Hosting the 2010 Olympic Games has produced a series of benefits to B.C.'s economy and few negatives, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP released Thursday.
Commissioned by the B.C. and federal governments, the report said roughly $800 million has been injected into B.C.'s real GDP and $120 million into Canada's economy between 2003 and 2008, directly because of the Games.
The report also estimated that the Games created more than 18,300 jobs and 800 new businesses.
Estimates in real GDP and job creation were on par with the mid-range estimates in an InterVistas report on the impacts of hosting the Olympics released in 2002, the PWC report said.
However, the composition of economic impact differs significantly between the two reports. The InterVistas report projected the overall economic impact of the games would come primarily from venue construction spending by VANOC ($610 million), VANOC operations spending ($412 million) and tourism spending (between $39 and $653 million). It estimated third-party venue construction of $112 million.
According to the PWC report, the bulk of the impact has come from third-party venue construction spending of $526 million, which is more than the estimated $473 million in venue spending by VANOC.
Much of the increase in third-party spending comes from other bodies assuming responsibility for certain venues, including the City of Vancouver assuming the obligation for the Vancouver Athletes Village and upgrades to the Hillcrest curling facilities, and Richmond taking on the responsibility for the speed skating oval.
Pre-Olympic tourism visitor spending envisioned in the InterVistas report also did not materialize. The InterVistas report's most optimistic scenario assumed that a co-ordinated and effective tourism marketing plan would be in place before the 2010 Winter Games and that the plan would attract visitors in the pre-Games period. However, the PWC report noted little Olympic-related tourism in the five years after Vancouver won its Olympic bid.
Much of that has been the result of the tourism sector focusing on increasing tourism by capitalizing on the awareness of the region because of the Games. The report said the amount of media coverage about the Winter Games has increased 10-fold with more than 66,700 articles about the Games in 2008 from roughly 6,090 in 2003.
The report said much of the economic impact of the Olympics after the Games will come primarily from the success of the tourism sector's marketing plan and the success of the province's business development initiatives leading up to the Games.
The PWC report noted that its analysis focused on direct impact from the Games and did not include the impact of such major projects like the Sea-to-Sky Highway improvement, the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion or the Canada Line project.