Building on the legacy created by the city’s first Olympic Winter Games in 1964, Innsbruck 1976 enhanced its global appeal to tourists and business visitors. In stepping in at short notice to replace Denver as the host city, Innsbruck was able to capitalise on the sustained efforts made by the local authorities to promote both it and the Tirol region.
With its first-rate sporting venues, training facilities, transport infrastructure and extensive volunteer network and organisational expertise, all of which were developed thanks to its second Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck has proven itself to be a skilled host of major events. One of the most recent examples of that came in 2012, when it hosted the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
A popular destination
Innsbruck 1976 consolidated the city’s status as a visitor destination and has had a positive long-term effect on the Tirolean tourist industry, continuing the growth triggered by the staging of the 1964 Games.
Tourism remains a major driver of the local economy. Tirol’s tourism industry directly and indirectly employs 60,000 people and generates around EUR 8.4 billion in turnover. Tirol is Austria’s most visited province, while Innsbruck, which attracted a record 3.2 million overnight stays in 2017, is the country’s second most popular city for visitors behind Vienna. A significant percentage of visitors to Innsbruck come for business and to attend the major trade shows and conferences it hosts.
A tried and tested host
Innsbruck 1976 cemented the city’s status as an organiser of major sporting events, one it has held on to and nurtured. In recent years, Innsbruck and the Tirol region have hosted the 2012 Winter YOG, the 2016 International Children’s Winter Games, the 2018 UCI Road World Championships, and the 2020 Winter World Masters Games. Round three of the prestigious Four Hills Tournament is held at the city’s Bergisel Ski Jump every January, and its Olympic Ice Track has staged several world championships over the years, including the 2016 IBSF Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships, and 2017 Luge World Championships.
The quality of Innsbruck and Tirol’s Olympic venues has been vital in attracting these events. All nine of the Innsbruck 1976 competition venues remain in use, helping to make Innsbruck and the Tirol region one of Austria’s major sporting hubs. Six of these nine venues hosted Olympic events for a third time at the 2012 Winter YOG.
Austria’s centre of excellence
Austria is one of the world’s winter sports powerhouses, with part of that strength founded on its national team training sites, which make use of the facilities in place in Innsbruck and the Tirol region.
The nation’s bobsledders, skeleton athletes, lugers, ski jumpers and speed skating teams all train in Innsbruck, making use of facilities such as the Olympic Ice Track, the Federal Centre for Tobogganing and the Bergisel Ski Jump. The city is also home to the Tirolean State Sport Centre (Landessportzentrum Tirol). Part of the extensive Olympiaworld complex, it offers state-of-the-art amenities and accommodation to high-performance athletes and is also used by local clubs, associations and schools.
Infrastructure planning
The transport infrastructure that served the Olympic Winter Games Innsbruck 1976 was carefully planned with long-term development in mind, and continues to benefit the city and the Tirol region today. The improvements, which accelerated in preparation for the Games, have increased accessibility and mobility in the region and helped to attract businesses. This, in turn, has generated jobs.
One of the transport construction projects undertaken for Innsbruck 1976 was the Olympiabahn funicular, serving the ski resort of Axamer Lizum. It continues to ferry skiers from the bottom of the resort to the top and has been crucial to the development of a small but thriving resort.
Helping hands
The volunteer network and ethos developed when Innsbruck staged two Olympic Winter Games 12 years apart continue to serve the city and region well. Innsbruck and Tirol can draw on an extensive network of motivated volunteers to staff the many world championships and other major sporting, cultural and business events that they have grown accustomed to hosting. Nearly 1,400 of these volunteers were on duty at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games, and 442 when the UCI Road World Championships came to town in 2018.
New technologies are now being used to attract younger volunteers, who are encouraged to play their part in events through a dedicated online platform called the Volunteer Team Tirol project. The city has not forgotten about its older helpers and everything they have to offer. Thirty of the volunteers who helped out at the 2012 YOG were veterans of both the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games.
