Some people argue that being a host country for sporting events is beneficial for the government, while others believe it can be detrimental. In my opinion, it is bad for the country; however, this essay will explore both aspects of this discussion.
On the one hand, the government can benefit from being a host country by improving tourism. Before or after attending sporting events, many guests who visit the country can travel throughout the area and see historical and entertaining places to enjoy their leisure time, which can encourage them to come back again. For example, since Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the number of tourists has increased significantly.
On the other hand, organizing international sports events can hamper a country’s development. This is because it can slow other domains from developing and can be a huge financial disadvantage for the host government. Officials usually spend a substantial amount of money to build new stadiums and improve public services in order to prevent dissatisfaction among guest countries, which means that they tend to allocate less funds to enhance other domains. Additionally, most of these buildings could be abandoned after such events, and they may not be able to cover their expenses. For instance, the last host country for the World Championship spent about 200 billion dollars on these expenses, and many of them are not currently utilized.
In conclusion, although hosting an international sports event can be beneficial to improving tourism, it seems to me that it has more significant drawbacks associated with the overall improvement of the country.