Melbourne, Oct 16 (IANS): Negative campaign by the international media ahead of the Commonwealth Games badly hit the business of Delhi's shopkeepers, restaurant owners and taxi drivers during the mega event, an Australian newspaper said Saturday.

Business had been bad across the board with the athletes being advised to stay inside the confines of the Games Village on security grounds and journalists tending to use the official hotels, The Age said.

"Shopkeepers, restaurant owners and taxi drivers all invested in refurbishment and redecoration in anticipation of the extra trade they would get. And all of them suffered," it said.

This was because the English and Australian coverage concentrated on the negative aspects of the Games, the daily said.

There was also the press coverage of the troublesome bus system and the dengue fever and malaria, the report said.

It took the 16-year-old British diver Tom Daley to cut through it all. ''Obviously I have read all the stories in the newspapers, but once we got here everything was great,'' said Daley.

What really marred the Oct 3-14 Games was the attitude of the other major Commonwealth countries. The Games were hugely devalued by top athletes who pulled out because they said they were too wary to come, the paper said.