Four million Brits to stay in the UK for the Olympics

Nearly four million extra Brits are expected to stay in the UK next summer to experience the 2012 London Olympics, according to a new survey.

The research, conducted by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which questioned more than 2,000 UK consumers and 500 businesses, found that 10 million adults plan to alter their holiday plans to fit around the games.

Of the Londoners asked, 9% intend to bring forward their holidays or delay them until after the Olympics, while 16% plan to stay in the UK instead of going on holiday, specifically because of the games.

However, the survey also found that four million UK adults intend to go abroad to avoid the Olympics, with more than one in 10 Londoners planning to escape the capital.

Mark Ambler, economist at PwC, said the report confirms the potential significance of the economic impact of the effect of the games on the UK tourism industry.

"In April, we calculated the commercial benefit of the Royal Wedding as part of an ongoing project to monitor the impact of large events in the capital, and calculated the commercial benefit to London from visitors' expenditure to be £10m," he said.

"This is a good indicator of the potential economic benefits of next year's games, when more than 10 times this number of visitors is expected."

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By Tom Vaughan

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