According to Carl Wilgus, the Idaho Tourism Director, the entire northwest region can benefit from Vancouver and Whistler hosting the 2010 Games if governments and the tourism industry get organized.
The only question is whether regional governments can work together on the strategy, or if governments and communities will be left to compete for those benefits.
Either way, Idaho is hoping to do what it did before the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Utah, and that’s to offer Idaho facilities to national teams for pre-event training. Several teams took up the offer, and many stayed in Idaho and only traveled to Salt Lake City for events.
Sun Peaks has already signed a multi-year deal with the Austrian alpine ski team to train at the Kamloops-area resort prior to the first World Cup races in North America each winter for the next several years.
Wilgus would also like to see some opportunities to promote Idaho as a tourism destination and a place to do business.
Last week Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) held a Regional Economic Leadership Forum in Whistler. Representatives from B.C., Alberta, The Yukon, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Montana met to discuss several topics, including energy, the Olympics, and the impending laws that would require everyone, Americans included, to present passports at the U.S. border.
Wilgus’s message to other representatives regarding the Olympics is "you snooze, you lose."
"The Games are going to come here in a little over four years, and something is definitely going to happen," said Wilgus, who chaired a round table discussion on regional tactics. "I can tell you right now that your ability to get any value (from the Games) is proportionate to the energy you put into it now…. And never again in your lifetime will you have that opportunity again."
In addition to opportunities to promote the region through the Games, and host national teams and events, there are also economic opportunities for businesses. While the border does create some problems, Brian Krieger, the general manager of the 2010 Commerce Centre, said that no preference would be given to local or regional suppliers bidding on Olympic contracts.
That includes $470 million for venue construction (the bidding period to build the luge track closes on Nov. 30), a $1.35 billion operations budget, and $2 billion in contracts from tourism, sponsors and media starting in 2007. In addition, the province is spending approximately $3 billion on infrastructure improvements leading up to 2010, including the RAV rail transit line from Richmond to Vancouver, and the Sea to Sky Highway upgrades.
Krieger is advocating the creation of a 2010 business network that would partner Canadian companies, and Canadian and American companies to deliver on the contracts.
"Canadian companies can’t just go to the U.S. and do business, the same way U.S. workers can’t come in here without the right visas and paperwork," said Krieger. "We both have companies who have great products, services or technologies, so let’s put those companies together."
Both Australia and Salt Lake created business networks for companies to bid on Olympic contracts, according to Krieger. Because of the number of projects required, and the limited timeframe to work in – VANOC is committed to opening most venues for test events in 2008 – the partnerships are often necessary.
His advice for PNWER governments and companies south of the border that want to benefit from Olympic contracts is to partner with a Canadian company.
Krieger said the 2010 Commerce Centre does not award the final contracts, but rather acts as a liaison between buyers like VANOC and companies. The process for awarding contracts does not consider whether a supplier is local or regional, but rather looks at issues like price and capability.
"Our first priority is to make our procurement processes transparent," said Krieger. "As for the qualifications of the company, price is important but we also look at their ability to deliver. There are no additional points for a company that is local or from B.C. VANOC can’t take the risk that a company can’t deliver. These things absolutely have to be delivered on time and on budget, there’s no room for failure.
"For B.C. companies that want to bid, my advice is the same as I’d give other companies, and that’s to look at ways they can partner up. Get your company profile on the Commerce Centre website, and stay on top of the opportunities that are out there," said Krieger.
From a tourism standpoint, the Olympics also provide potential for the region, according to Rick Lemon, the vice president of tourism operations for Tourism B.C.
"The opportunity is not for the two months when the Games, the Olympics and Paralympics, are being held. The opportunity starts five years before the Games and goes for five years after," he said.
According to an economic report, about two-thirds of all economic benefits in hosting the Games come to the tourism sector. However, there are obstacles to maximizing those benefits across the border.
The main issue is that it’s so difficult for international visitors to Canada to get visas to travel to the U.S.
Canada has also been given approved destination status by China, which has the fastest growing economy in the world. Unless the U.S. is awarded the same status, none of those tourists will be crossing the border.
Another challenge is finding the staff to work in the tourism industry. There are thousands of vacancies across the province, and according to Lemon, college tourism programs are not graduating enough students to keep up with the rate of attrition.
One short-term answer would be to increase the number of visas awarded, which Lemon says is slowly taking place. That could also help bolster the number of construction workers and skilled labourers building Olympic infrastructure.
As for B.C.’s neighbours in PNWER, Lemon sees three opportunities: hosting Olympic teams for pre-Olympic training, using ethnic and cultural attributes of communities to attract international visitors who are coming for the Olympics, and developing package vacations and touring options for pre and post Games.
To implement some of these ideas, and address regional issues, PNWER is developing a regional business and tourism strategy for 2010 and creating a regional visitor information centre website.
