On to Vancouver in 2010

Two points to be made here:

1) Now that the Turin Games are over, do you feel like packing up and moving to Turin? Did you want to move to Sydney after their highly successful Games?

Probably not. But maybe you have thought about travelling to Turin, Sydney or Athens after their Games.

Clearly, the main benefit of the Olympics will not be felt in the Vancouver housing market, but in our tourism and convention business instead. When you think about it, the smart money is investing in hotels, since it's quite likely that BC will experience a tourism boom, if the weather cooperates and we pull off a successful games.

As it stands right now, most people outside of Vancouver know that ours is a beautiful city, but they don't necessarily feel compelled to come visit - they need at least two or three more good reasons to make Vancouver a vacation destination. How else can we convince them it's worth coming here?

The Games should therefore be seen as an investment in the BC Tourism industry. The cost of the Olympics needs to be weighed against the long term benefits over 10 to 15 years, not the 2-week party. Despite the lamentations of the naysayers, the $500 million+ investment will eventually pay for itself.

2) Since the opening and closing ceremonies represent the primary marketing opportunities for Vancouver, we're going to have to do a lot better than we did at the Turin Games, if we're going to close the sale and convince people to come here.

We need to get away from the god-awful cliches of ice fishing, igloos, hockey, mounties, and Canadian celebrities if we want to capture peoples' attention.

Simply put, we've got the ocean, mountains, forests and the urban modernity of Vancouver to sell, but we have to get the package right.

Comments

[Van COu Ver]

Most definitely we have to walk away from those tired Canadian cliches that have persisted so long. At the same time we should not be too quick to project the pretentious urbanite atmosphere so prevalent in the city. I find Vancouver's real self just as prominent on Commercial, Main, Fraser and other areas. Ultimately amalgamation of the Lower Mainland into one viable city is the answer.