Athens 2004 Big Financial Benefit For Greece

The Financial Times reports that economists forecast the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games will add about one percentage point to Greece’s gross domestic product next year. While most sports events take place in Athens during two weeks in August, Greece expects to attract more than one million additional tourists in 2004 because it will be marketed as an Olympic destination.

Paris Mantzavras of HSBC-Pantelakis Securities told the Financial Times that “Greece dropped off the map for many international investors in the last couple of years, mainly because of the small size of the market. The Games should help put Athens back on people’s radar screens”.

Greek construction companies stand to gain most from the Olympics because of public works contracts in the pipeline, reports the newspaper. In addition to building sports venues such as international rowing and equestrian centres and specialized stadiums for wrestling and weightlifting, the city’s roads and mass transport systems are being upgraded for the Games.

Also retailers, food processors, hotels, mobile phone operators, and to some extent banks are seen as potential winners in 2004.

Athens-based Olympic sponsors like Alpha Bank, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company and OTE, the Greek public telecoms group, “should all benefit from the extra exposure”, according to Vassilis Kletsas of Global Finance in Athens. Write or read comments about this article

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