Promoting tourism

According to the Canadian Tourism Commission, the tourism industry in Vancouver experienced a 7.2 per cent growth in the months following the Olympic Winter Games.

Up to 2018, the city of Vancouver had reported tourism growth numbers for six consecutive years. Tourism Vancouver considered that the Olympic Winter Games had contributed to reducing the negative impact of the global economic crisis between 2009 and 2011 on the tourism industry.

Thanks to the increased exposure resulting from the Winter Games, Whistler was able to attract high-profile events during the summer season, buoying visitor volumes. According to Tourism Whistler, between 2010 and 2016, long-haul destination markets saw a growth in room nights of 18 per cent in winter and 36 per cent in summer.

Furthermore, the Canadian Tourism Commission’s media and public relations activities around the Olympic Winter Games generated approximately CAD 1 billion in “Advertising Value Equivalency” during 2010.

In 2015, inspired by the benefits generated by hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver, in partnership with Tourism Vancouver, the Vancouver Hotel Destination Association, the University of British Columbia and the BC Pavilion Corporation, established Sport Hosting Vancouver. Its aim is to proactively identify a balanced portfolio of sports events that deliver significant economic and social benefits for the region. Since its establishment, it has secured and hosted international sporting events by FIFA, World Rugby, the UCI, the ISU and the IIHF, as well as domestic events by Skate Canada, Hockey Canada, Canada Soccer and Tennis Canada. In 2017 and 2018, Sport Hosting Vancouver was named the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance’s “Sport Tourism Organisation of the Year”.