By Matthew Davis BBC News Online in Athens

Greece is already enjoying Olympic success in a number of disciplines

The nation has pinned hopes of a successful future on the events being a showcase for a "transformed" country, attracting new investors and tourists alike.

But there is anger in government that the home team's doping scandals - and a tourism slump - are ruining Greece's image.

Meanwhile, cities like Montreal - still paying for the 1976 Games - show the jury is divided on whether the Olympics are a cash cow or a money pit for the host nation.

Right impression

The Athens Imperial, a newly opened five star hotel, says it has more than 250 guests paying more than 800 euros (�540) a night to enjoy a luxurious Olympics experience.

Manager Yiannis Simos hopes that once the Games move on, customers will not.

"This hotel was never conceived of as an Olympics project," he said. "It was thought that if we build it, they [tourists] will come.

Once the Olympians go home, will Greek facilities languish?

"But we need the Games to create the right impression."

A key treasury aide told BBC News Online that Games spending would become an investment only if Greece got the right public relations message across.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis is said to be incensed at the damage done by the controversy over drugs.

Weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis was kicked out of the Games on Sunday after failing a dope test, a week after Greece's two leading sprinters quit the Olympics after being unavailable for testing.

As a measure of official irritation, government sources have let it be known that they will strip drug cheats of all the privileges their medals have earned them.

Feeling the pinch

A catastrophic fall in tourism in the Olympic year is also overshadowing optimism.

We have made every possible effort to create a more favourable climate for investors compared to the past and we are confident that our efforts will materialise Petros Doukas, Deputy Finance Minister

Many traditional Aegean Sea holiday islands are reported to be uncharacteristically empty. Tourism association figures suggest a fall in holiday travel of up to 25%.

Greeks are said to be feeling the pinch after joining the euro single currency, while foreign visitors are thought to have been put off by security concerns, fears of over-pricing and the sluggish world economy.

Such signs do not bode well for Greece's ballooning budget deficit - already at about 4% of GDP, far higher than rules laid down by the EU.

But politicians are still talking up the benefits of the Games.

Long-term burden?

At a meeting of the Athens 2004 Business Club - set up to exploit the commercial opportunities of the Games - Deputy Finance Minister Petros Doukas was in ebullient mood on Friday.

"We have made every possible effort to create a more favourable climate for investors compared to the past and we are confident that our efforts will materialise," he told entrepreneurs.

Athens put on a lavish opening ceremony for the Games

However, Mr Doukas admitted that total spending on the Olympics was certain to rise to more than 7bn euros (�4.6bn) from an original estimate of 4.6 bn euros. Other reports put the figure at about double the original estimate.

Greece has certainly improved its transport infrastructure and facilities in Athens. And the complex construction projects it undertook for the Olympics have enhanced the skills of the local workforce.

But the issue of whether they are worth staging is hotly contested. Montreal emerged from the 1976 event with a $1.2bn deficit, an amount reportedly still being paid off by residents through local taxes.

Los Angeles in 1984 is thought to be the first time the Olympics turned a serious profit for the hosts. They were also the first Games funded almost entirely by the private sector.

Since then, it is thought the Games have always made money, or at least broken even.

Easy come, easy go

But countries fighting to host future Olympics must assess more than the bottom line.

The 2012 bid cities are all pushing the benefits of regenerating run-down areas, but critics say sports facilities may not be the best use of money.

Sydney has found its facilities under-used since the end of the 2000 Games. Athens may find it hard to get companies to buy or lease its stadia.

Now Sydney's Olympic village sometimes resembles a ghost town

The positive impact of the Games can often be overstated.

Boosts from a greater sense of national identity and pride, improved sporting success or a rise in tourism - as Greece has found - can be easily lost.

Jobs, where they are created, may be short-term and low skilled. Increased tourism in one part of the country may lead to falls elsewhere.

And the sporting boost may also not last. While Spain's Olympic gold medal haul increased from one in Seoul in 1988 to 13 in Barcelona 1992, it has since plunged. The country has yet to win a gold at Athens 2004.

For Greece, the Olympics are absorbing huge amounts of funds.