Firms hail positive impact of Commonwealth Games - Chamber report
A year on from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, 80 per cent of businesses believe the sporting extravaganza has had a positive impact on the region, according to a new report from Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.
The report, 'Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: What Next? Understanding the Legacy for Local Businesses', analyses the legacy impact of the Games on the region and its businesses.
Drawing on research conducted over a three-year timeframe, individual interviews and focus group sessions, the report captures business sentiment towards the Games - including the long and short-term impact, as well as providing suggestions for ensuring the legacy is fulfilled.
Around 400 local businesses contributed, including Conference Aston, Holiday Inn, Staying Cool, Staybridge, Hardy Signs, BMet College, Hardy Signs, Arup, Incorporatewear, PwC, Gowling and University of Birmingham.
Six months before the Games, 91 per cent of firms in Greater Birmingham felt it would have a positive impact on the region in the short term (0-3 years).
A further survey conducted nine months on from the event revealed 80 per cent of businesses believe the Games did have a positive impact.
Other key themes emerging from the Games included civic pride, a reputation boost for the city-region, the opportunity for firms to win work during and after, increased partnership and collaboration between organisations who were involved and a sense of commitment towards the Games legacy.
Henrietta Brealey, CEO of the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, said: "Were the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games worth it?
“It is the question of the moment as we mark one year on from the Games. Further fuelled, of course, by the Victorian Government's shock decision to pull out of hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
“At the Chamber, it is a question that we have been asking local businesses through a series of surveys, conducted before and after the Games, and interviews.
“The results are both strikingly positive and raise implications for both local stakeholders and future host-city Chambers of Commerce for any major sporting events.
“Economic impact is the much sought-after ingredient that makes the business case for hosting any major sporting event viable.
“The West Midlands welcomed a record 141.2 million visitors in 2022 with the Commonwealth Games a key driver, all the more impressive when you think we were still coming out of pandemic restrictions at the start of the year. The official interim evaluation report on the Games pointed to over £870m GVA contributed to the UK economy up to January 2023 and over half of that coming into the West Midlands.
“The pipeline of businesses interested in the region built up by the West Midlands Growth Company through the Games' Business & Tourism Programme continues to attract new investment. The programme is designed to secure more than £650 million of new overseas investment into the UK and create £7 million of additional export deals until 2027.
“While the official statistics are impressive, as the leading organisation representing and engaging Greater Birmingham's businesses, we believe that a vital way to test the impact and legacy of the Games is to ask businesses themselves.
“Throughout the three-year span of this research, we have used the insights gathered to influence our own activity, whether it be in our engagement with, and key messages to, Games stakeholders or the content of our own events and communications with the over 2,500 members we represent.
“We are now delighted to be sharing these insights as part of our contribution to Games legacy."
