A survey of downtown Salt Lake City businesses found most benefited from hosting the 2002 Winter Olympic Games last month.
"The majority of downtown businesses saw some type of increased sales during the Games, or at least did not see sales decrease," said David Baird, economic development director for the Salt Lake Downtown Business Alliance, which carried out the survey.
"Only 28 per cent of the businesses saw some level of decreased sales, which reflects the sporadic patterns seen in previous Olympic Games.
"Some businesses may not have realized their Olympic expectations but the aggregate economic impact of the Games on the downtown economy clearly is a positive one."
A total of 199 businesses responded to the survey. Of those 121 were in the mall and 78 were street businesses.
They were asked if sales changed during the Games, if the business changed its hours of operation to accommodate the Olympics, if so was the change worthwhile, and what percentage of guests were international.
The survey found:
• 54 per cent had some level if increased sales during the Games;
• 18 per cent experienced no change in sales;
• 28 per cent had reduced sales.
As expected businesses had different experiences depending on their location.
Of the 78 non-mall tenants:
• 6 per cent had a 100 per cent increase in sales;
• 24 per cent had at least a 50 per cent increase in sales;
• 9 per cent had at least a 25 per cent increase in sales;
• 28 per cent experienced normal sales;
• 5 per cent experienced a 25 per cent decrease in sales;
• 8 per cent experienced a 50 per cent decrease in sales;
• 3 per cent experienced a 75 per cent decrease in sales;
• 17 per cent did not respond to the question.
Many non-mall businesses said their local customers were scared away by pre-Olympic traffic projections, which largely never developed.
Non-retail businesses in this location, which switched their operating hours to avoid traffic congestion in the first few days, actually switched back to normal hours as fears over traffic jams never materialized.
Of the 121 mall tenants:
•18 per cent experienced 100 per cent increase in sales;
•16 per cent experienced at least a 50 per cent increase in sales;
• 25 per cent experienced at least a 25 per cent increase in sales;
• 12 per cent experienced normal sales activity;
• 29 per cent experienced some level of decrease in sales.
Ninety per cent of food outlets in the mall had sales increases.
Baird said businesses which worked at drawing Olympic visitors in fared well in general.
"But if businesses did nothing out of the ordinary they did not reap many rewards," said Baird.
One clothing retailer, Baird wouldn’t say which one, increased sales by 1,000 per cent.
But professional offices like lawyers and accountants in the downtown core definitely lost business as clients were loath to travel to the downtown core for fear of traffic jams and crowds.
Baird said he has heard of two conventions planning to book in Salt Lake thanks to positive experiences during the Olympics.
And he hopes that future work by the Alliance and other stakeholders will bring new business to town.
"(The Olympics) has branded a positive image in their minds but now it is up to groups like mine and the Sate of Utah to roll up our sleeves and nail down these groups.
"(The Olympics) didn’t guarantee that they would re-locate here but what it did was give us an opportunity to show them the wonderful quality of life and the very positive affects of relocating here."
But just because businesses did well during the Olympics is no guarantee the boom will continue or repeat itself next season.
"They won’t necessarily find the same increase next year," said Helen Lenskyj, a University of Toronto sociologist and author of Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, Politics and Activism.
"The theory is (the Olympics) puts the city on the world map. But that works for come cities and not others, and there is a lot of variability about that."
According to a recently released State of Utah economic study the Games acted as a showcase for the state and created a $4.8 billion US economic impact, resulting in 35,000 job years of employment and $1.5 billion in income for Utah workers (1996-2003).
Business leaders in Salt Lake are being quoted as saying the Games will bring $100 million in investment thanks to contacts made during the Games.
According to the General Accounting Office the Salt Lake Games cost $342.2 million US, although an investigative piece in a recent Sports Illustrated article suggested the Games cost the American taxpayer $1.5 billion US.
Provincial and federal politicians are already touting the 2010 Games as a money maker for B.C. and the country. But some take exception to their claims that an Olympic Games can fuel an economic boom.
"The studies are being done right now and 2010 is a long way off," said Kevin Wamsley, director of the University of Western Ontario’s International Centre for Olympic Studies.
"A lot can happen between now and then with respect to inflation, cost of materials, people’s travelling habits... environmental crisis, poor relations with people involved in the bid, and neighbours, and communities.
"These are all kinds of intangibles that people should be worried about."
Wamsley also questions the logic of B.C. spending so much money on the Olympics at a time of obvious fiscal restraint.
Despite claims to the contrary, he said, every Olympic Games has cost the public millions of dollars when you add in the price tag for infrastructure improvements like the expected upgrades to the Sea to Sky highway.
"These are real dollars... and yet you are going to turn around and spend all of this public money on a bunch of facilities that a handful of people are going to use.
"Let the buyer beware."
