One of my favourite sessions at TIC* was about the power of events to drive visitation to destinations. Facilitated by Ty Speer from Tourism Vancouver, the session included presentations from
- Sport Hosting Vancouver
- Half Corked Marathon (Oliver/Osoyoos Wine Country)
- The Sunshine Coast Art Crawl
The latter two are specific events (driving wine and art sales), and they’re interesting in their own regard. What captivated me, however was when Michelle Collens from Sport Hosting Vancouver (City of Vancouver) spoke to the ways Sport Hosting reaches across multiple stakeholder groups.
In the afterglow of the 2010 games, many in the industry (myself included) thought there was an established, coordinated approach for Vancouver tourism and sporting players to bid on events. We were wrong. In fact, organizations like Tourism Vancouver, UBC, and PavCo were engaged in ad hoc, and sometimes conflicting, attempts to bring events to the city.
Enter Sport Hosting Vancouver. A City of Vancouver housed organization, their job is to help coordinate bids, provide appropriate collateral to draw in business, and to support event hosts from field of play to housing athletes to supporting broadcasters as they share our city with the world.
Major upcoming events include the 2018 National Skating Championships where it’s likely Patrick Chan will skate for the last time. Loyal fans who have followed his career will join throngs of other skating aficionados in the city next January.
Michelle and her counterparts have their sights set on business as far out as 2036. To check out the organization, and some of the resources they have to offer, visit:
http://sporthostingvancouver.ca/
*TIC, or BCTIC is the BC Tourism Industry Conference – a must-attend for any of my fellow tourism nerds. Check it out here http://bctourismconference.ca/
