Istanbul and Tokyo had a strong competition last year in order to organize the 2020 Olympic Games. They tried to give their bests.At the end, Tokyo won the bid with the majority votes of IOC members.Olympics application package of Turkey was very impressive. But there were some very important weaknesses under some titles of Istanbul‘s application.Especially, this package was not discussed before and after the decision of

IOC at the Turkish public.As we look the development of preparations of FIFA World Football Cup 2022 in Qatar, it is sure that there are chronicle problems.This gives us a certain opinion that IOC has more sensible approaches than FIFA dealing with mega events in the terms of sustainability.This study tries to give

comparative and accurate information to prepare scientific application packages for future and will try to analyse pre-development and implementation of such mega organizations in the terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability

Polat, N.

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Proceedings of the 2nd Tourism and Hospitality International Conference (THIC 2014)   189  ISTANBUL or TOKYO:  SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR OLYMPICS?  N. Polat  Tourism Faculty, Travel Management and Guidance Department,  Pamukkale University, Denizli,  Turkey     ABSTRACT  Istanbul and Tokyo had a strong competition last year in order to organize the 2020 Olympic Games.  They tried to give their bests. At the end, Tokyo won the bid with the majority votes of IOC members. Olympics application package of Turkey was very impressive. But there were some very important weaknesses under some titles of Istanbul‘s application. Especially, this package was not discussed before and after the decision of IOC at the Turkish public.  As we look the development of preparations of FIFA World Football Cup 2022 in Qatar, it is sure that there are chronicle problems. This gives us a certain opinion that IOC has more sensible approaches than FIFA dealing with mega events in the terms of sustainability. This study tries to give comparative and accurate information to prepare scientific application packages for future and will try to analyse pre-development and implementation of such mega organizations in the terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability.    Keywords: Olympic games, sustainability, environmental management, IOC  Introduction  Both cities were visited by IOC Evaluation report commission and an evaluation report was made public and distributed to members of IOC. This report was not inspected, commented and discussed at those days at Turkish public. Istanbul had big gaps in the terms of sustainability and environment when it was compared with Tokyo and this was certainly reflected in the evaluation report. Even if there is an immense pressure on main organizations in the term of sustainability and environment, application package of Istanbul mainly ignored those approaches. Tokyo had very certain sustainability indicators and city was eager to implement them (IOC,2012).   At those days, some political speculations were made about the loosing of Istanbul against Tokyo at Turkish mass media and newspapers. Especially, Government of Turkey blamed Gezi protestors and in the contrary, Turkish Government was blamed not to use democratic vehicles against protestors during days of protests which were occurred in June, 2013.  For the future applications, Istanbul must take into account the sustainability concept under diverse criteria. After this, it would be possible to talk about political circumstances, surely has great importance on such important decisions. Nevertheless, it was possible for Tokyo to win the bid although a nuclear power plant and tsunami dramas were lived in the country within short period. Japan was able to manage the risks and gave lessons to Turkish counterparts about crises management. At the end of study, a short summary of political atmosphere will also be mentioned as a cover-up.  Method  This study will try to explore different approaches of Istanbul and Tokyo‘s candidatures for the organization of Olympic Games 2020 depending upon IOC‘s criteria, international environmental and sustainability indicators. Especially, the evaluation report of IOC will be investigated which is not really taken into consideration for the preparation of Istanbul‘s application by the officials. In this study, the great emphasis was given to Istanbul while it lost against Tokyo. Concrete comparisons and analyses between two cities will be part of this study which is prepared partly in term of qualitative and comparative research methods mostly based on this report which has concrete recommendations.      Proceedings of the 2nd Tourism and Hospitality International Conference (THIC 2014)   190  Evaluation of IOC Report about Istanbul and Tokyo in terms of Environment and Sustainability  Outlook for Istanbul  As we look at general comments about Istanbul, it is very certain to see critical observation about the city. Although, the rest of important organizational factors were very competitive, it was clear that Istanbul was punished not only because of lack of environmental standards.  Report is emphasizing weaknesses of newly development of infrastructure of Olympic area. This area has very limited green space. Turkish side waited that Istanbul will gain concrete contribution for protection and restoration of natural and cultural sources with the help of this organization. According to report, lack of broad sense and understanding of sustainability such as social participation, accessibility programmes, development of lifestyles and heritage programmes would not help preparations of Istanbul. Especially, accepting the concept of environment is not alone enough to make a city to ready for Olympic Games (Polat, 2011).         Outlook for Tokyo  According to the report, environment and sustainability will play a very important role at the candidacy of Tokyo. These terms will be based on very strong understanding of Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG)‘s quality advancements and steps in terms of environment (Table 1).  Outlook  Istanbul Tokyo Infrastructure      (-)   (+) Green space      (-)   (+) Sense of Sustainability      (-)   (+) ISO 20121      (-)   (+)   Table 1.  Management for Istanbul  After following of Host City election, it is recommended that (OCOG) Organizing Games for Olympic Game‘s sustainability programme would be implemented and there is request to have an independent certification as ISO 20121 in order to ensure quality standards. An advisory group was recommended for this process. Games Delivery Partner has the responsibility to monitor and guarantee the assurance of preparations according to sustainability programme. This seems to be a difficult relationship between OCOG Sustainability Department, Games Delivery Partner and TOKI (The State Agency responsible for venue and infrastructure development). As a matter of fact, TOKI was responsible of unsustainable development of many newly built Turkish cities. This has also very negative effect for an organization because of non-scientific experiences with such a state agency in the construction sector of Turkey (IOC, 2013).  Management for Tokyo  Tokyo 2020 Sustainability Strategy will cover all stages of processes; this will be independently certified by ISO 20121 (Sustainable Management System Standards for Events).With TMG and other delivery partners, OCOG Environment Department will take the initiative of all around strategy.   IOC wants to have implementation of stakeholder participation, transparency, independent assurance and reporting (such as GRI: Global Reporting Initiative). This is not easily seen in the application package of Tokyo. OCOG will commit itself on actual regulations, standards and professionalism of TMG. Relationship between OCOG and TMG is strongly underlined with this reason.  Standards in Istanbul  Here, there are strong recommendations for Istanbul from IOC such as;   -environmental impact studies -internationally recognised sustainable construction standards such as BREEAM -carbon management project such as Carbon Disclosure Project which also considers carbon footprint methodology which was used in London 2012 -more focus on design, construction, transport and impact of air travel  Proceedings of the 2nd Tourism and Hospitality International Conference (THIC 2014)   191   Istanbul‘s ambitious plan for more recycling rates and waste management depend on strong recycle management infrastructure and education of local people. Sure, it is possible to reach these aims under certain conditions. Again, Olympics will be tried to use as motivation and catalyser element for reaching a change in terms of environment. This creates a certain lack of competition strengthens against Tokyo (Hudson, 2003).      Sustainable Sourcing Code covers social and ethical supply chains and this seems a new approach for many Turkish stakeholders. It is very difficult to implement it in many established organisations. It is possible to reach a successful result with the help of domestic sponsors and licensees, which are issued by OCOG.   Standards in Tokyo  The place of 15 competition areas is very near each other and a good transport system will have positive effect on environmental impact of Olympic Games.      Design, clean energy and other efficiency factors are under effective programme of TMG which is called Green Building Programme. Environmental impact assessment will be used for newly built venues. These will be under Japanese CASBEE system which is equivalent of international construction standards.  Games transport vehicles will have low emission and fuel efficient systems.  Public transport system allows the city to become very efficient in terms of sustainable mobility. Goods and services will be bought according the green purchasing scheme of TMG which involves social and ethical buying issues. OCOG has also possible instruments such as sustainable sourcing policies which can be used for selection of suppliers, licensees and domestic sponsors.    Commission sees the aim of carbon neutral Games as a very ambitious project. Especially carbon footprint, compensation initiatives are giving a very big question whether they can be measured safely although OCOG and non-OCOG budgets would be activated for this issue.  Tokyo wants to achieve zero waste level with filling the land by waste which can be possible by reuse, recycle and recover methods in the construction and operations of the Games. Green areas, parks and recreation facilities are largely found in the city and it aims to create new green spaces with the promoting of biodiversity (Table 2). Standards  Istanbul Tokio Environmental Impact Studies     (-)              (+) BREEAM or CASBEE     (+)              (+) Carbon Management     (-)              (+) Design, Construction, Transport, Air Travel     (-)              (+) Waste Management     (+)              (+) Sustainable Sourcing Code     (-)              (+)    Table 2   IOC Recommendations for Istanbul  -Military area which is found in Esenler (Cluster) is still not reachable because of its security status. This area is planned for golf place and basketball arena. It seems that this area will be developed and used under strict care of its conversation status which can be easily ignored by municipalities because it is used as important plant area. -Major bird migration routes are passing over Istanbul. This evidence must also be taken into consideration with environmental impact assessment. -Turkey and Istanbul are in the early period of sustainability issues. Capacity building and new approaches and standards can be encouraged with the help of 2020 Agenda. -Construction, tourism and event management sectors may be profited through sustainable practices till 2020. -OCOG will be helpful to reach targets which are underlined in the report. It seems critical  to reach the end-effect.  IOC Recommendations for Tokyo  Proposed canoe slalom races at Kasai Rinkai Park can have negative effects on bird sanctuary. Proceedings of the 2nd Tourism and Hospitality International Conference (THIC 2014)   192  Discussions with locals were held and Tokyo is aware of concerned people. If Tokyo is awarded the Games, a very detailed environmental impact assessment will be realised.  Result and Recommendation  It is a great consensus that Istanbul was not really ready to prepare and organize such a big event in terms of environment and sustainability. Sure, the budget of Istanbul was not small such as 2,901.6 million dollar according the year 2012; Tokyo was ready with 3,424.1 million dollar according the same year. It is mostly clear that there are many indices for Istanbul to lose the bid against Tokyo. But with this study, it is tried to analyse environmental and sustainable approaches of both cities. Istanbul has a great attractiveness when it comes to geography, culture, heritage which is also called as natural resources. But this advantage was not changed into a real competitive advantage by the city. Istanbul has many problems in the meaning of urbanism. Even if there is a good attempt to reach the target, there was lack of interest about sustainability and environment which was shown above.   Many reasons about loosing of Olympic Games were discussed in the Turkish public, countless factors were expressed. These discussions were fairly not helpful for the future organisation attempts of Turkey for Olympic Games. The real problems were not discussed; public opinion was divided into two such as pro-contra opinions about the Government because of Gezi Park protests. Government accused protesters and their supporters to show Turkey not a peaceful place and opponents accused the Government because of using hard methods and tactics to suppress the protesting people, even costs some lives. After losing of Olympic bid, this was hardly materialized and used by the Government against its opponents. At the end, there was a question whether there was real wish to organize such an event without any doubt if there was no scientific and sincere discussion about Olympic issue. Maybe, this paper will be the first paper to open a discussion about reasons to lose the organization of Olympic Games in Turkey.   It is very much true that Japan was also living also very difficult situation at those days. Tsunami and Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Fukuyama were two negative important factors for getting ahead in this competition. But there was real crises management in Japan which was very helpful for them to get the organization of the Games. This would be another topic for the future.   Turkey must realise that it is nearly impossible to organize Olympic Games without sense and understanding of sustainability. But there is no real hope to realize this because of rigid attitude against science and positive thinking in the country.  References  HUDSON, S. (2003)  Sport and Adventure Tourism, The Haworth Press: Binghamton  IOC, (2013) http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Host_city_elections/2020_Evaluation_Commission_report.pdf  IOC, (2012) http://www.olympic.org/2020-host-city-election   POLAT,N.(2011) http://www.ist.org.np/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=38&Itemid=90               

Istanbul or Tokyo: Sustainable future for olympics?

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