BURST
Much has been made of the opportunity for Vancouver’s tourism attractions to make hay with thousands of visitors coming to watch this summer’s World Cup games.
Some services that cater to deep-pocketed spenders say they are already seeing a boost in business tied to the events, while others are not seeing any bump at all.
“Unfortunately, we’ve not seen a single booking due to the (World Cup),” said Jennifer Simpson, chief experience officer and co-founder of Bespoke Experiences, which works with tour operators and providers of helicopters, private jets and luxury properties to curate packages that range from outdoor to cosmopolitan experiences, and cost between $2,000 to over $200,000.
“I wish I could share all the wonderful things we can customize for international sports fans visiting Vancouver. However, this is not the case.”
Simpson said B.C. is a strong and growing market for the company, and her FIFA-related disappointment isn’t specific to Vancouver, but are common to other cities where she operates and where World Cup games will be held.
“I belong to several industry associations, and the message is consistent across the board — operators in both (Canada and the U.S.) have commented that attendees to major sporting events such as this tend to stay focused on the games themselves and don’t explore the host areas. North American tourism is down, and although we hoped this would be the ‘pick me up’ everyone hoped for, it fell disappointingly short of expectations.”
Others in the local tourism industry are more muted in their disappointment and remain optimistically focused on benefits that could come from the event, which will see seven World Cup matches at B.C. Place between June 13 and July 7.
“FIFA is an incredible opportunity to showcase Vancouver the way Expo 86 and later the Olympics were,” said Javier Cepeda, managing partner of The Kalido Hospitality Group, which runs boutique apartment hotels in Yaletown, Gastown and Chinatown that are within walking distance to B.C. Place.
There is still availability at those properties during the World Cup period, but Cepeda also said the company’s offerings are targeted at customers who are relocating or working on film or television productions, or travelling for medical treatments.
“Expectations were extraordinarily high that FIFA would be something that would see the hotel industry here reach very high rates and occupancy levels, but we are finding that the reasons why people might book hotels and restaurants is, in reality, more complex,” he said.
He thinks the games will generate interest and economic revenue that will carry farther beyond and be more long-term.
There are some services, however, that are seeing a very direct link to the World Cut, and they have already been busier in the run-up to the FIFA event.
For Ray Gill, a driver with Supreme Limousine and Chauffeur Service, work picked up around a month ago, and he is expecting his days to be even more packed as the World Cup actually begins.
“Mostly, it’s been the VIPs, coming to inspect everything, the teams and some players,” said Gill. “There are more (bookings) as the time is getting closer.”
The company said there has been a notable uptick in corporate bookings for its Sprinter vans, with a combination of transfers to and from the airport or to Whistler and also full-day service, including tours, for company sponsors and guests.
There is definitely a “pecking order” when it comes to how tourism services are booked, said Dan Chahal, owner of Dream Yacht Charters, which has eight luxury yachts for games.
Travellers might book their rental cars and their event tickets first, he said. It may explain why his bookings for the next weeks are the same as last year.
He said a lot of tourism services get booked because they are pre-planned, or guests have special requests, but many reservations for private yacht charters and seaplanes also happen once visitors are here.
“If the weather is good and people are walking on the seawall, that’s when they might see us.”
“I’m close with hotel concierges and they are very bullish that when there is any influx of population it leads to an influx of bookings,” he said.
He also thinks one of the gambles in preparing for a burst of bookings related to the World Cup is that much can change once the event starts. In particular, he will be watching the shakeout for the round of 16 on July 7.
If, and it’s a big if, marquee team Portugal and soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo were to play in Vancouver, it could all be very different, he thinks.
“That would be electric.”