Hauke Tallon at the London School of English says: “The Swiss press at the beginning of the year were saying, ‘if you don’t have Olympics tickets, why on earth would you go to London this summer? Hotel prices are outrageous. Flight costs are very high. The transport system is going to go into complete meltdown because it is already at 95% capacity’.

“The underlying message was, ‘you’d be mad to go.’ But things have changed since then – now flights are affordable, accommodation is very good value. It’s a completely different picture.”

“The Swiss press were saying, ‘if you don’t have Olympics tickets, why on earth would you go to London?”

Van Leeuwen agrees: “The German public also fears high prices for accommodation, food and everything. We experienced the same reaction in the past with mega events like the Olympics in Beijing and the football World Cup in Cape Town.”

In response London and Partners is running campaigns to lower the costs of flights and attractions. It also created marketing materials with EUK to reassure agents that London will be open for business, although some schools doubt these will carry weight.

Others are more upbeat. One of the biggest agent chains to operate in Europe, headquartered in Switzerland, ESL, says it has had no problem with flights and accommodation and that bookings are on track. Dancaster, who is also principal of Wimbledon School where summer bookings are on the whole healthy, adds that the Olympics is having a very positive effect.

“I’m sure there is a certain Olympic effect for some people… For many in London we also see the Olympics as a very positive marketing tool.”

“London is going to be buzzing we think… Students will have the experience of a lifetime”

She points out that English UK London schools will be holding a collective “mini-Olympics” sports day at Regents College, as well as holding their own sports-related outings, rolled in with other events such as the Wimbledon tennis championships.

“London is going to be buzzing we think… Students will have the experience of a lifetime. It’s an absolutely unique experience to be here, learning English during the Olympics.”

Like many schools, The London School of English is hoping for a last minute pick-up in business. “For many schools part of this is a public information exercise to say, ‘look, you may well believe that you can’t get flights, you can’t get accommodation, but that is simply not the case… It’s cheaper than it would normally be, don’t believe what you read.”