Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Whistler's first date with the world

2006 Olympic round-up stresses importance of Paralympics, making a good impression

As a host city for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games Whistler sent a large delegation to the 2006 Games in Torino to learn everything they could about the preparation, hosting and aftermath of one of the world’s biggest sporting events.

Those delegates have since met to discuss their findings, and last Wednesday, June 21, presented the Torino Games Experience at MY Millennium Place. The meeting was a general overview of what Whistler can expect in 2010, as well as what the benefits could be for the community – if the town and its businesses are organized enough to seize them.

According to John Rae, manager of strategic alliances and marketing for the RMOW, it’s estimated that by March 2010 over three billion people will have heard about or followed the Games through television, the Internet or other mediums.

"It’s like being on three billion first dates," said Rae, "and it’s an incredible opportunity for the resort. But we had better make a good impression if we want to go out a second time.

"Right now we have all the raw material to make a good impression, but what we need to do now is take it to another level. It’s really going to be a huge team effort, and we will need everyone to be involved, every business, every individual."

Approximately 20 to 30 people from Whistler were at the 2006 Olympics and Paralympics in an official capacity at any given time, getting a behind the scenes look at everything from marketing to security to venue preparation to food and beverage. There were a number of things that Torino and the mountain towns that hosted the on-snow events did well, according to Rae, that Whistler can borrow. One thing that stood out was the overall look of the Games, the use of signs and flags and the placement of logos at event venues. "The Games looked good, they looked good on television, and they looked good to the spectators," he said.

One area that needed improvement was the way local businesses were involved. He used the example of a crowd returning from an alpine ski event only to find a "back in one hour" sign on the local pizza restaurant. Not only was that a lost opportunity for the restaurant owner, but it also created a negative impression among visitors.

In general, Rae said that Torino, which fell under the Torino Organizing Committee’s area of responsibility, was more successful in capitalizing on the Games than the mountain villages, which were the responsibility of the regional government.

Rae also went over the 10 key lessons that Whistler’s delegates to the Games put together. One of those lessons was to be strategic and not opportunistic, keeping things affordable to ensure long-term benefits for the resort.

"We’ve learned that there’s a 30 to 40 year benefit to hosting the Games, most of that in tourism, and nothing hurts you worse than overcharging visitors," Rae said. "That’s not the reputation we want to come away with."

Another lesson was not to underestimate the Paralympic Games in terms of the level of interest or how challenging it will be to host athletes and events.

After his presentation, delegates from the municipality, Whistler-Blackcomb and Tourism Whistler took to the stage and answered questions from the audience.

There was a modest turnout for the presentation, but the challenge of getting the eight panelists together at the same night meant that the 2006 review had to compete with the WORCA Loonie Race, Citta’ Challenge and some excellent weather on the first warm night of summer.

One member of the audience asked whether Whistler has enough accommodation to house the Olympic family. The International Olympic Committee brought up the issue two weeks before on an inspection of venues.

Audience members also asked if the resort would have any rooms available to tourists during the Games, or if all the accommodation would be taken up by the Games, which is what happened in Torino. One of the main concerns for Whistler is the fact that tourists tend to stay away from Olympic hosts during the Games, as well as in the season leading up to the events.

According to VANOC spokesperson Maureen Douglas, the focus until recently has been finding the 16,000 rooms needed in Vancouver. Now that has been accomplished, VANOC will be focusing more on Whistler, which is a challenge because of the number of strata-titled hotels and property management companies involved. However, she said they’ve already secured about half of the 3,500 rooms needed in Whistler by the IOC and Olympic family.

"We’re not concerned," she said. "During a Christmas weekend we have 45,000 people or so, that’s our capacity with bed units. It’s going to feel like that every day during the Games.

"There are limited quantities, and our priority is to house the Olympic family, but once that’s taken care of we’ll try to host all the people we can. We’re feeling confident we’ll secure the rooms we need, as required by the IOC, and after we’ll know what we’ll be able to offer tourists."

According to Rae the meeting was just a starting point for the community.

"The next critical step is communication, with an exclamation mark," said Rae. "Not just us going on, but genuine engagement with the community. Stakeholders are already actively engaged, but also every member of the community who wants to get involved, because by virtue of the scale of the Games we’re talking about everyone will be involved, it will affect everyone’s life.

"There will be several meetings, specifically on transportation, specifically on parking, specifically on village activation, specifically on medical services, specifically on arts, culture and heritage."

The municipality is putting together a strategic framework that identifies the different areas, as well as the process for engaging the community. That framework is about to become a community document, according to Rae.

"Each of those areas (of discussion) will have their own strategy with meetings, sessions, workshops and community engagement."

Some of those meetings could start this year on the more complex issues, such as how businesses can be involved in promoting and supporting the Games.

"There have already been Olympic procurement workshops, but now there will be licensing workshops, merchandising workshops, marketing and promotion workshops and marketing sessions," said Rae.

"One of the lessons we learned from Torino is to get these things done well in advance, that you can’t be too prepared."