Business Strategy

ABSTRACT

As the summer Olympics are growing with larger media coverage and sponsorship, hosts cities have started to attach great importance to the tourism economic effect that occur by staging such a special event. On 6th July 2005, the International Olympic Committee awarded the right to stage the 2012 summer Olympic and Para-Olympic Games to London.
This event is estimated to be worth over £2 billion in tourism revenue and its predicted that the benefits of the games will be felt across the whole of the United Kingdom, with London becoming the centre of the world’s attention.
The hotel sector continues to be battered by the worst recession in 60 years. Trading and values have been hit hard with owners, investors and operators impacted severely. However, there are some signs that the global economy has come back from the brink and that for UK hotels the worst may be over. [UK hotel forecast- not out of the woods yet. Available at www.pwc.co.uk (Accessed: 24th November 2009)]
PricewaterHouseCoopers latest UK hotels forecast shows that, despite the continuing fall-out from missing corporate travellers and the slump in the conference sector, hoteliers are more optimistic than they were earlier this year.

This paper will describe how the 2012 Olympic will influence the tourism industry and its operation by analysing the main trends in the strategic environment that had an impact on Whitbread PLC’s mission and business strategy. Whitbread Plc is the perfect example to use to explain the benefits of the Olympic Game on the UK’s tourism industry as Whitbread Plc is one of the best hospitality company in the UK.

Introduction

Whitbread Plc is the UK’s largest hotel and restaurant company operating market- leading businesses in the budget hotels and restaurant sector. Its brands include Premier Inn, Beefeater, Table Table, Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Costa Coffee. Whitbread Plc employs over 33,000 and serves a million customers every month in its 1800... [continues]

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