Call for 'tent cities' for 2012

London has a variety of parks that could become campsites for the 2012 Olympics Enlarge Map

London's parks could become camping and caravanning sites for the 2012 Olympic Games, a minister has said.

Tourism Minister and Creative Industries Minister Shaun Woodward told a forum that those who could not afford hotels might be able to camp.

Mr Woodward said: "London 2012 has the great opportunity to be an Olympics for all with access for all."

London 2012 said it expected to sell approximately 9.6 million tickets to the Games' events.

'Scores of parks'

"I invite the industry, and its partners in the public sector, to think creatively about whether they could provide high quality camping and caravanning facilities," Mr Woodward said.

"Across London we have scores of parks that London boroughs could use for lower-cost but high-quality camping and caravanning sites.

"Perhaps each London borough could create its own character for these sites, providing things like large screens and music - the potential is enormous."

The Games are expected to create a tourism boom in London

A spokeswoman from the Royal Parks said: "We agree with the minister that parks have a key role to play in supporting the Olympics in 2012 and we will consider the minister's comments when taking forward planning for the 2012 Olympics in the Royal Parks."

Parks are already being used as venues for some of the Games' events - Regent's Park will stage road cycling and Hyde Park will be the venue for the triathlon.

Visit London, which co-hosted the event Mr Woodward spoke at, said its primary concern was to fill the capital's 120,000 hotel rooms during the Games.

Chief executive James Bidwell said: "Camping can be a great experience when executed well and campsites are set up properly. There may be a way to integrate camping into the Olympics.

"But there is one thing we have to be careful about. These are images of London that are going to be beamed around the world to an audience of four billion people.

"We have to make sure that these images are amazing so that people want to come to London."