Politicians and promises

Remember all those promises about how Scotland would benefit from the London Olympics? Like this one from Patricia Ferguson, the then sports minister, in January 2005 (here):

"In terms of the tourism industry in Scotland, a successful bid would provide a fantastic opportunity to attract more visitors to our country, and give a heightened profile to our unique scenery, modern, vibrant cities and unrivalled historic buildings and monuments."

Or this one from Nicol Stephen in May 2006 (here):

"The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games present enormous opportunities for Scotland. Our young athletes are already in preparation and our businesses should be following their lead. The economic potential is huge: billions of pounds will be spent and we want Scottish companies to get involved."

Or this one from Jack McConnell in January 2004 (here):

"The staging of the modern Games in London would give an enormous boost to sport in all parts of the UK. It would excite and inspire people of all ages and sporting abilities. The tourism sector in particular would benefit from an event which would give heightened profile to the UK as a whole."

Well you can now forget them again. Today's Scotsman reveals:

SCOTLAND will not reap any significant tourism benefit from the 2012 Olympic Games unless governments and tourism agencies intervene to encourage visitors to look beyond London, a report warned yesterday.
The games could bring a £3 billion boost to the UK tourist industry, according to a review of data from previous Olympic host cities including Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).
But the overwhelming majority of the benefits are likely to be confined to London.

Oh, and those contracts which Scottish firms might have secured?

... last week it was confirmed that no Scottish companies had been shortlisted for contracts to help build the £2 billion athletes' village.