Skate America brought county about $3 million for Snohomish County

Published 11:29 pm Wednesday, November 12, 2008

EVERETT — Skate America brought about $3 million to Snohomish County’s economy, a boost for local tourism that has been suffering from the nationwide economic downturn.

The dollar figure is still a rough estimate, but the competition held Oct. 24-26 at Comcast Arena in Everett immensely helped local hotels, restaurants and other businesses, said Amy Spain, executive director of Snohomish County Tourism Bureau.

“There was a definite economic impact on the local business community,” Spain said.

The tourism bureau calculated the event’s economic effect from visitor spending in local transportation, recreation activities and various businesses, Spain said. The $3 million beats the $2.5 million that organizers had expected the event to generate.

Comcast Arena sold 29,477 tickets, exceeding the all-time record of 28,664 set at the 2002 Skate America in Spokane, said Tammi Bryant Olson, a spokeswoman for the arena.

“We definitely learned how to use every square inch of the whole arena,” which has 10,000 seats, Olson said.

Local tourism promoters took advantage of the international competition to invite skaters and teams to practice in Snohomish County for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., Spain said. Skate America also had a few hundred journalists from all over the world covering the action on the ice for hundreds of thousands of people.

“Those reporters were obviously focusing on skating, but it was happening in Everett,” she said.

Before the competition, some residents and business owners took a training program called SuperHost Fundamentals, said John Bonner, executive director for corporate training at Everett Community College. The eight-hour program, offered by the college, teaches the skills and knowledge to serve visitors well.

“It’s about doing basic things in an extraordinary way,” Bonner said.

About 200 people in the county have taken the training, mainly to prepare for the Winter Olympics, Bonner said. SuperHost was developed in British Columbia to improve customer service in tourism business for the World Exposition in Vancouver in 1986, he said.

When businesses treat new visitors well, they tend to come back, Bonner said.

“It’s really for any business who wants to enhance customer loyalty and benefit from repeat sales based on customer loyalty,” he said.

Meanwhile, the sluggish national economy has hurt tourism in Snohomish County this year, Spain said.

In September, 66 percent of the county’s hotel rooms were occupied, according to Smith Travel Research Inc. That’s down 16 percent from a year ago. The average overnight room charge went up 4.6 percent to $93.87.

The Boeing strike that lasted for nearly two months hurt some hotels that rely on business travelers to the aerospace giant, Spain said.

Local tourism is heading into slow winter months, Spain said. As the situation is expected to remain tough next year, special events such as the Winter Olympics would play a key role sustaining local tourism, Spain said.

In July, the county is expected to host the National Softball Association Western World Series, as it did in 2004 and 2006, Spain said. The series is likely to bring young athletes from around the states and Canada, their parents and coaches to the county.

“Those kinds of special events will become more important, as the economy slows down,” she said.

In 2006, the event yielded more than $3.5 million to the county’s economy, Spain said.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.