More than half of consumers believe that the London 2012 Games will have a positive effect on the UK economy, according to new research from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The firm surveyed more than 2,000 consumers and 500 businesses on their attitudes towards the event, with 37 per cent of people saying they felt positive about the London Games. Although more Londoners feel positive about the event being staged in the capital, just 48 per cent anticipate a positive impact on the UK economy as a result.

Meanwhile, more than half of business managers surveyed revealed that they were "excited" about the Games, although 63 per cent believed there would be "little impact" on their firms. PwC economist Mark Ambler said: "We calculated the commercial benefit of the Royal Wedding as part of an ongoing project to monitor the impact of large events in the capital, and calculated the commercial benefit to London from visitors' expenditure to be £107m.

"This is a good indicator of the potential economic benefits of next year's Games, when more than ten times this number of visitors is expected."