Sheffield Business School

BSc (Honours) Events and Leisure Management

Title Kong should not bid to host the 2023

Name Cheung Siu Pun

Student No 91206562

Month Year April 2011

Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Business School

Title should not bid to host the 2023 Asian Games

FULL NAME Cheung Siu Pun

STUDENT No 91206562

Supervisor: Mr. Calvin Ng

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Events and Leisure Management.

Month Year April 2011

1 Contents

Acknowledgements …………………………………………………….…………P.3

Executive Summary ……………………………………………………….………P.4

Introduction ……………………………………………………………….………P.5-6

Literature Review ……………………………………………………….………P.7-12

Method of Investigation ……………………………………………….………P.13-14

Findings and Analysis ……………………………………………………….………P.15-19

Conclusions and Recommendations ……………………………………………….P.20-23

References ……………………………………………………………………….P.24-27

2 Acknowledgements

This dissertation began as a series of questions about the direction of the research. Over a period of a semester it evolved into a dissertation. Along the way I was lucky enough to receive the assistance of many people who spent their time on my dissertation.

First, I would like to thank Mr. Calvin Ng who is my supervisor. He helped with different aspects of my research and writing. He generously spent his precious private time on the individual supervision and he provided lots of helpful comments to me.

Also, I would like to thank Dr. Louie Lobo Hung-tak. He spent his precious time on my interview. He provided plenty of useful information and professional analysis for my dissertation.

At last, I would like to thank Mr. Eric Yung who was my English teacher in the past. He spent his precious time on checking the grammars and vocabularies of my dissertation.

3 Executive Summary

In recent years, many cities or regions in Asia are going to bid to host the Asian Games.

Hong Kong is also one of the Asian cities going to bid to host the 2023 Asian Games. This dissertation is going to find out the reasons why Hong Kong should not bid to host the

2023 Asian Games through the research by qualitative method. In terms of the primary data, an interview is conducted with Dr. Louie Lobo Hung-tak who is a specialist on sport event industry. For the secondary data, books, reports, professional journals, newspapers, and electronic media sources which are all about the discussion of sport events, Asian

Games and Olympic Games are used as references. In the study, it is found that apart from positive impacts, there are lots of negative impacts in terms of social, economic, and environmental impacts in hosting major sport events. Moreover, it is also found that Hong

Kong citizens oppose the bid to host 2023 Asian Games. The objection is attributed to the inappropriate moment at which Hong Kong is confronted with lots of tricky social issues and the very high costs of construction. Furthermore, the poor government promotion and marketing strategy cannot well encourage citizens to support the bid. These results of the research can be proved that Hong Kong should not bid to host the 2023 Asian Games. In terms of the recommendation, it is highly suggested the Hong Kong government should have a well thought out preparation by consulting and lobbying the scholars and people from different sectors, as well as an accurate and careful research on the resources budgeting before launching the programme. In addition, a good promotion and marketing strategy is also highly recommended. For the long-term improvement, the government should change its bureaucracy practice and develop a new sports policy of Hong Kong, as well as educating the next generation to have enthusiastic sporting culture.

4 Introduction

The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were first regulated by the Asian Games

Federation. After the breakup of the Asian Games Federation, they have been organised by the since 1982. The Games are recognised by the International

Olympic Committee. The Games are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games. (Asian Games 2011). In the Consultation Paper by Home Affairs

Bureau (2010), the Asian Games are regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia under the supervision of the International Olympic Committee. The first Asian Games were held in

New , India in 1951. The Official Programme of the Asian Games must include all the 28 which will be approved by the Olympic Council of Asia. Taking an example of the 16th Asian Games in , there are total 42 sports. The 42 sports are Aquatics, Archery, Athletics, , , , Billiard sports,

Bowling, , Canoe / Kayak, Chess, , , Dance Sport, ,

Equestrian, , Football, Golf, , , Hockey, , , ,

Modern Pentathlon, , , Rugby, Sailing, Sepaktakraw, Shooting,

Softball, , Table , , Tennis, , , Weightlifting,

Wrestling, and Wushu. (Asian Games Sports 2010). “Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah

President of the Olympic Council of Asia, has claimed that the Asian Games … has become the greatest youth festival in Asia and possibly second to none but the Olympic

Games.” (Hong 2007, p111).

In the Consultation Paper by (2010), it shows that Hong Kong has successfully hosted and achieved good results in a major international multi-sport event –

5 The 2009 . As a result, there are views in the community that the time is right to consider bidding again for the Asian Games. Moreover, there are three clear strategic directions for the long-term development of sport in Hong Kong. First, it is to help the elite athletes achieve excellence; second, it is to develop a strong sporting culture in the community; and third, it is to raise the profile as a centre for international sport events. Furthermore, the hosting of the Olympic Equestrian Event in 2008 and the East

Asian Games in 2009 has shown that Hong Kong has the ability and social resources to organise large-scale international sporting events. Based on the above reasons, Sports

Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong China decided to bid to host the 2023

Asian Games in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government supported the bid and therefore conducted a consultation in September, 2010. However, the bid met with fierce opposition from the society. The aim of this research is to find out the reasons why Hong Kong should not bid to host the 2023 Asian Games. For achieving the aim, the following objectives are going to be included in the dissertation:

(1) To find out the reasons for objecting to hosting 2023 Asian Games.

(2) To find out the negative impacts of hosting 2023 Asian Games in Hong Kong.

(3) To find out the faulty government policy and planning of 2023 Asian Games.

6 Literature Review

Torkildsen (2005, p468) indicates that “the concept of mega-event refers to specially constructed and staged international cultural and sport events and event genres such as

Olympic Games and World’s Fairs/Expos.” Torkildsen (2005, p469) adds that “major events are not on the scale of mega-events but are large enough and prestigious enough to attract the attention of the national media, attract large spectator numbers and provide economic benefits.” In the Consultation Paper by Home Affairs Bureau (2010), it can be seen that about 11,000 athletes and officials, 1,000 VIPs and technical delegates, 247,000 to 347,000 spectators and 4,800 media personnel will be expected to attend the games.

Wagen and Carlos (2005, p5) state that “these events (major events) attract significant local interest and large numbers of participants, as well as generating significant tourism revenue.” Based on the above theories, as the scale of Asian Games is not as large as the

Olympic Games, Asian Games can be defined as major events.

Westerbeek et al. (2006, p253) states that “a stakeholder is any person or group that will be interested in, affected by, or is a necessary participants in the project.” Therefore, it is important to consult the public when bidding the events. Nowadays, lots of Asian cities or regions would like to bid to host the Asian Games, but the decision cannot receive unanimous support from the public. Although hosting the Asian Games would bring many benefits to a host city, it should not be ignored there are still lots of negative impacts.

Shone and Parry (2004, p20) states that “the events market is so diverse and fragmented that it is problematic to say what the business is worth as a whole. In fact, to attempt to quantify it might be a fruitless exercise.” As the events market is so different and varied

7 and there are lots of risks which cannot be easily quantified, hosting the events sometimes may not be worthwhile from a business perspective. Moreover, Westerbeek et al. (2006, p242) recognizes that “major events are also heavily reliant on government funds … in return, facilities and events are expected to provide a significant return on government investment. However, the return is rarely expected to occur solely through operating profits.” It is possible that it would make a big loss after finishing a major event because the facilities after use cannot generate lots of money. The Should HK Host An Asiad (2010) refers to an article titled "Is it Worth It?" published by the International Monetary Fund. It looks at the economic benefits mega sport events in various places have brought and concludes they are dubious. The Should HK Host An Asiad (2010) says “cost overruns are common with major sport events. Athens initially projected that its Games would cost

US$1.6 billion; they actually cost ten times as much. Beijing projected costs of US$1.6 billion; the final price tag was US$40 billion. London expected its Games (to take place in two years) to cost less than US$4 billion; it is now estimated that they will cost US$19 billion.” It seems that cost overrun is a common factor which cannot be avoided in hosting major sport events. Nevertheless, cost overrun is unacceptable, especially for all of the stakeholders.

Cost usually overruns because it is necessary to build up plenty of new facilities or renovate the old ones in order to fulfil the international standard. In addition, many years are always spent on construction and renovation. Therefore, an unpredictable inflation problem will easily occur. Taking the 1966 Thailand Asian Games as an example, Hong

(2007, p39) states that “the Thai government spent a large budget on building facilities as follow: renovating the main stadium (Supacharasai) with a capacity of 42,000 seats for the opening and closing ceremonies, football and track and field events, an indoor stadium

8 with three complexes, a hockey stadium, a velodrome, two pools, one at the national stadium and the other at Chulalongkorn University, a shooting stadium, a yachting and venue, and four university sports fields, at Chulalongkorn University,

Kasetsart University, the College of Education and Silpakorn University.” In order to cater to the needs of the athletes from different countries for the Asian Games, the local government has to spend a huge amount of money on building the facilities. “Consequently, economic impact is an increasingly important measure of facility and event performance.”

(Westerbeek 2006, p242). The financial or economic impact therefore should not be ignored, but it should be taken into serious consideration instead.

In terms of the social impact, Qi (2007) also describes that the poor standard of the city management, poor quality of the residents’ behaviour, and high criminal rate can damage the city image during the games. For instance, the traffic congestion in the 1996

Olympic Games brought the city a great criticism because of its poor urban traffic level.

This issue then was widely reported by the press and therefore aroused much public attention. It shows that events can create opportunities that bring the city with lots of negative social impacts if the local government has poor urban management. (Burbank,

Andranovich and Heying 2001). Care sometimes can play an important role. “But care must be taken not to see special events as some kind of panacea for local social or economic problems.” (Shone and Parry 2004, p51). Although hosting the major events can bring lots of job vacancies, especially for the construction industry, “it is recognized that the objectives of a particular event are to provide short-term, not long-term, gain.” (Shone and Parry 2004, p56). Furthermore, hosting sport events can damage the environment.

Westerbeek et al. (2006, p249) identifies that “sport facilities and the events they host often cram large numbers of people into a relatively concentrated space. The effect on the

9 environment can be devastating, as the environmental damage caused by the construction of sport facilities …” An example was the 1992 in Albertville in the Savoie region of . The Games necessitated an ambitious construction programme comprising sports facilities, hotels and roads. “The accomplishment of these projects resulted in irreversible losses of massive forest areas and disturbance of wildlife, and earned the Albertville Games the label environmental disaster.” (Girginov and Parry

2005, p127). It is also a big concern why sometimes there are lots of fierce opposing views from the citizens and green bodies. Girginov and Parry (2005, p119) identifies that “The economic and environmental impacts of the Olympic Games are many and vary from city to city because of factors such as specific aims, scale and geopolitical and economic conditions of the host city and country.” Therefore, it is not possible to ensure that all the mega-events or major events will bring many positive impacts and benefits to a host city or country.

In terms of event bidding, Mallen and Adams (2008, p152) states that “there are four primary documents used in the International Olympic Committee’s event bidding process in order to capture the detailed information necessary for it to compare bids and select a host city … they do represent the kinds of information necessary for a successful bid.

These documents include a feasibility study, candidature document, bid questionnaire, and a bid dossier.” Before going for a bid, it is important to conduct a feasibility study first. “A feasibility study is an assessment that presents an expert opinion on the capability of a group to stage or host the particular event. An ability to host involves a determination as to the availability of the necessary resources … such as competent and experienced human resources, facilities and equipment, financial resources, and technical resources are elements that need to be assessed.” (Mallen and Adams 2008, p152). If the local

10 government has assessed the above elements, the citizens will be confident enough to support the bid and the bid may have good possibility to succeed. Otherwise, it will easily bring a problem that citizens of the candidate city oppose bidding to host any events.

Although a successful international sport event may bring many positive impacts to that city or country, the result is that not a hundred percent of the international sport events can be successful, especially for the post-event management. In a study on the post-Olympiad economic legacy, Qi (2007) indicates that Olympic Games may have an opportunity to bring a great loss to a city. It will make a city to bear a heavy economic liability because the sporting facilities are not able to bring any customers, as well as affording the great maintenance fee. Taking the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens as an example, “in 2008 it was reported that almost all of the Olympic venues have fallen into varying states of disrepair: according to those reports, 21 of the 22 facilities built for the games have either been left abandoned or are in a state of dereliction, with several squatter camps having sprung up around certain facilities, and a number of venues afflicted by vandalism, graffiti or strewn with rubbish.” (2004 Summer Olympics 2011). “The annual cost to maintain the sites has been estimated at £500 million, a sum which has been politically controversial in

Greece, though many of these facilities are now under the control of domestic sporting clubs and organizations or the private sector.” (2004 Summer Olympics 2011). The Greek

Government had very slow reaction in coping with the use of Olympic venues after finishing the Olympic Games. Apart from the main arena and the football field, the other

Olympic venues are all vacant. (Qi 2007). The issue shows that the post-event management is also an important and necessary concern for the local government. If the government does not have a good planning on it before bidding an international sport event, it is absolutely a problem.

11

According to Bye-law to Rule 34, International Olympic Committee (2010) states that

“each candidate city shall provide financial guarantees as required by the International

Olympic Committee Executive Board, which will determine whether such guarantees shall be issued by the city itself, or by any other competent local, regional or national public authorities, or by any other third parties.” Therefore, the city itself or the local government which is going to bid for the games must bear all expenses of the games. In terms of the

Olympic Solidarity mentioned in the Olympic Charter, one of the objectives of the programmes adopted by Olympic Solidarity is to promote Fundamental Principal of

Olympism. (International Olympic Committee, 2010). “The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” (International

Olympic Committee, 2010, p11). Apart from providing the financial guarantees, the local government must ensure there is a harmonious and peaceful society which is committed to the preservation of human dignity. That also means a city should not bid to host any Asian

Games or Olympic Games if citizens of the candidate city have conflicting views on this issue, which will inevitably result in an inharmonious society. It is because it is not the original idea of Olympism.

12

Method of Investigation

A qualitative research is used in this dissertation. “Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons that govern such behaviour. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed, rather than large samples. Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only propositions (informed assertions).

Quantitative methods can be used to seek empirical support for such research hypotheses.”

(Qualitative Research 2011).

In terms of data collection, it can be divided into primary data and secondary data.

“Primary data is original research data in its raw form, without any analysis or processing.

This data provides a wealth of information for researchers. Depending on the nature of a study, the primary data may be provided along with reports and analysis so readers can look at it directly, or it may be kept confidential. Access to this data can be very valuable for people who want to learn more about study methodology, anomalies that occurred during studies, and other topics.” (What Is Primary Data 2011). Forms of the data collection include interviews and group discussions, observation and reflection field notes, various texts, pictures, and other materials. (Qualitative Research 2011). And in this research, an interview is used. It is an interview with Dr. Louie Lobo Hung-tak who is the

Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Education of Hong Kong Baptist

13 University. In the interview with Dr. Louie, it is going to find out the faulty government policy and planning of the bid of 2023 Asian Games. As Dr. Louie is a specialist in sport event industry, the advantage of conducting an interview is that it can directly get the persuasive information from a professional. However, it has limitation because the idea from the interviewee has potential bias which is comparatively subjective.

“Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. Secondary data analysis saves time that would otherwise be spent collecting data and, particularly in the case of quantitative data, provides larger and higher-quality databases than would be unfeasible for any individual researcher to collect on their own. In addition to that, analysts of social and economic change consider secondary data essential, since it is impossible to conduct a new survey that can adequately capture past change and/or developments.”

(Secondary Data 2011). The books, professional journals, reports, newspapers, and electronic media resources are going to be used for the secondary data in the research.

From the literatures, it is going to find out the objection reasons and the negative impacts of hosting 2023 Asian Games in Hong Kong.

14 Findings and Analysis

In the Consultation Paper by Home Affairs Bureau (2010, p4), it is written that “the hosting of the Olympic Equestrian Event in 2008 and the East Asian Games in 2009 have shown that Hong Kong has the ability and social resources to organise large-scale international sporting events.” Nevertheless, it is argued that both of the events mentioned are just very small-scale sporting events compared with the Asian Games which have 45 participating regions and countries. Therefore, Hong Kong has no or insufficient experience in hosting such kind of large-scale multi-sport event. Home Affairs Bureau

(2010) states one of the reasons for bidding for Asian Games is to develop a strong sporting culture in the community. However, in a recent editorial (Leung 2010), it is argued that there is no direct relationship between hosting the Asian Games and enhancing the sporting culture. Although the Hong Kong government used the football victory in the

Hong Kong as an example for many times to show that it was a successful experience, Leung (2010) describes that the attendance of the first division league was decreasing from 827 of 2006/2007 to 686 of 2009/2010. It shows that spending more than HK$200 million for hosting the East Asian Games did not well develop a strong sporting culture. Leung (2010) adds that a strong sporting culture should not rely on hosting a mega-event or major event, but instead sustainable measures should be adopted and opportunities given to let citizens develop a good habit of doing exercise regularly.

In the newspaper by South China Morning Post (2010a), it reports that “Tsang said: HK$6 billion is a big sum, but it is going to be spent over 12 years not in one year … comparatively speaking, the HK$6 billion is not that much.” However, it is argued that

“Six billion dollars is hardly a small amount. The money may be used otherwise than for

15 hosting an Asiad. For example, the government may use it to set up a foundation to help athletes that have potential or spend it on sporting facilities so that citizens will be healthier.” ($6 Billion Is Not A Small Amount 2010). Although the government says the

Asian Games only cost HK$6 billion, the government projects invariably overrun. For instance, the government first estimated the reconstruction of Hong Kong Sports Institute in 2007 was HK$1.26 billion, but it overspent to HK$1.8 billion after a year. Therefore, it is unbelievable that only HK$6 billion can be enough to pay. ($6 Billion Is Not A Small

Amount 2010). Emery (2002, quoted in Westerbeek et al, 2006, p32) states that “where bidding is required … the local organizer is likely to experience increased resource commitment and greater levels of bureaucracy and uncertainty at each stage of the organizational, national and international approval process.” However, at the very beginning, the government forecast the direct costs of hosting the Asian Games would be

HK$14.5 billion, with HK$30 billion in direct costs. It then revised the direct costs down to HK$6 billion, for a total of HK$36 billion. But at the end, the government in the legislative council announces that the estimated cost of running the Asian Games will exceed HK$55 billion because of the 5 percent annual inflation. (South China Morning

Post 2010b). The government’s incompetent action shows that it cannot make an absolute commitment on the budgeting. One of the lawmakers, Cheung Man-Kwong, describes that it is “the most dangerous item” in his 20 years of political life because the spending could be unlimited if the Financial Committee approved the bid in January. (South China

Morning Post 2010b). “Naturally, event organizers attempt to manage their budgets by avoiding whatever costs they can.” (Supovitz 2005, p90). Moreover, Wagen and Carlos

(2005, p87) state that “preparing a budget is part of the initial planning stage … it is a plan based on accurate quotes from all contractors and suppliers and on careful research to ensure that no expenses have been overlooked.” Nevertheless, the government did not do

16 any accurate quotes and research. It just provides a rough estimate and a confusing budgeting plan in the initial planning stage. It is shown that the government has poor planning in the financial management.

Allen et al. (2005, p86) says that “it is no longer sufficient for an event to meet just the needs of its audience. It must also embrace a plethora of other requirements, including … sponsors’ needs and community expectations.” The government therefore conducted a consultation immediately in September, 2010. However, the results from a survey by the

Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies that “64.2% of the respondents were worried that there would be "a waste of infrastructure in the post-Asian Games period", and 65% of them feared hosting the Asian Games would require such a sizable financial commitment as to affect other government projects and services.” (Public May Have Been Misled 2011).

Ming Pao (2010) also reports that “political parties are against the idea because their voters are against it. Their voters are against it because it would cost the public much money to host the Asiad. The public wants the government to use the precious $6 billion to make people's lives easier.” According to the survey by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific

Studies (2010, p2), the result shows that “the number of residents who did not support

Hong Kong’s bid for the Asian Games was slightly higher than the number that did support it.” Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (2010, p2) concludes that “citizens have conflicting views on this issue and so far no consensus has been reached.” Furthermore,

South China Morning Post (2011a, A3) states that “a new University of Hong Kong survey found 57 percent of opposed hosting the Games.” Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan said that people were not enthusiastic about hosting the

Asian Games because the pressing livelihood issues, such as soaring property prices and lack of social mobility, are still left unsolved. (South China Morning Post 2011b). Also, the

17 chairman of Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB),

Tam Yiu-chung, said there was still a lack of consensus in the community on the bid. The government therefore should shelve the plan. (South China Morning Post 2011b).

Furthermore, Federation of Trade Unions Lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin said the government was ill-prepared from the beginning. He added that the government’s failure to properly resolve pressing livelihood issues is one of the major reasons why people opposed the bid.

(South China Morning Post 2011b). Ming Pao (2010) indicates that “it would strain the finances of Hong Kong to host the Asian Games. Hong Kong has serious deep-rooted contradictions.” Therefore the government should decide whether to spend its precious, scarce resources on a fireworks-like spectacle or use them to do what will really improve

Hong Kong people’s wellbeing. (Ming Pao 2010). “Public money must be employed with prudence. This long-established principle should always be adhered to. Ill-spent sums represent mistakes. If the government thinks small wastage does not matter, mistakes will accumulate, problems will snowball and, eventually, society will have to pay dearly.” ($6

Billion Is Not A Small Amount 2010).

In an interview with Dr. Louie Lobo Hung-tak, who is the Associate Professor of the

Department of Physical Education of Hong Kong Baptist University, he felt disappointed that the issue of the bid for the 2023 Asian Games had become politicized. It was because the sporting culture and host culture of the Hong Kong people was very weak. Therefore

Hong Kong people are concerned about the cost of hosting the Asian Games rather than the benefits obtained from the appreciation of the Asian Games. In addition, the government has a very bad bureaucracy practice which is “no action, no mistake”. The government promoted its bidding idea with such kind of bureaucracy. Therefore, it cannot satisfy the lawmakers and Hong Kong citizens. Moreover, Dr. Louie added that “the

18 government provided extremely little information about the planning of the bid. However, half of the Consultation Paper provided by Home Affairs Bureau was just the appendix.”

In addition, the government had a very poor marketing strategy. He thought that the government did not do any lobbying in terms of collecting the ideas from the lawmakers and people from different sectors, such as the scholars. Furthermore, in terms of the education, the government did not enhance the importance of “Sports For All”. That is also one of the reasons why the sporting people is so weak. In terms of promotion, Dr. Louie thought that the government should have a stronger promotion strategy. It is important because Supovitz (2005, p47) also states that “pre-event publicity will help generate public awareness … but a well-conceived advertising plan is strongly recommended to supplement such efforts.” Nevertheless, the promotion strategy of the

Hong Kong government was very poor. For example, Home Affairs Bureau was the only one governmental department to promote and organize the bidding of the Asian Games.

Promotional ideas are limited because the promotion which was carried out by one department was not sufficient, effective, and efficient. Furthermore, Dr. Louie said the wrong thing that the government did in the promotion was having no specific icon. Asian

Games is an international major sport event but it was unbelievable that there was no slogan for encouraging Hong Kong people to support the bid. “If there is a slogan, it will be a well-directed promotional strategy,” said Dr. Louie. He finally concluded that the failure to encourage people to support the bid for the 2023 Asian Games was due to the government’s poor coordination, ineffective promotion strategy and poor marketing strategy.

19 Conclusions and Recommendations

In this research, it is found that there are plenty of objection reasons, negative impacts, and the faulty government policy and planning of hosting 2023 Asian Games in Hong Kong.

And based on these factors, it is proved that Hong Kong should not bid to host the 2023

Asian Games.

In terms of the objection reasons, it mainly comes from the scholars, lawmakers and Hong

Kong citizens. An opinion comes from a scholar who thinks that the government should not use “to develop a strong sporting culture” as a reason for the bid of 2023 Asian Games.

It is because a strong sporting culture should not rely on hosting an international major event, but instead sustainable measures should be adopted and opportunities given to let citizens develop a good habit of doing exercise regularly. Furthermore, most of the lawmakers from different political parties are against the idea because their voters are against it. Their voters are against it because it would cost the public much money to host the Asiad. The lawmakers also believe that people have not been enthusiastic about hosting the Asian Games because of the pressing livelihood issues, such as soaring property prices and lack of social mobility, are still left unsolved. One of the lawmakers thinks that there is still a lack of consensus in the community on the bid. The government therefore should shelve the plan. Most of Hong Kong citizens are against the bid because they are worried that there would be "a waste of infrastructure in the post-Asian Games period”. Moreover, they fear hosting the Asian Games would require such a sizable financial commitment as to affect other government projects and services. The public wants the government to use the precious $6 billion to make people's lives easier. The government’s failure to properly resolve pressing livelihood issues is one of the major reasons why people oppose the bid.

20 In terms of the negative impacts, it is found that hosting the events sometimes may not be worthwhile from a business perspective because the events market is so different and varied and there are lots of risks which cannot be easily quantified. For instance, “major events are also heavily reliant on government funds … in return, facilities and events are expected to provide a significant return on government investment. However, the return is rarely expected to occur solely through operating profits.” (Westerbeek et al, 2006, p242).

Moreover, most of the international sport events in the past overspent. It is found that cost overrunning is a common factor which cannot be avoided in hosting major sport event because of the high cost of building and renovation of the sports facilities, as well as the inflation problem in Hong Kong. Hosting the Asian Games will not be worthwhile from a business perspective. For social impact, Hong Kong is one of the cities in the world which is highly densely populated. The traffic congestion of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games can be taken as a reference that may also happen in Hong Kong which brings Hong Kong a negative social impact and city image. The negative environmental impact cannot be ignored either. Taking the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville as a reference, the construction of sports facilities for 2023 Asian Games may bring severe damage to the environment. Another important negative impact is the legacy impact. After finishing the games, the operating cost and maintenance fee will become the government’s great liability.

In terms of the faulty government policy and planning, the government has announced different versions of budgeting plans in the legislative council, which makes the lawmakers and citizens feel very confused. The government’s inadequate preparation during the initial stage, coupled with the ill-planning without any accurate quotes and careful research, show how incompetent the Hong Kong government is. For instance, in the Consultation Paper,

21 there is a lack of useful information about the event planning. It is proved that the government has poor planning in the financial management and event management. In addition, the government has a very bad bureaucracy practice which is “no action, no mistake”. For example, the government assigned the only one department – Home Affairs

Bureau to organise the bid and promote the event. It is not sufficient, effective, and efficient. The government promoted its bidding idea with such kind of bureaucracy.

Therefore, it cannot satisfy the lawmakers and Hong Kong citizens. Moreover, the government has a very poor promotion strategy. During the promotion period, the government did not promote the event through any specific icons and slogans. It is the reason why the promotion has failed. Furthermore, the marketing strategy of the government is also poor. It did not do any lobbying before the formal promotion. Therefore, it cannot get any support from the people of different sectors. Another important factor that leads to the government’s failure is education. As the government does not well educate the value of “Sport For All” to the public from the very beginning, it fails to get the public concern on the significance of hosting the Asian Games.

Although hosting the Asian Games can generate lots of positive impacts, the negative impacts, especially ill-planning, will easily occur and they should not be ignored. If there is an opportunity for the bid in the future, it is highly recommended the government should have a good planning with careful research on social, economic, and environmental impacts before going to ask for the bid. In conducting a research, it is also necessary to consult the scholars and people from different sectors. Furthermore, a careful and accurate financial management is needed for the government to present in the Legislative Council.

The lawmakers and citizens hence will be confident enough to support the government. In terms of the promotion and marketing strategy, the government should promote the idea

22 creatively with specific icons and slogans. Moreover, it is highly recommended the more departments, such as Hong Kong Tourism Board, should be incorporated into a specific committee which aims to promote the bid for major sport events. It is a good way to well allocate the tasks through cooperation and make the promotion more effective and efficient.

For the long-term improvement, the government should change its bad bureaucracy practice. In addition, as the government does not formulate a new sports policy and thus has hindered the development for many years, Home Affairs Bureau and Planning

Department should cooperate with the universities for doing more researches in order to develop a new and suitable one for Hong Kong. Also, the government should put emphasis on the civic education of sports to enhance the sporting culture of the public. In the future, the Hong Kong citizens will be expected to understand the importance of sporting culture and host culture and hence support the bid for major sport events.

23 References

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John Wiley & Sons Australia.

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