The expected results can be predicted, but the real result will be known after the event is over when the line is drawn and the necessary rigorous evaluations are carried out.

What cannot be denied is that organizing these games is a mega challenge to take on, they are an opportunity to generate jobs, new infrastructure, modernize the city, generate revenue, generate brand image, media impacts at a global level and many more positive aspects.

On the other hand, it will also be the time when price increases are generated, overcrowding of places involved with the event, protests and social, economic and political questions about the need and usefulness of generating them for a city that will also have to assume exorbitant costs, which not everyone can afford to face and which will expose other realities that the city will have to take into account to emerge victorious from the organization.

The two aspects mentioned above can be limited to the host city, or in this case to other cities that have decided to take on this role to collaborate and complement Paris, such as Marseille, Lyon, Nice, Tahiti, etc.

What should not be in doubt is that the event itself is a very strong tourist magnet for the city, and this specific fact will also reflect all the situations that tourism causes in a destination when tourists arrive to visit it.

There should also be no doubt that Sport will be the main motivation for travelling in this case, whether as an athlete who will compete, as spectators, but let us also think about the families of those who compete, their coaches, judges to oversee, leaders of the delegations and companions and assistants in the case of many of the Paralympic participants, journalists, technicians of the different specialties necessary to execute the event and many more. This is especially true for Paris as a city and France as a country, which are two essential references when analysing the large figures and impacts that tourism generates at a global level.

France is the country that has been in the top 5 of the rankings and measurements carried out by UN Tourism and other organisations for several years with regard to the reception of visitors, the emission of tourists, countries that spend the most on tourism, countries that earn the most from the activity and the most competitive countries for developing it.

Given this reality, it is an opportunity to analyse the path taken and the one still to be taken.

It is not by chance, nor coincidental, that the vast majority of those attending the event are from the nearest countries and from the richest countries with the largest population.

A possible analysis

I propose to analyze several of those aspects that have undoubtedly been taken into account.

To do so, I propose to analyze the impacts and challenges in three clear moments, as if it were a trip and I refer to before, during and after. For each of those moments we will see challenges and opportunities to address, and as with any tourism case I will associate it with the value chain of tourism for the city of Paris.

In each of those moments, aspects such as sustainability, accessibility and inclusion, security, mobility and management of a lot of variables such as ticket purchases, capacity and load capacity of the places where the events are held and everything related to the logistics behind specific sporting events, which are often not seen, must necessarily be taken into account.

Current technological advances will be of great help to analyze large volumes of data in real time and thus be able to generate information that allows better management of the event.

Using Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and all available tourist intelligence systems will not be an option, it is and will be a reality. In this sense, the concept of smart gains strength.

Let's look at some basic reference data

In this case, it is necessary to resort to several different sources, because many times the figures do not match and this reality shows us how difficult it is to have real, verifiable and above all reliable data.

That is why we will resort to figures handled by the official organization of the event, the Olympic Committee and other sources that are considered to be of rigor when it comes to handling figures and forecasts.

Other data tell us that after the event, the Olympic village and other venues will generate around 3,500 homes for the city.

Between national and international visitors, some 15 million additional visitors are expected than usual, with more than a million of them international and during the event itself. It is not surprising that most of these visitors are from neighboring countries in Europe, the United States, Canada and Brazil (from the Americas) and China and Japan (from Asia).

There will be 45,000 volunteers to support the events in different areas such as transport, security, translation and much more.

And some 20,000 accredited journalists are expected to provide media coverage.

For the 17th Paralympic Games, which will take place between August and September, an additional 4,400 athletes from 182 countries are expected to compete in 22 different sports. The tickets available for sale for this event are estimated at around 3.4 million at a price that will start at 15 euros.

It is mentioned that these are the first games organized with equal participation in terms of gender, with 50% of men and women competing.

As a novelty, the opening ceremony was held for the first time in the open air, which allowed for an almost 10-fold increase in the capacity of people who could attend it with tickets ranging from 24 to 2,700 euros. It was estimated that more than 325,000 people attended the tour in person and it was also an opportunity to show the city in its most emblematic points along the planned route.

If we take the value chain of Tourism, it will not be difficult to imagine that jobs are generated directly associated with construction, transportation, accommodation, security, food supply for the event, local gastronomy, supervision and logistical organization of the event and without a doubt in the tourist attractions that are already available and that will be impacted by a greater influx of public. In the induced effects of Tourism there will undoubtedly be many people who will work and generate products and services that serve as a complement to the main activity.

Focusing on before the Games.

Without a doubt it is a long-standing process that begins in 2013 with the city's application as a candidate for the organization.

At that time, a budget of around 4.4 billion euros was planned for the organisation and it was known that the city's infrastructure had to be prepared to receive an unusual flood of visitors, but also to generate first-class facilities to compete, but also to accommodate those competitors. These budgets always end up being much higher, and in the case of Paris there is talk of figures that could reach 13 billion, figures that will only be known at the end.

It is also fair to say that not all of these expenses are paid for by the state, because many of these costs are covered by the major sponsoring brands, which also take advantage of the opportunity to use the city as a promotional showcase and pay significant amounts for this eventuality.

The event was incorporated into a more ambitious local and political agenda which, among other things, included making the Seine accessible and viable for open-water swimming competitions, which apparently was partially successful, even though several of the events were able to take place, but with delays due to pollution and with the withdrawal of athletes and teams who complained about the poor conditions of the site. An important fact is that around 1.4 billion euros were invested to improve the river's purification systems and make it less polluted, a one-off event that seems not to have yielded the expected results despite the media attempts by the Mayor of Paris to swim in it before the start of the games.

Another important fact is the resistance to the games by many Parisians, who see the huge public expenses that must be assumed as unnecessary, added to moments of friction during the event with the overcrowding of places due to the arrival of tourists and competitors to the city, with increases in prices, as in the case of public transport, which was expressly increased during the period in which the games are taking place, as a way of generating more income for the city.

Other reference data such as those provided by Amadeus, speak of the fact that the forecasts of flights to the city increased by around 10% compared to the same period of the previous year. It does not take much thought to realise that the main air terminals of the country such as Orly and Charles De Gaulle airport will have to anticipate this increase in their operations.

Tourists who have come to the Games in advance have often been confronted with the city's preparations, which have led to several iconic places being closed off or under repair, making it difficult to enjoy an iconic city like Paris.

As regards security, in a world of conflict and where France is a party to several of these conflicts, threats of attacks and boycotts have arisen which do not help to generate calm and which must necessarily be foreseen and which lead to an increase in the police and military forces available for the occasion.

Focusing on the Games:

When the Games began, all the forecasts and planning came up against reality and so far we can say that, apart from a few details, the situation has been successfully resolved.

What is a real fact is that the hotel industry and the accommodation sector in general are working very well and with prices much higher than usual, transport has become more expensive and it is logical that more will be paid for things that at other times could be obtained at a lower price.

As regards attendance at events, we have disparate realities. There are events where locals play or which are disciplines of great attraction for those who participate where attendance has been really good, more than 60,000 people in some cases and we have several examples where attendance has not been up to expectations. For the final verdict we will have to wait until closing, but the reality is that not all tickets have been sold out. Another not so pleasant reference could be to mention the more than 13,000 people who are estimated to be homeless in the city, who have moved to other places outside the epicentre of the event so as not to be visible and that this fact also generates a certain insensitivity.

As far as security is concerned, apart from the boycotts and sabotage carried out at the transport level when the games started, there have not been any major scares so far, which is really good and we hope that this continues until the end. The sense of alert that has been installed is real and the current circumstances merit it. For this reason, the French government has provided 50,000 police officers and 18,000 army soldiers for this eventuality and video surveillance systems based on artificial intelligence have been approved, unprecedented until now.

And if we talk about sustainability?

These games have proposed to be the most sustainable so far.

This includes addressing the 3 dimensions of sustainability.

• In the economic dimension we have great expectations regarding generating income, jobs and spillover that will exceed the event itself and will be sustained for a while longer. There is talk of expectations of up to 3.5 billion euros by 2034. An attempt has been made to give visibility to all the French territories participating in the event and not just Paris. An attempt has also been made to favour local producers and service providers as a source of support for the games.

The negative impact is due to the increase in prices and the overcrowding of places for locals.

• In the social dimension, we have that the city has improved and planned its accessibility, the games are equitable in their participation by gender, the infrastructure for citizens has been improved, new accommodation will be generated after the event closes for more than 6,000 people. On the negative side, we have the discontent of some citizens, the demonstrations against the games and the displacement of homeless people.

• In the environmental dimension, we have used advanced energy systems such as geothermal energy, applied circular economy structures to avoid generating carbon footprints greater than necessary, and the Olympic Village will create an urban structure that is intended to be used as a laboratory for the cities of the future in terms of their environmental impact. On the negative side, with the arrival of more people, they generate greater impacts in their air, river and land travel and everything related to the generation of greater amounts of waste and other impacts for the receiving destinations.

Focusing on the aftermath

For this section we are going to do futurology because many of the events will be able to be seen and really analyzed with the benefit of hindsight.

But we can say that without a doubt the cities will benefit from a better infrastructure, that at the level of brand image the places used to compete will be able to contribute a plus to the city and may in some cases become new tourist icons.

For those who had the opportunity to go, it will undoubtedly be a unique experience that they will undoubtedly be able to remember.

But all this might not come to pass. It has already happened in other cases such as in the Athens 2004 Games where spaces were abandoned and unused. Occasions in which the expenses have been exorbitant and the income has not been able to cover it.

Fortunately, in all the previous cases it is about learning and improving.

Many of the jobs that are generated are temporary and after the event is over, things must return to normal.

To conclude

We still have several more days of games to evaluate, see or attend.

Sports Tourism is a manifestation of tourist activity that must be taken into account and analyzed in more detail. Sport in general and the organization of mega events are a true attraction and motivator for travel, where different roles can be assumed in terms of participation.

• Without a doubt, no one is alien to these Olympic games, because athletes from practically all countries in the world participate.

• Because there are disciplines for a large number of audience tastes.

• Because they reflect the cultural feeling of many billions of people throughout the world.

• Because people with and without disabilities participate, both men and women.

• Because we have technological availability that means that almost anyone who wants to can connect with these games, regardless of the device they have or where in the world they are.

And finally, because they are a competition and the world is competitive by nature.

We have our bread and circus of modernity.

This is a mega event that is increasingly falling short of many countries in terms of organization due to its costs and necessary infrastructure, and the amount of resources of all kinds that are needed to organize it successfully.

This fact is demonstrated by the few applications for the organization of the upcoming games. This should be a wake-up call.

But we can also see it as a laboratory for the future of what people are capable of organizing and carrying out.

We can learn from all the good that happens and we can also learn from the disappointments that occur.

I have intentionally omitted to enter into the political analysis that we could make of the use of the games as a form of political vindication that has occurred and will occur throughout history through participation or not.

I have also intentionally avoided entering into the analysis of amateurism versus professionalism that has been seen in the participation of athletes and sports that participate in the games, which could even threaten the very principles and values ​​proposed by Olympism.

Nor have I wanted to enter into an analysis of the support or lack thereof that athletes and sports receive, depending on the country to which they belong, and which generates ever-growing gaps between those who have a chance to win or not.

These issues are relevant to the analysis but would merit a special section for each of the cases.

As always, contributions and constructive criticism are welcome to improve this reflection.