Seeking (and not seeking) to leverage mega-sport events in non-host destinations: The case of Shanghai and the Beijing Olympics

Abstract

It has been argued that event benefits can be optimised if strategic planning and implementation are employed to leverage the opportunities that events enable. Research has demonstrated that events are not typically leveraged, but leveraging can enhance their effect. Leveraging can enable benefits for non-host cities, as well as host destinations. This study examines failed efforts to transfer knowledge about non-host city leverage of the Olympic Games from Australia to Shanghai. It is shown that social, cultural, and political conditions in China and Shanghai made the Australian knowledge incompatible with local systems, values, and tourism development vision. It is suggested that in order to be transferable, knowledge must first be localised. That, in turn, requires that efforts to transfer knowledge across cultural and political borders should be undertaken iteratively, and should consequently begin earlier than is typically the case.