A sea of red, white and blue descended on downtown Vancouver this week, finally bringing Women’s World Cup fever to town 11 days after the competition began.
Tuesday’s United States versus Nigeria match nearly filled 59,000-seat BC Place Stadium with an attendance of 52,193, and a large portion were out of town Americans who turned the game into a holiday trip.
Robert Klaus, the general manager of the Fish Shack on Granville Street, said he hasn’t seen numbers that he saw this week since the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and after Tuesday’s match he was running 90-minute wait-times for tables.
“It was all day long. From the morning on that we saw everybody dressed in blue, red and white. It was all age groups. People from as far away as Florida had come.”
From left: Nathon Barchuk, Dylan Riches and general manager Robert Klaus of the Fish Shack saw jump in the numbers of out-of-town customers this week. Image: Patrick Blennerhassett
According to Canada Sport Tourism Alliance numbers, the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup is expected to generate roughly $36.7 million for the Metro Vancouver economy during the nine matches it will host, including the July 5 final. The tournament is projected to generate approximately $132 million for the Canadian economy.
However, WestOak general manager Michael Gayman said numbers at the Yaletown restaurant were normal until Tuesday when American tourists starting streaming in.
“I was surprised how many people had travelled to see this game and make a trip out of it. Places like Wisconsin, Denver, a lot of families with their kids. We were jam-packed pretty much the entire day.”
WestOak manager Michael Gayman said Tuesday’s crowd was the largest he’s seen in a long time for a downtown Vancouver event. Image: Patrick Blennerhassett
The next game in Vancouver will be on Sunday, June 21, when Canada will play Switzerland in the round of 16.
According to Tourism Vancouver, the number of foreign visitors to the city is already up 4.5% compared with last year. Countries with the largest rise in the number their citizens coming to Vancouver this year include Malaysia (28.3%), Mexico (24.2%) and Hong Kong (15%). Regions contributing the largest number of visitors to Vancouver are still primarily in western U.S. states such as Washington, Oregon and California.
