 |
| Lots of skiers and snow have returned to Whistler. |
It’s been two years since Whistler co-hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics with Vancouver and the anticipated attention and extra business the town thought that world event would generate afterwards just never materialized.
“Last year (2011) was an absolutely dismal year for me,” a shopkeeper in Upper Whistler Village told me this week during my visit. “I almost went broke because people just stayed away. Thankfully, the drought appears to be over – we had our busiest March this year in two years.”
It’s not unusual for host cities to experience post-Olympic syndrome – it took Sydney, Australia almost four years to see tourism return to normal numbers after it hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics and Athens has yet to recover from its big Olympic show, which incidentally helped bankrupt the Greek capital. People seem to rush to Olympic cities prior to the event but are reluctant to return, mainly because hotel rates in host cities always seem to rise afterwards.
Ironically, one of the main reasons why overnight stays are still down in Whistler is because of the new Sea to Sky Highway, once one of the most dangerous roads in Canada which was made safer with a billion dollar remake just before the Games.
“The Sea to Sky once discouraged people from heading home after a day of skiing - especially I the dark. But now skiers can get back to Vancouver in about 90 minutes very safely,” an executive at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler told me.
One thing that has really helped Whistler recover is the abundance of snow it has received this winter, which should extend the season at North America’s best ski resort to well past Easter.
Golfers like me who will be denied getting on the town’s collection of world-class golf courses won’t be happy, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment