InnFocus Fall 2022

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When It Comes to Hosting Major Sporting Events, Hotels Are the MVPs by Tania Moffat 20 <strong>InnFocus</strong> 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup - Courtesy of Sport Hosting Vancouver
What do the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, FIFA World Cup, and Invictus Games all have in common? All three are among the list of major sporting events scheduled to be hosted in Vancouver over the next few years. Secured by Sport Hosting Vancouver, a partnership between the City of Vancouver, Destination Vancouver, the Vancouver Hotel Destination Association (VHDA), and several competition venues, the group strives to build upon the city’s reputation as a desirable host city for sports. Vancouver has an advantage in attracting this type of tourism, thanks to its world-class sports facilities, infrastructure, and desirability as a visitor destination. However, securing these events and ensuring their success is a long and arduous process in which the hotel industry plays a critical role. Hosting a mega sport, such as the HSBC Canada Sevens rugby tournament, is both costly, involving support and financing from all three levels of government, and lucrative, providing an economic boost for the community. According to Sport Tourism Canada, sport tourism attracted 15.9 million visitors to various events across Canada in 2019 and generated $7.4 billion. Visitor spending in BC, the second highest in Canada, reached approximately $1.7 billion, with accommodations making up the majority of spending, followed by food and beverage. Working as a Team “British Columbia, and Vancouver specifically, is blessed with its location as a spectacular and inspiring destination for these types of events,” says Royce Chwin, CEO and president of Destination Vancouver. “The city is fortunate to have an excellent selection of hotels in terms of brand and quality. Our hotel community understands, values, and supports our city hosting major sport events. We could not do so without them as core partners. Hotel support played a major role in Vancouver and Whistler securing the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. And, as we look ahead to the FIFA World Cup, the Invictus Games, and the Laver Cup, Vancouver could not have bid for and won the right to host these without the tremendous support from our hotel community.” Canada Sevens - Courtesy of Sport Hosting Vancouver Stephen Regan, executive director of the Vancouver Hotel Destination Association, agrees, “When it comes to major international sporting events, hotels are almost as important as the competition space. Athletes need comfortable, quality space to sleep and rest to perform their best. Coaches, managers, trainers, and other team support staff see hotels as partners in supporting athletes with private space to meet, strategize, socialize, and anchor their whole event experience. Major events also need to ensure sponsors and media are treated well, and a big part of their experience is quality accommodation with responsive and helpful staff.” Sport Hosting Vancouver spearheads the partnership that actively pursues these mega-events. “It’s a great partnership that has allowed us to simultaneously support the visitor economy, community, hospitality industry and event destinations,” explains Michelle Collens, senior manager, Sport Hosting Vancouver. “We are proactive and look for events that complement other businesses and leisure travel that we have coming in. This helps to maximize our calendar availability <strong>InnFocus</strong> 21
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