Contingent Valuation Measurement for Staging the Olympic Games: The Failed Bid to Host the 2018 Winter Games in Munich

In the past decade, well-planned bids for hosting Olympic Games failed due to a sudden lack of a support by the population. Therefore, we study both the determinants of people’s willingness to pay (WTP) to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Munich and the changes of respondents’ attitudes and WTP over time. The results from three surveys in 2009, 2010 and 2011 demonstrate that both the perception of the public benefit of the Olympic Games and the general interest in sport have a positive influence on WTP. Moreover, attitudes vary over time, indicating that external factors influence the population’s evaluations of, and appreciation for, hosting of Olympic Games (e.g. media reports). In c…