Madrid 2016 CEO Mercedes Coghen calls Madrid “a great world city with an amazing atmosphere and facilities. More than anything, our concept of the ‘Games with the Human Touch’ means this could be a truly memorable event with a fantastic legacy”.
The city is presenting its vision for the 2016 Summer Games this week at the World Travel Market in London.
According to a Madrid 2016 press release, Spain is the world’s second most popular tourist destination, within easy reach of the rest of Europe in less than three hours.
Hotel rooms are part of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) criteria of awarding a city the Olympics, and Madrid says it easily meets the criteria with more than 65,000 hotel rooms, which by 2016 would reach 80,000 when it hopes to host the 2016 Games.
It calls its Metro system the most modern in Europe with 318 stations, one of which is located next to the proposed Olympic stadium, and Barajas Airport is the fourth busiest in Europe.
Madrid has 133 museums, and three world heritage sites are within an hour of Madrid. There are more than 3,000 restaurants to complement a host of bars, theatres, nightclubs and shops.
The press release says Madrid is a centre for European sport, it can offer the safest bid, and 77 per cent of the venues and infrastructures required for the Games are either already built or underway. Madrid has hosted more than 100 major international events over the last 10 years, as well as the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Madrid 2016 says the bid has the support of 93 per cent of Spaniards
