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You are here: Home > Current Topics > At your Leisure > 11 December 2006 |
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The Asian GamesThe Games have their origins in the post-Second World War period, when Asian members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to launch a multi-sport event for their own continent. The first Asian Games were held in New Delhi in 1951, attracting only 500 competitors from 11 countries. Compare that to the 2006 Games, which will feature more than 10 000 athletes from 45 nations, and you can see why the 15th Asian Games will be the biggest yet. The Olympic Committee of Asia (OCA) also oversees an Asian variation of the Winter Games, an Indoor Games event and new for 2008, the Asian Beach Games. All OCA member states can take part making for a highly diverse set of competing nations: Middle East states such as Iran and Iraq will be represented, as will countries of South East Asia, such as Indonesia and Vietnam. The republics of Central Asia including Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan will take their place alongside East Asian states such as China and Japan. With such a wide geographic spread, the Asian Games are expected to generate massive interest. The Doha Asian Games Organising Committee (DACOG) estimates that around 1.5 billion people will follow coverage of the event. |
Doha is the capital city of Qatar, located on the Persian Gulf. It is Qatar's most important city as more than 80% of Qatar's population lives in Doha and its suburbs. Unusually, the majority of Doha's residents are non-Qatari nationals. Most of the city's resident population comes from south Asian and Arab countries.
The desert sands of Qatar - the source of the country's wealth. Copyright: Matt Davies, from stock.xchng.
Qatar is heavily dependent on oil and gas reserves for its wealth. These industries account for:
The country's rulers are trying to diversify away from oil and gas as its main source of foreign earnings. The oil and gas reserves are not about to run out, though. Qatar is the third largest source of the world's gas reserves. It sits on oil reserves estimated to be able to produce 13 billion barrels, and is thought to be able to sustain oil production for another 20 years.
But what happens after this time? How does a country that has grown rich as a result of its energy reserves prosper in the future? These are the sort of questions that Qatar's rulers have had to face.
Qatar certainly has the landmark hotels, such as the Four Seasons, for visiting spectators - but what about the venues? Copyright: Abdulrahman Youduf, from stock.xchng.
Science and technology are regarded as key drivers of future prosperity. But there has been a big push to boost Qatar's status as a centre for sports and tourism. Doha was also the venue for the World Trade Organisation talks in 2001. These negotiations are referred to as the 'Doha Round' of trade talks. Doha is also the headquarters for the Arabic satellite television news channel, Al Jazeera, which recently launched an English language service.
The centrepiece of the Doha Games will be the Aspire Zone. Formerly known as the Sports City, Aspire comprises the Khalifa International Stadium with seating for 50 000 spectators, the Aspire Dome which houses seven arenas under one roof, the Hamad Aquatic Centre featuring an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and the Aspire Tower which is Qatar's tallest building.
To a great extent, it is these world-class venues that hold the promise for future growth in sports tourism in Qatar. They will leave a legacy for the country to bid for many big sports events in years to come. Efforts to develop Qatar's non-sports tourist sector are looked at below, where the Qatari strategy for post-oil and gas development is compared to that of neighbouring states.
But Qatar is the smallest country ever to host the Asian Games and this represents the biggest threat to the success of this and future sporting events in the state. How can Doha hope to fill world-class venues when its population is so small?
For a country with a GDP per head of $27,400 at 2005 estimates, you wouldn't expect the government to have to subsidise ticket prices at a major sporting event. But in order to attract spectators to the Asian Games, DACOG is thought to be releasing some tickets to events at the low price of $1.40.
In a state awash with revenues from oil and gas, though, this is an attractive move. The government has already shown its financial commitment by promising the OCA that they will guarantee to meet the full costs of the Games. DACOG has also set conservative targets for venue occupancy (a venue's percentage take-up of seats). In the preliminary stages of events DACOG hopes to meet a 60% occupancy target, while in semi-finals and finals there is a 70% target.
For a televised event, there is little worse than a near-empty stadium, lacking in any atmosphere, so some of the venues for the Games are deliberately micro-sized, such as the basketball hall which can accommodate only 1000 spectators. The Games' organisers hope that these measures will ensure that the Doha experience is one that captures the imaginations of spectators, competitors and viewers alike.
As you might expect from a Games featuring such a wide variety of geographically-spread countries, there are many cultural differences represented by the competing nations. Culture is in part expressed by the kinds of sports that are popular in a country. So the range of sporting events covered by the Doha Games is very wide. Traditional Asian games such as wushu, kabaddi and sepaktakraw take their place alongside the usual football, cycling and athletics. But other sports (or non-sports, as some would argue) are also part of the line-up: cue sports, body-building and chess are some of the more bizarre events on show.
One of the key 'buzzwords' in hosting big one-off events such as the Olympics or Asian Games is 'legacy'. This means what the event leaves behind for the local population and host country after it ends. This can involve:
In the case of Doha, the legacy of the 2006 Asian Games will be centred on health issues. Some of the highlights are as follows:
But Qatar also wants the Games to provide a springboard for growing the country's reputation as a host venue. It will try to show that it can cope with the demands of hosting a large-scale event. It also wants the Games to showcase the country's appeal to tourists. Crucial to the development of Qatar as an international centre for sports and tourism is Doha's airport. This is undergoing a major renovation, which will be fully complete in 2008.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a regional organisation whose members include Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Set up in 1981, the GCC hopes to emulate other regional blocs like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the EU (European Union) in encouraging economic and cultural development through trade, science, and forging greater links between peoples.
As with any group of neighbouring states, though, there is an underlying competitive element to the cooperation that the GCC attempts to foster. The Gulf States are in a race to develop and diversify their economies before the flood of revenue from oil and gas reserves dries up. A good illustration of this race is provided by the strategies pursued by Doha in Qatar and Dubai in United Arab Emirates.
Dubai is a small state located within the United Arab Emirates. This emirate has set out on a path to reduce its reliance on the oil industry by concentrating on the service and tourism sectors of its economy. Construction is one of the chief beneficiaries of this focus.
Dubai is believed to be one of the fastest growing areas in the world, second only to some Chinese cities. Copyright: Joe Brockerhoff, from stock.xchng.
Dubai has come to worldwide recognition as a result of many factors. A few of these are listed below:
The strategy followed by Dubai is a twenty-year plan to reposition the emirate as a high quality destination for tourism and a centre for leisure and recreation. This strategy is beginning to pay dividends and will continue to do so for some years to come. Oil analysts believe that Dubai's reserves will be exhausted by around 2010. In Dubai's case then, the need for careful planning to diversify away from this source of earnings was vital.
Qatar is growing as a centre for sport, education and tourism. Its 'Education City' is the location of the first overseas branches of some big American universities. Education City also houses a technology and science park and a conference and exhibition centre.
Doha's renovated airport will be a big step towards opening up new markets in sports and tourism. Medical science and technology are another element of the strategy. But with greater reserves of oil and gas than many of the other Gulf States, perhaps the need for diversification is less pressing? Time will tell if Qatar succeeds in creating a new and prosperous future for itself.
