LYNNWOOD – Snohomish County businesses should start training now to go for the golden overflow from Vancouver, B.C.’s 2010 Winter Olympics, speakers said Wednesday.
“The Olympics are such a big operation that you don’t know where to start,” said Carl Wilgus, travel director for the state of Idaho. “Try to take it one step at a time and see where it gets you.”
At the quarterly meeting of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council, Wilgus spoke to more than 100 members about opportunities that businesses can take advantage of during the Olympics.
Wilgus likened Snohomish County and Washington state’s situation to that of Idaho during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. About $100 million was pumped into the Idaho’s economy during the Olympics, he said.
“We were able to have 10 percent of the Olympic athletes visit Idaho,” Wilgus said. “People could see and touch Olympic team members.”
Hundreds of thousands of spectators, participants and vendors passed through Idaho for the Salt Lake City games, Wilgus said.
He said athletes weren’t the only people who ventured into Idaho. Thousands on their way to the games, as well as Utah skiers and vacationers displaced by the games, chose to visit Idaho. Snohomish County can take advantage of the same situation in 2010, he said.
Dave Waggoner, director of Snohomish County Airports, said: “We are now at the point people still see (the Olympics) as so far away, but you need to start early and plan ahead. It’s nice to have someone who has been there before to jog your brain. We are all in the planning stage.”
Wilgus said the development council should consider creating a team to research how the area can emulate the tourism ideas Idaho used successfully, improve on Idaho programs and create ideas unique to Western Washington.
Wilgus suggested trying to get athletes in area schools to participate in the torch run, or have the torch runners pass through the county.
“Nothing else will stimulate the public’s interest in the Olympics more than the torch,” he said. “Nothing touches people like that torch does. We estimate one in five Idaho residents saw the torch before the games started.”
A lot of people will use this area as a base for visits, Wilgus said. People attending the games, athletes training for the games and journalists will all pass through. The Vancouver games are expected to draw about 3,500 athletes, 10,000 media members and 250,000 spectators.
The timing of having Wilgus speak was superb, said Peter McMillin, director of business and tourism development for Washington state. “We need to have regional cooperation and recognize our own strengths.”
Brian Parrott, a senior trade commissioner at the Canadian Consulate in Seattle, said he sees an opportunity for cooperation.
“These are regional games for us,” Parrott said. “We all can benefit from them.”
Wilgus said it’s important that Vancouver wants to cooperate.
“Utah could have shut us out, but they too saw it as regional games,” Wilgus said.
The Winter Olympics are scheduled Feb. 12-28, 2010, in the Vancouver area and at Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort north of Vancouver.
Reporter Evan Caldwell: 425-339-3475 or ecaldwell@heraldnet.com.
Michael V. Martina / The Herald
Idaho travel director Carl Wilgus (right) talks with Peter McMillin, director of business and tourism for Washington state, before a luncheon Wednesday in Lynnwood
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