LONDON – Quiet restaurants, empty sidewalks and spare seats on the subway have left businesses in central London without an Olympic gold rush, despite Britain's medal success -- and have raised new questions about whether the world's largest sporting event brings any economic benefit to host countries.

It is a major concern in Britain, which is still entrenched in double-dip recession even after the construction boom created by the Games.

---

Attractions including St. Paul's Cathedral and the London Zoo have seen a 40 percent drop in visitors since the opening ceremony on July 27. Dire warnings of travel chaos scared many away, and those who do come are congregating in the shopping mall that abuts the Olympic Park in East London, or inside the bars and opens spaces of the sprawling park itself.

Even small businesses within sight of the landmark 80,000-seater main stadium have seen none of the expected dividend.

East Londoner Dean Houssein, who usually works as a taxi driver, decided to sell coffee, drinks and snacks such as chocolate gold medals from the back of a van near Victoria Park. It seemed like a prime location -- big screens in the park show action from the Games to crowds of thousands and the Olympic Park itself is just a 5-minute train ride away.

"It's been like a f****** ghost town ... deader than dead," Houssein said. "I've never seen the area like this. It's costing me money. It's really not happening. I need to go back to my normal job, I've got bills to pay like everyone else," he said last week.

Asked what the business was called, he replied with a wry smile, "I was thinking of calling it 'Dean the Coffee Machine,' but I'm not selling it. I'm drinking it all myself, getting the shakes."

Full coverage in London 2012: Hosting the Games

Even as authorities warned of major delays and congestion, the Daily Telegraph published a slideshow of deserted stations and sidewalks.

Theater producer Nica Burns told the Evening Standard newspaper that her venues were "bleeding."

"For my six theaters, last week was the worst this year," she said. "I think the Olympics are great — but I feel like I've been the bulls-eye for the archery competition."

Peter Vlachos, a marketing expert at the University of Greenwich, in southeast London, has been surveying local businesses about the impact of the Games. "One word came back: Disaster," he told The Associated Press.

"There are 23,000 people walking past (local shops) in the morning to get to the grounds, and at the end of the day the same 23,000 people rushing back to their hotels," he said.

"The Olympics were sold to the business community as if it was going to be a huge windfall, and it hasn't materialized," he said.

Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ... ?

Big traders are also suffering. Stores on the city's flagship shopping drag, Oxford Street, have seen footfall slump by up to one-fifth.

"Of all months to see a drop in trade, August is the worst," said Bernard Donohue, chief executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. "We expected a drop in international visitors -- it's the well-known displacement effect that happens at every Olympic Games -- but we didn’t expect all the domestic visitors to stay away, too."

British Prime Minister David Cameron last week repeated official estimates that London 2012 would bring $20 billion-worth of economic benefits over the next four years, mostly in the form of inward investment urban regeneration – enough to the justify the $14 billion cost of staging the Games.

"That figure is based on somewhat shaky calculations," said Samuel Tombs of London-based analysts Capital Economics, which predicts Britain will fall back into recession within weeks of the closing ceremony.

"There are some short-term benefits, particularly in the service sector, but long-term gains are unproven. We expect modest growth in the third quarter -- partly boosted by Olympic ticket sales which are officially recorded in this quarter -- but our current prediction is that we will see growth shrink again in the fourth quarter."

Christians, Muslims and even a 'vegan turkey' seek converts at London 2012

'The Olympic Curse'?
Could Britain be the latest victim of "The Olympic Curse" -- a phenomenon that in 1976 left Montreal with a 30-year debt headache?

Athens is estimated to have spent between $15 billion and $32 billion on hosting the 2004 Olympics -- a contributory factor in the country's economic crisis -- and recent pictures show many of the venues lying vacant and abandoned. Research from Oxford University's Saïd Business School concludes that host cities have averaged a 179-percent cost overrun in the past 50 years, although recent Games have seen among the lowest overspends.

Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world

Transit authority Transport for London last week abandoned the use of pre-recorded public announcements, voiced by Mayor Boris Johnson, warning Londoners to plan for an expected visitor boom that never materialized.

The New West End Company, which represents stores in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, is spinning the unexpected quietness as a boon for locals under the slogan 'No tickets needed.' "It's a Londoner's dream at the moment -- they can get around easily and get a table in a good restaurant," said spokesman Jace Tyrell.

The decline in visitor numbers in London could mean that other British tourist hot spots, including Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, and northwest England's Lake District, see fewer summer visitors.

Olympics officials accused of anti-Semitism over Munich remembrance

Jonathan Denby, head of the Lakes Hospitality Association, told BBC Radio 4: "We get probably 100,000 Japanese tourists during the summer. This year in July and August there are none.

"No visitors are coming in from Asia because they couldn't get hotel accommodation in London and they were frightened of all the travel restrictions in London, so they just decided to stay away for the five-week period of the Olympics," he said.

"If you want to know where all the Londoners are, a lot of them are in the Lake District," Denby added.

Forging an Olympic legacy
There have been some winners. The recently opened Westfield shopping mall, through which tens of thousands of spectators walk from Stratford station in order to reach the Olympic Park, became so busy over the weekend that it closed to all except ticket-holders. A worker at The Cow, a bar at the end of the mall overlooking the stadium, said it was making $50,000 a day from food and drink sales.

In Manchester, one of England's largest cities, more than 100,000 extra visitors have flocked to the central Exchange Square to watch the Olympic action on giant screens, to the delight of local businesses, according to the Manchester Evening News.

For others, it may be too early to judge with Cameron's predicted windfall will come true.

"We thought we might get some extra customers during the Games," said Roger Love, co-owner of London Fields Fitness, which offers personal training and pay-as-you-go classes in East London.

"In fact, not a single extra person has come to us because of the Olympics. At times the local area is as quiet as it was the morning after last year's riots. Having said that, we haven't lost any business, either – and there may be greater interest in sport and fitness longer term. In the park this morning I overhead someone asking their child if they wanted to be a swimmer or a runner, so there could be more future business for us -- and perhaps a real Olympic legacy -- after all."

More world stories from NBC News:

• Are these German protesters the world's oldest squatters?
• Race to London's Olympic Park: Fastest way is ...?
• Interpol drops 'red notice' for dissident
• Journalist: British militants took me hostage in Syria
• At Hiroshima memorial, Japan leaders vow to listen
• Olympic hosts: Londoners open their homes to the world
• Canada lobster fishermen lash out at cheaper US exports
• Slideshow: The lives of Syria rebels fighting for freedom

LONDON - Britain's economy slid into its second recession since the financial crisis after official data unexpectedly showed a fall in output in the first three months of 2012, piling pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron's embattled coalition government.

The Office for National Statistics said Britain's gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012 after contracting by 0.3 percent at the end of 2011, confounding forecasts for 0.1 percent growth.

---

The last time Britain suffered a double-dip recession was in 1975.

Most economists had expected Britain's $2.4 trillion economy to eke out modest growth in the early 2012, but these forecasts were upset by the biggest fall in construction output in three years coupled with anemic service sector growth and a fall in industrial output.

Wednesday's figures will be a deep blow for Britain's Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition, which has slid in opinion polls since a poorly received annual budget statement in March and risks embarrassment at local elections on May 3. The government is also under pressure over revelations about its close relationship with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

Fresh reports show little evidence of housing rebound

The government desperately needs growth to achieve its overriding goal of eliminating Britain's large budget deficit over the next five years.

Britain's economy contracted by 7.1 percent during its 2008-2009 recession and recovery since has been slow, with headwinds from the eurozone debt crisis, government spending cuts, high inflation and a damaged banking sector.

The Bank of England has warned that there is a risk of another contraction in the second quarter of 2012, due to an extra public holiday. But unlike during the previous two quarters, it does not appear keen to provide further monetary stimulus through quantitative easing asset purchases, due to above-target inflation which looks stickier than before.

Consumers confident but wary about the economy

The BoE, and a number of private-sector economists, had argued before Wednesday that the underlying health of Britain's economy was stronger than ONS data suggested, due to relatively upbeat private-sector surveys and a fall in unemployment.

The ONS's preliminary estimates of GDP are the first released in the European Union, and are based partly on estimated data. On average, they are revised by 0.1 percentage points up or down by the time a second revision is published two months later, but bigger moves are not uncommon.

One third of all land in Greece is up for sale as the debt-crippled country tries to raise money from state assets, a state official reportedly said Wednesday – but little of it will help those wanting to snap up a dream home in the sunshine.

Greek authorities are touting billions of euros worth of government-owned land in order to finance international bailout loans totaling $227 billion over the next few years.

---

However, most of the sites are in industrial zones or tied to facilities such as airports, highways and energy firms, according to a report by Turkey-based news Web site Hurriyet Daily News.

The report said Greece is targeting its immediate neighbor, Turkey, as potentially a large source of investment.

“One third of Greek land is on sale,” the report quoted Panos Protopsaltis, head of the Privatization Program of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, as saying.

Customers flock to Greek farmers selling cheap spuds

The organization is offering some 50 billion euros worth of assets for sale, and hopes to generate nearly 19 billion euros in cash by as early as 2015, the report added.

A truck assembly plant, sewage works and ports are also up for grabs, along with land on some of the country’s islands popular with tourists.

But tough rules on property transactions in Greece, coupled with an absence of spare land in the most sought-after areas, make it unlikely the country will see a huge influx of private buyers looking to take advantage of the 30 per cent drop in house prices over the past three years.

“Unless you have the cash to buy outright it is very difficult because the Greek banks simply aren’t lending,” UK-based property investment consultant Simon Conn told msnbc.com. “In addition, there are requirements such as having the legal documents translated into your own language. Also, buyers need to be careful. There is a reason a piece of land or building plot is up for sale in the first place; if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

PhotoBlog: Greek soccer match abandoned after fan-police clashes

There are also concerns Greece could suffer further economic difficulties in the future, making it a risky proposition for anyone wanting a holiday home in the sun.

A spokesman for Internet property site Rightmove Overseas told msnbc.com: "When the Greek economy first hit the news back in June 2011, we saw a jump of 50 per cent in searches for Greek island based properties compared to the month before. Greece has been in the top 10 most popular countries ever since, potentially fuelled by speculative investors looking for a low priced investment opportunity.

"However, we see Greece mainly as an opportunity for experienced investors; if you want to buy an office block in Athens, rather than a retirement home overlooking the sea, then now is a suitable opportunity."

Cartoon: Greece bailout

Greece has recently received the first installments of its rescue loans, including $7.8 billion from countries that are in the Euro currency zone and a further $2.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

In exchange for the support, Greece has agreed to deeply unpopular austerity measures such as cuts to wages and public services, including hospitals.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• 3 cops hurt in shootout with under-siege suspect in Jewish slayings
• Tears, defiance at French shooting victims' burial
• Finally, UN reaches agreement over 'extremely dangerous crisis' in Syria
• Reports: Pirates free British tourist after relatives pay ransom
• Damage to world's oceans could hit $2 trillion a year, experts say
   

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world