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Olympic Series...Part Two Attracting Tourists

By Ben Meisner

He has been involved in over $370 million dollars worth of hotels in Western Canada, including Red Deer and Calgary during the last Canadian Winter Olympics and he doesn’t believe the 2010 Olympics will do anything for Prince George. 

Speaking on the condition of being kept anonymous, this  businessman told Opinion 250 "Can you imagine any businessman anywhere in the world who would invest money to build structures for ten days of use?"  The problem with the Olympics is that the people who put them on do not have to produce or say how they made one dollar during the ten days of the Olympics.  "During the last Olympics" he went on "Our Company owned three hotels in Red Deer and a couple in Calgary and if you think that Red Deer was busting out at the seams you are sadly mistaken."

Smaller events  are better for  communities like Prince George says this  businessman "Do I believe in tourism, you bet I do. Just look at what the World Juniors in Hockey did for Red Deer, we are still feeling the effects of that event, or how about the World Curling? Those two events brought thousands of tourists to our city and we used facilities that were already in place. Red Deer was the city that shinned not Calgary. If your region wants to make some hay in the tourist business which is what the Olympics are about , take a page out of their book and get busy putting on your own events, there are thousands of events that are waiting to be coaxed into a community and they bring ever lasting publicity to the city where they are held."

Certainly Prince George  gained recognition  and respect when it hosted the Scott Tournament of Hearts Womens Curling Championship, but our  business spokesman says there are other projects that can  be made attractive. "Your Business or promotion people in the city should already know that the greatest increase in tourist traffic is in the 3 and 4 day holiday that people are taking. You’re sitting smack dab in the center of an area that runs to Rupert in the West and Whitehorse in the north. Now if you can’t get people to either hold their tournaments or have a weekend in your city then you had better get on the band wagon because the hottest small town in North America next to Ft. McMurray is Grande Prairie and they sure as hell are getting a major share of the regional tourists through their doors. "  He should know he owns a hotel in Grande Prairie.

The future  for  hospting  smaller events looks very bright he says " Just watch and see what the Royal Bank Cup will do for your city.  That’s bang on the kind of thing you should be shooting for"  Don Kehler can’t agree more he, along with Dan Rogers, say the event in 2007 which is akin to the Memorial Cup will go a long way to focusing on the city. 

As for the Olympics and someone training here our businessman offers these final thoughts "Do you really think that because a bobsled team trains in Prince George they are going to yell "Prince George" when they are receiving their medal, or is all the hype designed to flow to the city where its being staged Vancouver and Whistler ?  There is no question that tourism would help your area, now get off your butts and look in the creek its right before you instead of looking under rocks back in the bush." 

He makes a very compelling point.

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