LONDON will become a giant campsite and caravan park during the Olympic Games under proposals put forward by the Government.

Shaun Woodward, the Minister for Tourism and Creative Industries, told 2012 executives and the British tourism industry that he would like to see the capital’s parks transformed into camping grounds so that people unable to afford hotels could see the Games.

His suggestion raises the prospect of thousands of campers and caravanners descending on green sites across the city.

Speaking at a Games forum in London to discuss tourism opportunities, Mr Woodward said: “London 2012 has the great opportunity to be an Olympics for all with access for all.

“So as Tourism Minister 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. 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.”

Privately, tourism executives have concerns about the proposal, which they say would be impractical and expensive. One said that allowing London’s parks to be turned into campsites would be akin to transforming the capital into Glastonbury. There would be immense policing difficulties, no way of distinguishing genuine spectators from travelling communities who wished to put down permanent roots, and transport difficulties.

London 2012 expects to sell 9.6 million tickets, 4.3 million of which will be priced at £20 or less. A number of parks have been earmarked to play a key role: Regent’s Park will be the venue for road cycling and Hyde Park will stage the triathlon.

A spokeswoman for 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.”

James Bidwell, chief executive of Visit London, the official visitor organisation, which co-hosted the forum in the Barbican, said: “As far as the camping proposals are concerned, our primary objective must be to fill the 120,000 hotel rooms that will be available in London by 2012. That’s a lot of hotel rooms and a lot are extremely reasonably priced.

“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.”

Tourism is worth £74 billion to Britain each year. At this week’s conference Paul Deighton, chief executive of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, said: “The Olympic and Paralympic Games are a catalyst for getting so much done and creating so many opportunities both at Games time and as an investment in our tourism industry of the future.”

• The concert organiser who arranged for Brian May to play God Save the Queen on the roof of Buckingham Palace during the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations has been put in charge of the ceremonies for the London Olympics.

  Bill Morris, project director of live events for the BBC, was announced as director of ceremonies, culture and education for the Olympics and Paralympics yesterday.

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