It was claimed the Olympic Festivals will act as a new asset to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) when the project was revealed at the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly here today.

Events will be locally organised by NOCs throughout Games-time, with a key objective being the promotion of the Olympics.

Feeds of competition will be used to allow the public to watch the Games from the festival, while it is expected to provide a platform for their sponsors to have activations.

The celebration of the countries'  Olympic teams and engagement with the local population are among the key concepts.

Seven of the European Olympic Committees have agreed to participate in the pilot project during the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Slovenia were confirmed to be the first participants.

The project will be based upon a Czech Olympic Committee (COC) initiative, held previously at the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

It was claimed to have attracted a total of 400,000 people over 18 days during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

The initiative allowed the public to take part in sporting activities, whilst supporting their countries' athletes, with the action broadcast on large screens.

Four regional parks were set up for Rio 2016, with fans able to watch the Games in Plzen, Lipno, Pardubice and Ostrava.

A total of 52 sports could be tried by the public, with claims over one million people attended during the 17 days.

It was estimated that 76 per cent were families with children.

Top athletes also visited the parks, allowing fans the opportunity to meet the potential stars when they arrived home.

The COC will assist the NOCs participating in the pilot project, which, it is hoped, will then be rolled out to more nations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The IOC have launched a brand for the “Olympic Festivals”, which will follow a similar format to activities run on Olympic Day celebrations.