydney, etc. hosted Olympics and got high rise in their GDP.
2. First is it helps in building infrastructure is a long term investment for city. As mega event requires infra and transport to cater facilities. It can be used to attract large number of tourists (Marin-Aguilar and Vila-López, 2014.). For instance, there has been a wide connectivity in public transport of London. This is improved its transportation system.
3. Hosting of event brings in huge investment and creates large number of jobs. It helps in reducing unemployment within city. Furthermore, it results in short term economic investment.
4. Another impact large number of people visits country. this helps in promoting tourism as well. This leads to high growth in tourism sector. moreover, people get to know about culture, ecosystem about country.
5. It also attracts many businesses and companies to sponsor event. in this way, they invest in country by collaborating with local firms. Thus, in this way FDI is increased. Hence, it is an effective way of attracting foreign companies to help in contributing growth of city.

Negative impact

1. The major impact is on economic condition of country. Government have to invest huge capital on organizing event. This increases burden on country financial situation. Due to this basic need of people are not fulfilled.
2. The biodiversity is also highly impacted as construction has to be done. It creates imbalance in ecosystem. In this large area of land is cleaned for infra.
3. The government is not able to focus on areas where high level of improvements is required. in this poor people are highly impacted. They have to sacrifice their property and social life (Grix, Brannagan and Houlihan, 2015). Also, they are not given proper facilities by government. This results in rise in more poverty.
4. Due to construction and other activities related to preparation of mega events it results in rise in pollution level. this leads to increase in level of pollution. Moreover, no control measures are taken aby government to control it as it result in affecting event.
5. There is high risk of security threat. It means that increase in number of visitors can result in security threat. It can lead to violence, terrorism activities, etc. or any other unethical activities.

Aftermath of event

As discussed above the mega events are one time event. So, the aftermath of such event can be drastic for city. It is not beneficial for city to host mega event. First of all the infrastructure built such as stadiums, practice arena, etc. are of no use. Also, after incurring huge capital there is high pressure on government to focus on other areas of growth and development. After mega event there is downfall in economic growth. Many other areas have to be taken into consideration (Grix and Houlihan, 2014). Usually, tax rates are increased by government to overcome expenditure. Sometime, cost of estimation is more so government have to invest from some other sources. In addition to this, it is not possible for city to maintain ecosystem after event. it is highly affected leading to rise in disease and impacting on physical health of people. the venue which is occupied for hosting event can not be used for providing some other public facilities. They remain unused for long time and becomes debt for government. For instance, stadiums made in Brazil are still not used for welfare of people. It can be evaluated that if costs are incurred more than expected, it fluctuates entire economy. this might lead to increase in inflation rate as well.

Another aftermath of mega event is after short term employment people become unemployed again. They need to find new jobs (Vanwynsberghe, 2015). Moreover, poor people are not reallocated to place. If there occurs in any mis happening like terrorist attacks, it can result in failure of event. this will create a huge burden on economy of city. Apart from it, reputation will be damaged worldwide as well. City will not be able to retain its image again. Henceforth, it can be stated that hosting of any mega event can lead to critical aftermath.

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Conclusion

From essay it can be summarized that sustainability of mega event is really a myth. This is because hosting an event involves a high risk. It can create either positive or negative impact on city. The positive are raise in profits, long term investment, creates jobs, etc. and negative impact is short term use, cost of security, etc. high tax, etc. the aftermath of mega event are infrastructure built becomes debt for government, ecosystem is highly affected leading to rise in disease and impacting on physical health of people.

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