Sustainable Economic Growth
Youth, tourism and the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics
PROJECT LEAD: DR VIKKI SCHAFFER
SDG10: Reduced inequality; SDG17: Partnerships
The purpose of this project is to investigate youth participation, barriers and opportunities in the planning, execution, and legacy development of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.
Academic and grey literature purport that hosting the Olympics and Paralympics can result in economic, social, sporting, environmental, and political legacies for host regions. To capitalise on potential benefits requires extensive planning with all opportunities to be explored, developed, and evaluated. Limited attention has focused on youth in the planning phase for the identification of potential opportunities (legacy identification) and engagement. The Olympic Committee (IOC) endorsed the Olympism 365 strategy which aims to strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN) and to connect people with the Olympic values everywhere, every day. Most efforts to involve youth focus on involvement in sport, or volunteering, however the sport is only one of a range of opportunities in hosting a sustainable Olympics and ensuring a strong legacy.
Studies that explore the youth voice in the planning and execution of a sustainable Olympics are rare. Inclusion of youth ideas, perceptions and engagement is critical for achieving equity and diverse inclusion pre-during and post-Olympics.
This research explored youth (18–25-year-olds) ideas, innovative approaches, motivations, perceived expectations, and preferences for engagement in the Olympics and the connection to the associated tourism, leisure, and events by asking:
What are the perceived barriers and opportunities for increasing youth engagement in the 2032 Olympics in the planning, execution, and legacy development stages?
The UniSC Collaboration Space was used, and this showcases the innovative facilities on the Sunshine Coast campus and involving external stakeholders.
Unsolicited comments highlight the benefits to UniSC and community in terms of positive profile, awareness raising, facilitating stakeholder engagement and network connections. Guest speakers found the workshop offered an opportunity to learn “a lot” and was “very valuable”. “The energy in the room was amazing”, and that seeing “youth actively engaged in the 2032 process so intentionally …. was fantastic”. Comments highlighted “how engaged your students were, a credit to you” and that “students had some great advice on what they like and how”.
Outcomes and Benefits:
Within a workshop setting, the youth researchers led discussion with guest speakers from industry, sport, and government to stimulate roundtable discussions with participating youth (aged 18-25 years) to realise the following outcomes:
Youth participants contributed to discussions that opened avenues for them to understand the potential opportunities for the region co-hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games (O/PG) and for guests to gain insight into the youth perspectives.
Photo by Gigin Krishnan on Unsplash
Research findings:
Involvement: Research revealed that most participating youth were planning to be involved, but do not know how or were planning to get involved in areas such as sports journalism, to contribute knowledge about charging infrastructure for electric mobility, sports management, and health fields such as physiotherapy.
Areas of Interest: The areas of interest to participating youth included local athletes, sustainability and infrastructure development, use of potential for infrastructure and spaces post-Games (legacy), sustainability and regional development, the business side of sport, environmental stewardship and ensuring ecosystem health, transport and entertainment, marketing, allied health, and the media.
Barriers: The main barriers to youth engagement in the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics were identified as not enough accessibility to become involved, language and culture, “most people our age don't care about the games because it's an old tradition”, being more interested in ecological restoration rather than athletic performance, not knowing all the different ways to be involved, not knowing what personal skill set to offer, the lack of information which leads to disinterest, an inability to see the a relationship between the Olympics and Paralympics to help youth means it will often not be on their radar, competing priorities and “do not really think it’s important”.
Suggestions for engaging youth: Participating youth recommended to engage youth in the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics there should be greater focus on local involvement for the games, provide steps on how youth can be involved and show various pathways that involvement can provide; provide more encouragement and answer people’s answers about: what’s in it for me? Social media was suggested as an avenue to promote the events and to create fun innovative marketing strategies and recruitment ads like the Army that say how any skill set is useful; incentive and advertise the beneficial outcomes from the event. Also develop new and fresh ideas regarding events surrounding the main ones and enlist activists for the sustainable portion.
Role of tourism in the success of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics: Tourism was seen as very important (“huge”) to event success due to the exposure of people coming to watch the games and boosting the economy, engaging with all cultures, and encouraging collaboration and lead to years of opportunities following the event. Sustainability was considered key and Games-related tourism could promote local ecosystems and our endangered species that need funding and urgent attention.
Three youth research team members were part of this project.