Still, a victory lap at this stage may be premature.
The Olympics usually boost tourist and business travel, something the host city and country anticipate eagerly. Beijing expected half a million visitors during the Games period. But many hotel rooms in the capital remain empty. In other parts of China, the tourism boom expected from the Olympics hasn’t materialised either.
A slowdown in the US economy hasn’t helped. Nor did the Tibetan protests in March and the Sichuan earthquake on 12 May. But tighter visa restrictions for foreigners, introduced just weeks before the Games, have also kept many away.
For foreign visitors, confidence is another issue. Memories are still fresh of the outbursts of anti-Western sentiment in China, the calls for boycotts against foreign brands, and the lengths the mainland authorities have taken to ensure security.
But despite the economic letdown, many Chinese seem proud that their country is staging this great event. Perhaps it’s because this time round the Olympic flame has come to symbolise optimism in a year plagued by calamities.
The Beijing Olympics are unique, not least because they are taking place against a backdrop of assertive nationalism - seen most vividly in the consumer rage against foreign brands such as Carrefour.
There are other important social and media changes taking place. Beijing’s effort to block sensitive discussions on the web through the use of keyword filters and net patrollers has faced setbacks.
Interestingly, internet users have found clever ways of circumventing these blocks. One technique is to stump the keyword detectors by rendering Chinese-language script vertically instead of horizontally.
The Government (at press time) bowed to pressure to make the internet more accessible. Blocks had been lifted on a few banned websites: BBC News, Wikipedia, Reporters Without Borders and even Amnesty International. Whether they stay open remains to be seen. But it was more than coincidence that the latter two blocks were lifted on the day President Hu Jintao met the media.
A perfectly timed PR exercise, it came just days after the mainland had received a barrage of negative publicity in the foreign media over its efforts to censor the internet, pollution in the capital and its human rights record. For its part, Beijing has left no stone unturned to ensure the Games are a success. It has attempted what no other host country possibly could, banning all outdoor advertising in the city and the use of Chinese Olympic athletes by non-sponsors.
Despite these provisions, after the Olympic party, many of the sponsors are likely to wonder whether it was all really worth it.
Companies have paid a staggering US$866 million (that’s about $72 million each and a third more than previous Olympics) to sponsor the Games. The issue is weighing the value of investing increasingly large amounts of cash against the potential payback.
In this respect too the Beijing Olympics are unique. The size of the mainland market can’t be ignored. But for multinational brands operating in China, a market heavily reliant on Government relationships, supporting the Games and Beijing is imperative to future success. But the fact that some sponsors - Lenovo, Kodak, Johnson & Johnson and Manulife - are backing away from future Games should give organisers pause for thought.
But the real lessons will come in the months ahead, as brands assess ROI and China gets back to business after months of preoccupation with this event.