You’re not too late. This stunning British Columbia city, along with its alpine sister to the north, Whistler, will host the 2010 Winter Olympics in February. Yes, most tickets are gone. Most rooms are booked. Most fans have made their plans. But the biggest event this town has ever seen still has room for more visitors.
“If you want to come to the Olympics, we want you. We’re so excited,” says Katie Emery, destination development director for Tourism Vancouver. “Just know you may not be able to stay in a five-star downtown hotel.”
Every kind of lodging for miles around, from private homes to RV parks to cruise-ship berths, is being offered, she says, “and wherever you are staying, there will be plenty of public transportation.”
This Winter Olympics will be your last chance for at least 10 years to see the event in North America.
Slated for Sochi, Russia, in 2014, it will most certainly be in another non-North American venue in 2018 and even beyond.
The United States didn’t even bid on the 2018 Winter Olympics, putting all its eggs in one basket – its bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago. The host city for that event will be announced in October.
The $6 billion 2010 Winter Olympics will run Feb. 12-28. Vancouver projects 350,000 spectators, 50,000 people related to the Olympics (including athletes, families, coaches, and sponsors), and 10,000 members of the media.
It sounds like a lot, but Vancouver, with a metro population of about two million, is the largest city ever to hold the Winter Games – plus, half the events will be in snowy Whistler, two hours north.
In addition to the Olympics hoopla, most of Vancouver’s famed highlights will be open – the aquarium, the Chinese gardens, the museums, the nightlife, the restaurants.
“The Games are here, but oh, by the way, you have all this culture and dining,” says Paul Vallee, vice president of Tourism Vancouver.
Olympic venues are mostly completed. In addition, the scenic Sea to Sky Highway 99 between Vancouver and Whistler has undergone a $600 million makeover (watch out for a few orange barrels remaining). The athletes’ village is still under construction.
Olympics hats, shirts, pens, mouse pads, and other souvenirs are already in the shops. Olympics mascots include Quatchi, a sasquatch character, plus Sumi, Miga, and Mukmuk.
“It’s interesting because the customer base is mostly American so far,” says Suraj Gupta, manager at Hudson House Trading Co., a souvenir shop. “Canadians haven’t really caught onto the Olympic bandwagon yet.”
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