Tourism 2010 Resource Centre

Printer Friendly | Email a Friend | RSS

Creating Happy Visitors Who Want to Return for More

As sporting fever grips the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games it’s expected that 250,000 visitors will make their way to British Columbia to share in the excitement.

Visitor servicing is tapped as a huge component in the overall success of the Games. To ensure visitors were able to make the most of their Games-time experience, the 2010 Tourism Consortium (Tourism BC, Tourism Vancouver, Tourism Richmond, Tourism Whistler and the Canadian Tourism Commission) undertook an unprecedented level of personnel training, facility upgrades and special programming.

According to Ninette Ollgaard, Director of Visitor Servicing for Tourism BC, the province’s tourism sector was well positioned to take on an event as large as the Olympic Games.

“We started from a very strong position. BC is already recognized as a leader in visitor servicing,” says Ollgaard.

With its plan in place the 2010 Tourism Consortium is determined to take this reputation for excellence to podium levels.

All main entry points, including the border crossings at Peace Arch (Hwy 99) and Pacific Highway Border Crossing and YVR are covered with eye-catching Super, Natural British Columbia® visuals, messaging and visitor servicing programming.

For example, travellers entering Canada through the Peace Arch border crossing are greeted by a BC Visitor Centre that has recently undergone a stunning $4.6 million renovation modeled after a traditional Semiahmoo winter dwelling. It serves as a one-stop shop for Games visitors needing information on where to go, what to see and how to get there.

Sixteen temporary information kiosks (eight in Vancouver, four in Whistler, three in Richmond and one in West Vancouver) are up and running, staffed with trained counselors equipped with details on venues, cultural programming, attractions and tours. Tourism Vancouver’s Volunteer City Hosts, outfitted in bright green vests, are on the streets in key pedestrian thoroughfares ready to answer questions.

All visitor servicing facilities are outfitted with technology to enable staff to provide up-to-the-minute information on road closures, changes in Games-related operations, and any other critical announcements.

Tourism BC’s cutting edge World Host Training Services has also delivered 2010 workshops on topics like visitor servicing fundamentals and customers with disabilities to a number of strategic partner organizations including the YVR Airport Authority, Canadian Border Services Agency and Translink.

Other 2010 Consortium Partners including Tourism Whistler and Tourism Richmond, as well as the City of Vancouver and the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, have instituted their own suite of customer and visitor training programs to help ensure a warm welcome for all Games guests.

There’s no doubt, statistics speak volumes about the 2010 Tourism Consortium’s preparedness to welcome the world for the 2010 Winter Games. In all 40,000 people have received enhanced visitor service training through World Host Training Services and 3,300 businesses across BC have been inspected and graded through the Accessible Tourism Strategy.

Furthermore there are 110 Community Visitor Centres and six Provincial Gateway Centres prepared to provide Games and BC travel planning information, 16 temporary Visitor Kiosks, 28 languages spoken by counsellor staff and one million VANOC maps that are printed and ready to be handed out.

“We are visible, we are adaptable and we are prepared to ensure that visitors leave British Columbia with fond memories of our province,” says Ollgaard.

So memorable, in fact, that the 2010 Tourism Consortium partners hope visitors will start planning their next trip to BC before the Games are even over.