New research by the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) has revealed that the 2012 London Olympics could have a negative impact on the capital's tourism industry.

According to visitor arrival statistics obtained by the ETOA, there was a "major disruption" to tourism in each of the previous six host cities of the Summer Olympics - Beijing, China; Athens, Greece; Sydney, Australia; Atlanta, US; Barcelona, Spain and Seoul, South Korea. The ETOA said the figures discredited claims that hosting the Olympics boosts tourism in a host city, with Beijing reporting a 30 per cent decline in inbound tourism in the month before the 2008 Games.

Compared with 2007 figures, the number of people visiting Beijing in the months after the Games also decreased by 20 per cent. The ETOA said that, while 2008 was not a strong year for tourism in the Asia Pacific region, Beijing had suffered more than the rest of China. The ETOA also suggested that if London's tourism sector was to follow a similar pattern to Beijing in 2012, it could result in a decline of more than 2.5 million visitors and £1.5bn to the economy.

Tom Jenkins, ETOA executive director, said: "Every city is unique, and each city handles the Olympics in its own way. But we have yet to have a Games where tourism has not been disrupted in a way that causes real harm. Even in the case of Athens, where they carefully restricted new capacity, there were considerable losses before and after the Games both in the capital and throughout Greece."