| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Will Olympics' long-term impact in Utah be golden for the economy?
By Marina O'Neill
Deseret News business writer
Billions have seen our breathtaking vistas, marveled at the "greatest snow on Earth," gained an appreciation for our regional heritage and taken in a grand display of Western kitsch.
But after tonight's closing ceremonies for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, will the world remember Utah?
"What's life going to be like when this is all over? Are we going to go through some kind of postpartum period?" joked a harried Margaret Hunt, Salt Lake's deputy director of community and economic development. "We need to play a leadership role in keeping this vibrancy going." For Hunt, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson and the select Salt Lake and Park City restaurants, hotels and retailers who have enjoyed a brief boon from the Olympics party, the question today is how to keep that boost alive. For many others, the question is how to recoup their losses and lure locals back.
"We've actually had people make statements to us pre-Olympics of 'we'll see you in about a month,' " said a frustrated Julie Batchelor, manager of Amici's Della Cuccina, hard hit by the mistaken impression that West Valley's Decker Lake Road near the E Center was closed during the Olympics.
"It's going to cost us some to invest in marketing again," Batchelor said. "Because the Olympics haven't turned out the way we wanted them to, we don't have those extra marketing dollars."
"I would expect that business would get back to normal probably within 30 days. At least I hope so," said Gastronomy Inc. President John Williams. The Gastronomy restaurant group experienced "about the worst" January and early February in its history due to the dearth of conventiongoers, skiers and locals during Olympics preparation time — a drought that continued throughout the Games for all but two of its restaurants.
But despite the short-term hit, Williams is taking a long view of the Games' impact.
"I've always said the real benefit of the Olympics is going to be not the year of the Olympics, but the 10 years before the Olympics, preparing the bid and the publicity that comes with that, and the 15 years after," Williams said. "I'm expecting that it's going to positively affect us. People are already wanting to come and see where the Olympics were."
That, of course, is the idea. State planners have predicted $4.6 billion in Olympics-related sales over time, 35,000 jobs and $1.5 billion in labor income for seven years surrounding the Games.
For downtown, the activity will continue through the Paralympics, which run March 7-16. Additionally, planners hope for long-term increases tied to the worldwide exposure generated by the Olympics.
"We are definitely in it for the long term," said Shawn Stinson, Park City Visitors' Bureau spokesman.
"It's a great party and it's a lot of fun and it's something to hang your hat on. But it's definitely a business decision and a means to an end, versus an end in and of itself," he said. "Having the glory of hosting the Games doesn't pay the mortgage payments or pay the business costs."
Park City residents and visitors will keep the benefits of free public transportation, expanded to The Canyons ski resort and Kimball Junction specifically for Olympics crowds. And although ski resorts have taken a hit so far this year, "we're planning on some last-minute bookings based on the exposure we're getting," Stinson said.
Exposure — including never-ending lines of Olympics beret seekers outside its Roots store — has been a boost for The Gateway, said project manager Jake Boyer. With crowds of 60,000 to 100,000 a day passing through, Boyer is counting on a few new local repeat customers who might have stayed away due to cold weather since the Salt Lake outdoor mall opened Nov. 1.
"A lot of people who had probably never been to Gateway have now experienced it," said Boyer, who plans to launch a post-Games local promotion and continue outdoor entertainment into the warmer months ahead. "I think a lot of people realized, 'Hey, this is kind of fun.' I think as the warm weather picks up a lot of people will just come down and hang out."
"I'm taking the day off after the Games for my birthday, and then I'm back at it full bore," said Sarah Darke, marketing director for downtown's Crossroads Plaza, which became a hangout for Olympic Medals Plaza attendees. "From the perspective of our merchants, obviously we'll be going from a very busy time to a little bit of a lull, and I'd like to make sure the difference between the two isn't too dramatic."
City planners also have been hunkered down with the Retail Merchants Association, Downtown Alliance and Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, Salt Lake Arts Council and other businesses and local groups to create strategies to keep alive the "downtown mile" that has flourished during the Games, Hunt said.
"What we're really looking at is the theme of passing the torch, with the idea of passing it from the Olympics to the Paralympics to the city," she said.
"We know that downtown should be the center of the city, and it has been for the past few weeks. And now we're asking, 'How do we sustain that? How do we weave this together and create an atmosphere where people, on the weekend, when they have free time, get in the habit of coming downtown?' "
Possibilities include continuing Olympics-style kiosks, street entertainment, a car show or an "Olympic fire sale" running parallel to the TRAX system, from the library to the Gallivan Center to The Gateway, now that locals "are comfortable with riding TRAX, and they're comfortable with public transportation," she said. City officials believe locals accounted for up to 85 percent of the downtown Olympics entertainment crowds.
"It tells us that the local community is looking for activity downtown. They're looking for something to do," Hunt said, adding that the long-term goal is to revitalize Main Street. "Short-term it's activities; long-term it's helping the retailers."
The state's lodging industry is feeling the same urgency to strike while the iron is hot. Last week the Utah Hotel & Lodging Association used Dutch oven treats to entice national and international media to a press conference launching its "2002 Summer Celebration" promotion, offering 20.02 percent discounts at more than 100 hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts statewide from May 1 to Nov. 15.
Sydney offered a similar promotion three months after hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics, but at that point it was "too little, too late," said association sales representative Ben DeJong. The association has 300 members, representing 19,354 of the state's 46,249 rooms available for lodging.
"There's just that certain window, and I think we're catching it with the Olympics here. It's just such a prime opportunity" to get media attention while reporters are still in town, DeJong said. "We've got to do something because the economy's going to drop once the Olympics are over."
But for some businesses, the hometown Olympics has been a flash in the pan they cannot hope to continue.
Despite doing the embroidery for the distinctive Olympics torch relay uniforms and much of the other licensed needlework, Hydee Willis' Creative Expressions will not receive worldwide attention. A subcontractor hired by Olympics apparel licensee Marker International, Willis' 35 employees are part of a dozens-strong network of local businesses providing out-of-the-limelight support services.
"It really won't gain us anything, because no one will know we did it," Willis said of her Murray-based business. "There are a lot of companies, several like myself in Salt Lake, that have done the support work and no one will ever know about it."
Although she has been grateful to keep production levels high, Willis said she's also learned the hard way to strike a balance between accepting Olympics-related work and keeping regular customers happy.
Others also are looking forward to returning to business as usual.
"I know a lot of locals just left town. But they've gotten over changes in our store and parking changes, so I think they'll survive this," said Liz Hoel, manager of Dolly's Bookstore on Park City's Main Street. Although Games-goers bought fewer books than the normal ski crowd for this time of the year, Hoel is hoping for a post-Olympics exposure boost for the spring. "If there are a lot of people in town, I'm sure they'll come down to Main Street."
"One of the big things we want to promote is things are back to normal," said The Gateway's Boyer. "For as many people as we've seen, I think a lot of people have probably been hiding out because they just don't want to go downtown."
E-mail: moneill@desnews.com
|
|
February 24, 2002
|
