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Utah businesses would host Olympics again

Chamber representatives impressed by positive post-Olympic mood in Salt Lake City, Park City Even the naysayers ended up believing the February Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games were a good thing.
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Park City Utah

Chamber representatives impressed by positive post-Olympic mood in Salt Lake City, Park City

Even the naysayers ended up believing the February Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games were a good thing.

"There was nobody who said they wouldn’t have wanted them again," said Whistler Chamber of Commerce member Bob Adams.

"There was 100 per cent support, and we talked to a lot of people."

Adams, owner of the Grocery Store and Market Catering, has just returned, along with chamber chair John Nadeau, from a fact-finding mission to Salt Lake to study the impact the Games had on businesses there.

Said Nadeau: "We asked the question, ‘Would you do it again?’ and almost without exception everyone said yes.

"It was like aliens had come down and snapped up anyone who had negative thoughts. We looked. We really looked. We walked off the beaten track, (the support) was pretty unbelievable, and it started from when we got on the plane."

Both found the trip, sponsored by the Vancouver Whistler 2010 Olympic Bid Committee, a valuable tool in helping to assess how a Winter Games might impact the resort.

"Our role was to determine what the impact of the Olympics might be so that we could report back to our board and membership, and ultimately to either recommend or not recommend our involvement," said Adams who believes the Olympics would be a good thing for Whistler.

He found the Games really boosted the psyche of the whole community in Utah, giving it a renewed sense of community pride which even extended to those who did not do as well as they hoped during the Games.

Both Adams and Nadeau spoke to a range of people affected by the Games from those on the front lines in restaurants and hotels to Olympic organizers.

One lesson was clear: if businesses wanted to succeed during the Games they had to plan for them.

Adams spoke to the owner of a cross-country rental and clothing store in Park City and learned that her success was due to a change in direction for her business.

"She analyzed it and she thought people who come in are not going to be cross country skiing," said Adams.

"So she thought about what are the needs of these people would be. They needed to be comfortable and warm. So she pulled in some really nice clothing, some mittens, some booties, boots, and she brought in foamy chairs that you put on the bleachers, and her business was very successful."

The success of two art galleries also impressed Adams and Nadeau.

One brought in an artist associated with the Olympics and held a showing of his work a couple of days before the Games began. He made his February sales quota in one night and expanded his data bank of new customers.

Another gallery recognized the pieces sold there were too large for most of the expected shoppers. So smaller suitcase-sized pieces were brought in and every one of them sold.

"So I think the message to any business is to really think about your customer base. And I’ll let you into a little secret: get into the pin business," said Adams with a chuckle.

One kiosk in Heber, not even a venue town, sold $100,000 worth of pins.

Another important lesson was the power of negotiating. In Park City the main street was closed to traffic and turned into a pedestrian mall. Several tents were erected, some partially blocking the storefront of businesses.

Adams said Whistler merchants must strive not to let that happen if the resort wins the right to host the Games.

"We need to be very strong about negotiating where things go and the community and the chamber businesses have to be part of that process of negotiating," he said.

"Contracts are so important."

Networking will also be important, said Adams. Hotels, tour operators, and the mountains will have to work together to keep skier numbers up before and after the Games.

Many of the ski resorts surrounding Salt Lake had many fewer skiers before and after the Games as travellers stayed away after rumours fuelled misplaced fears of Olympic crowds, packed hotels, or higher costs.

And Nadeau had another warning about rumours.

"If you hear something either on the positive or negative side, check it out," he said.

"We heard rumours. One was that they closed down all the restaurants for sponsors and all the employees were thrown out of work.

"The truth was four restaurants were rented out to sponsors for the 17-day period and all the staff were left there to serve the sponsors."

Adams is even more convinced now than before his trip that the Olympics would be good for Whistler. It will raise the resort’s profile to ensure continued popularity and Whistler’s continued success is good for the province and the country, said Adams.

"I think the other thing, personally, is that we have some sort of responsibility to the province and to Canada," he said.

"We are very lucky here and if we can increase tourism to Canada and B.C they we should play our part."

The international Olympic Committee will award the 2010 Games in July of 2003.