He claimed that the Polish Government were fully behind the campaign and were ready to invest heavily in the region, including overhauling the local transport system, if they had been awarded the Games. 

"According to my calculations, we lost 3 billion zloty [£586 million/$980 million/€720 million] that were due to be invested," Majchrowski told Polish Radio.

"This is a big deal and it will cause a lot of trouble.

"But so people decided [in the referendum].

"The idea of the Olympics was that they would serve as a sword with which we would create a bypass, a new road to Zakopane and an entire mass of other investments."

Kraków's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics is over following an overwhelming "no" vote in a referendum ©Kraków 2022

Majchrowski again claimed voters were "misled" by a negative media campaign about the potential costs of hosting the Olympics compared to the benefits to the city. 

In the immediate aftermath of the referendum - in which 69.72 per cent voted against the Olympics and Paralympics - Majchrowski had blamed the initial Bid Committee led by former Polish Olympic snowboarder-turned-politician Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak for turning people against the campaign following corruption allegations. 

It had been estimated that hosting the Olympics and Paralympics would have cost Kraków in excess of 21 billion zloty (£4 billion/$7 billion/€5 billion)