2010 Winter Olympic Games

Seventeen days, 2566 athletes, 82 countries, and one goal. . . To bring home the gold. The Olympics are one of the most watched athletic events in the world. By hosting this event, it is the perfect chance to show off your country and its national pride. This is also a great economic opportunity. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada positively affected Canada’s economy and national image by generating thousands of jobs, increasing tourism, showcasing their country, and by bringing in billions of dollars.
http://www.olympic.org/vancouver-2010-winter-olympics

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The Cost of the Games

The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada were funded very heavily. Since 1994, no other Games have received as much funding (Fong). The total cost of these Winter Olympic Games was $6 billion (Spence). This money was needed to rebuild the city to prepare for the Games. New rinks, arenas, and other athletic facilities were built which totaled about $580 million (Fong). Another $1.02 billion was needed to build the main Athletes’ Village in Vancouver. This was a seventeen acre complex funded for the Games. $550 million was funded for this project (Cedrowski). The funds helped to improve the Sea-to -Sky highway that connected Vancouver to Whistler Mountain, and the new rapid transit line that ran from the airport to downtown. Another $40 million was spent on the opening and closing ceremonies. There were nine sponsors for these Winter Olympics that helped fund for all of these projects. Ottawa invested about $1.23 billion, while British Columbia invested $765 million (Fong). Even though the Games were expensive, it was necessary to prepare for this event. The outcome of the Games helped make up for the money spent preparing.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Sports/Olympics+bill+tops+billion/1207886/story.html

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Economic Growth

Since the preparations for the Winter Games were so costly, Vancouver had nine sponsors to help fund the construction and preparations. Each sponsor would pay $80-$100 million for a four year cycle (Cedrowski). The sponsors were very helpful to fund and pay for the projects. After the Games begun, Vancouver brought in over $770 million from spending related to the Games, such as from hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. The ticket costs also added to the total earned. There were about 1.8 million tickets available for the various events. The prices of the tickets ranged from $29 - $277 for some of the main events. This spending added .6% to the province’s economy, which grew 3.7% total. The Winter Games generated $6-$10 billion in economic activity. This will make British Columbia the fastest growing province this year (Fong). By 2015, an extra $8 billion will be added to the economy because of increased tourism due to the highway upgrade from Vancouver to Whistler Mountain (Cedrowski). “If not for the Olympics, British Columbia would not be No. 1 in the country,” Marie-Christine Bernard, from the conference board, said (Fong). The Winter Olympic Games provided a large financial boost to Vancouver’s economy. There were over 45,000 jobs created, and over $2.5 billion added to the economy so far (Cedrowski).

More information about ticket sales at http://www.evalu8.org/staticpage?page=review&siteid=7216

http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351fall07/Group03/impacts.html

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Job Creation

There was a lot of work to be done to prepare for, and run, the 2010 Winter Games. The Vancouver Organizing Committee, or VANOC, wanted to improve people’s attitudes toward Canada by involving as many people as possible in the Olympic Games (Prohaska). Over 45,000 jobs were created for VANOC, which included 1,400 paid staff, 3,500 temporary staff, 10,000 contractors, and 15,000 ceremony participants. There were also over 25,000 volunteers that contributed. The Contemporary Security Canada, or CSC, was an employer that hired people to be screeners, X-ray operators, and supervisors for the Games. Most employees were hired for four weeks to three months, and would be paid based on their jobs ("Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Workers Start Search for New Employment "). By creating over 45,000 paying jobs, the Games were not only an athletic success, but also a financial success for British Columbia.http://www.greggowe.com/content/vancouver-2010-olympic-winter-games-workers-start-search-new-employment

VANOC Employment



Rebuilding Vancouver

To prepare for the Winter Olympics, there were many new rinks, arenas, and sports facilities built. The Vancouver Organization Committee, VANOC, wanted to create new theatres and sports facilities so the athletes could compete under the best conditions possible. They also wanted to have the best conditions for the spectators as well. New and existing facilities were used during the Olympic Games, which stretched over a 120 km zone from Richmond to the Whistler Mt. Resort ("Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics | Olympic Videos, Photos, News."). New roads, and buildings were also built for the Games. These were designed to be used after the Games to help bring more tourism and money to Vancouver in the future (Prohaska). The infrastructure was the most costly, but also provided the most benefits, by providing new jobs and bringing in more tourism (Spence). A new, seventeen acre Athlete Village was built that provided over 900 jobs ("Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Workers Start Search for New Employment "). Improvements were made to the Sea-to-Sky highway connecting Vancouver and Whistler Mt., and a new rapid transit line was built. All of these projects helped improve Vancouver’s economy by creating more jobs, and bringing in tourists.
http://www.journalofcommerce.com/article/id28656

http://www.unitedzone.info/other-sports/7659-vancouver-2010-winter-olympic-games.html

Tourism and the Economy

The 2010 Winter Olympics brought 2,566 athletes from 82 countries to Vancouver, Canada ("Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics | Olympic Videos, Photos, News."). Along with all of the athletes comes a lot of tourism and money for Vancouver. There was over $770 million spent on hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. This activity added a lot of money to the economy. The new roads, buildings, rinks, arenas, and the new highway systems, will continue to bring tourists to this area in the years to come. The Sea-to-Sky highway was one of the main projects. It connects Vancouver to the Whistler Mt. Resort. It makes it a lot easier for people to get to this area, so this will bring many more tourists and an estimated $8 billion by 2015 (Cedrowski). The Winter Olympics were successful in bringing in more tourists and activity to Vancouver’s economy.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=47351059&site=src-live

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Creating a Worldwide Image

Hosting the Olympics is like “branding” for your country. It is a great way to sculpt a worldwide image for your country and to help bring in more tourists in the future (Spence). “Hosting the 2010 Winter Games has created lasting legacies that will benefit Canadians for years to come,” said Gary Lunn, the Federal Minister of State for Sports (Lee). There were over 10,000 media representatives and it resulted in 13.1 billion viewer hours. All of this airtime gives exposure to Vancouver. In the first twelve weeks of coverage, Whistler Mt. was mentioned 220,000 times by media. The Olympics helped to sculpt an image for Canada and will help to bring more tourists in the future.
http://www.buyric.com/lifestyle/2011/02/vancouver-1-most-liveable-olympic-city-equals-canada-1-world-brand-041/

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The Affect of the Media

The Olympic games are a “coming together of athletes around the world” (Prohaska). With all of the athletes and competition comes the media to capture every moment for the viewers at home. There were over 10,000 media representatives and about 3 billion television viewers from around the world. The Games were even broadcasted in twenty-two different languages ("Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics | Olympic Videos, Photos, News."). All of the media coverage helps to bring in more people in the future. Now, more people will travel to Whistler Mt. to ski because it is “good enough for Olympians”. The Olympics will help change people’s views of different countries and sports because of the amount of coverage of the Games.
http://www.urbanmozaik.com/2009.Nov/09nov_fea.olympics.html

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The Imact on Canada

The 2010 Winter Olympics had a big impact on Vancouver’s economy. “It was the equivalent of staging three Super Bowls a day for seventeen days,” said John Furlong, the Chief Organizer of the 2010 Winter Games. It would have been impossible to find a hotel within 100 km of the Games (Prohaska). This event added a lot of money to the economy from ticket sales and the tourism. Thousands of people from all over the world were staying in hotels, eating on restaurants, and going to shopping centers in the Vancouver area. This added to a large amount of money to the economy. The Games also created over 45,000 new jobs. A lot of help was needed to prepare for the Winter Games. New roads, buildings, convention centers, and facilities needed to be built. These projects helped create jobs, and would also attract more tourists in the future. The 2010 Winter Olympics impacted Vancouver’s economy as well as helped to develop the areas athletic facilities. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/billion+jobs+generated+Vancouver+2010+Winter+Olympics+reports/3993790/story.html

Successes of the Winter Games

By creating jobs, increasing tourism, showcasing the country, and bringing in billions of dollars, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games positively affected Canada’s economy and national image. This event was a great opportunity for Canada to show the world their culture and country, and to help boost their economy. This was successful economically, socially, and athletically for Canada. http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visitors/vancouver/2010_olympics/2010_olympics