£4 million Olympic Torch Relay Boost For Cornish Economy

Even now, the best part of twelve months later, more news of the positive impact of the 2012 Olympics comes to light, as yet another part of the country reports glad tidings.

As English counties go, Cornwall was about as far from the London Olympic Stadium as you could wish to be, but it still produced a whacking £4 million boost to its economy from the path of the Olympic Torch alone. With an outlay of a mere £120,000 in expenses, that sounds like a pretty shrewd piece of business.

With an estimated billion people watching, the council said the media coverage "equated to a public relations value in excess of £17m".

Plymouth, Torbay and Devon councils also spent a total of £120,000. Plymouth City Council said it spent nearly £99,000, Torbay spent about £11,000 and Devon County Council said its costs were £10,000.

The start of the relay from Lands End was a masterful piece of public relations, as Ben Ainslie was the first torch bearer. The man who was to end the Games as one of the greatest of all British Olympians learned to sail in Cornwall,

The 70-day relay, which set of on 19 May 2012, covered 8,000 miles and involved 8,000 runners, finishing in London on 27 July with the lighting of the Olympic flame.

The organisation of the whole procession was favourable to Cornwall, and Cornwall Council said the Duchy had been "extremely lucky" to be chosen to host the arrival of the Olympic flame into the UK from Greece and start the relay.

"This provided a unique opportunity to showcase what Cornwall has to offer to a national audience and, indeed, across Europe and worldwide," a spokesperson said.

Figures recently released to the Press Association under the Freedom of Information Act, suggest that local authorities in England paid an average of about £40,000 to host the torch.

                       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics_torch_relay