‘Once in a multi-generational opportunity’: Kamloops to benefit greatly from 2030 Winter Olympics if bid is successful

KAMLOOPS — The momentum created by the 2010 Vancouver Games was monumental — with a large influx of international visitors during and after the Olympics.

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

Kamloops is hoping for a similar impact if the 2030 Winter Olympics come to the area.

“If you look at the events that were done down in Cypress during 2010, the events were done up at the mountain. People were shuttled from Vancouver to the mountain and back, and I expect that same thing to happen here in Kamloops,” said city councillor Mike O’Reilly. “So the spinoff for Kamloops is going to be huge.”

If the bid is successful next year, Sun Peaks would host snowboarding, moguls and freestyle skiing events that were held at Cypress Mountain in 2010. Tourists and officials would stay at hotels and eat out in Kamloops.

O’Reilly feels new hotels will have to be built to accomodate the boost in travellers to the city. There will be many other perks as well.

“The airport is going to see a huge boost during that time, and the economy as a whole will do great, but also the community and nationwide pride that the Olympics created in 2010 will be transferred into Kamloops.”

Percy Amaria from Tourism Kamloops says having the Olympics would be an incredible legacy for Kamloops, not only filling up hotels and restaurants in the city, but hopefully bringing the visitors back.

“When it happend in Whistler a few years back, the [Olympic] rings, people are travelling all over the world to see the Olympic rings, so it’s a great influential boom for tourism, for the community, for restaurants, for everybody in Kamloops and Sun Peaks.”

Unlike O’Reilly, Amaria feels outlying cities like Chase could fill the gap with overflowing hotels in Kamloops. He doesn’t believe accomodations — or a lack thereof — would be a problem.

“We don’t need more accomodations to be built because we’re also building apartments, too, so there is a lot of room for us,” said Amaria. “The media will all be up on the hill, but for tourists and people coming to watch I think Kamloops and the surrounding areas can definitely accomodate that.”

O’Reilly calls the 2030 Games “a once in a multi-generational opportunity” to put Kamloops on the map internationally — and he sees nothing but benefits for the city.

“This is a very high-reward, no-risk situation for Kamloops. We don’t have to worry about ticket sales, about snow, about weather — all those things that you worry about with Winter Olympics,” he noted. “Kamloops doesn’t have to do that. We can do what Kamloops is best at, and that’s being a host community.”