Lexington, KY - There's a new name for the central district in Vancouver, British Columbia this month - "Centre Ice."
Since 2008, businesses there have been preparing for Vancouver to take the spotlight as the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics, which will be held from Feb. 12 - 28. The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association alone, an organization comprised of 8,000 businesses in the 90-block downtown area, has produced two editions of its Business Readiness Guide, hosted 35 business workshops to address 800 businesses, sent daily Games Hotsheets of preparation tips to e-mail subscribers and launched a door-to-door campaign to inform and prepare businesses in areas expecting high pedestrian traffic.
From business lessons learned four years ago in Salt Lake City to detailed transportation concerns about scheduling deliveries and employee commutes to the top 10 questions front-line staff can expect from visitors, the DVBIA has been working to ensure that its city is ready for business.
Lexington's upcoming World Equestrian Games is a considerably smaller event by comparison. Vancouver is Canada's eighth largest city with a population of more than 600,000, and its greater metropolitan area encompasses more than 2 million people. The Winter Olympics are expected to draw between 60,000 and 135,000 visitors daily to Vancouver events. Some estimates predict that the 17-day Winter Olympics, along with the Paralympics scheduled to be held in March, will pump $800 million into the Vancouver economy. By comparison, the statewide economic impact of the World Equestrian Games is expected to be in the neighborhood of $150 million.
However, there are notable similarities as well. Both events are expected to attract an international audience, they are both drawn out over more than two weeks, and they are both expected to be the largest ever hosted in the cities' history. With Lexington's "Games" eight months away, many local business owners have expressed a growing frustration that they feel uninformed about who will be coming to town and how they should or shouldn't prepare, making Vancouver's pre-Games warm-up schedule all the more relevant for a city like ours.
So according to Vancouver, what should the priorities be for local businesses looking to prepare themselves?
"Begin the conversations early," said Charles Gauthier, executive director of the DVBIA.
His organization started 18 months ago by inviting the former executive director of Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance to share information about the 2006 Winter Olympics experience from a business perspective. From there, the DVBIA developed its action plan.
Most of the organization's materials have been geared to its downtown membership, but the information has been applicable for many aspects of the Vancouver business community, Gauthier said.
"You can't just provide someone with a one-size-fits-all solution, so what we tried to do was point them in the right direction," Gauthier said.
Because the Winter Olympics will include events hosted at downtown venues, downtown access in Vancouver has posed more of a challenge than is expected in Lexington during the World Equestrian Games. But one of the key messages that Gauthier's group has been able to communicate has been that locals shouldn't avoid the downtown area during the Games; they should simply make adjustments. Carpooling has been encouraged, for example, and the DVBIA is also suggesting altered work schedules to avoid peak transportation times. As in Lexington, business owners have been urged to take good care of their local regulars, making sure they are aware that the city is still open for business.
But it's not just Gauthier's group speaking to the business community, which leads to another valuable element in Vancouver's game plan: coordination is key.
Early on, the city suggested that a business coordination committee should be established, an idea that originated with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
"It was under the auspices of our economic development organization that provided the horsepower to make that happen," Gauthier said. "I think to a large extent it worked really well. It was also a great opportunity to share information about who's doing what."
The business coordination committee also established its own one-stop Web site for the local business community (www.vancouvereconomic.com/mybusiness2010), listing answers to common questions from business owners, its latest business-related news and a list of helpful resources.
Through these connections, Gauthier said, the organizations have been able to speak with one voice on issues like encouraging local residents to continue conducting business downtown. They've also been able to avoid the unnecessary duplication of effort. The DVBIA, for example, had initially considered ramping up its downtown ambassadors program for the Games, until it learned that the city of Vancouver was providing funding to its local tourism organization, Tourism Vancouver, to station its own hosts throughout the city, and additional hosts would be on-site for the local transit authority and Tourism British Columbia. Instead, the DVBIA opted to take advantage of the training that was being provided to these hosts to boost the knowledge of its existing ambassadors.
In addition to helping businesses with their logistical planning, Gauthier and his staff have also worked to help businesses both identify opportunities and manage expectations. The DVBIA's literature, for instance, makes it clear that, outside of official Olympic merchandise and souvenirs and specialty items they can't get at home, Olympic spectators aren't coming to shop.
"But there's certainly great opportunities for (some of) our retailers and great opportunities for our restaurants. They are going to see an uptick on their business," Gauthier said.
Perhaps the best indicator of the success of Vancouver's planning efforts is that, with less than a month to go before the opening ceremonies, his organization was not getting any calls from businesses who said they didn't know what was going on, according to Gauthier.
"There'd be very few businesses among our membership that wouldn't be aware that it's going to be dramatically different during the Games, and there haven't been any surprises," Gauthier said.
In Gauthier's opinion, eight months is still a large enough window for businesses in a city like Lexington to get engaged for an international event.
"There's still plenty of time to devise a plan, especially if you are in the food or beverage or retail sector," Gauthier said. "I know it's going to sound corny, but people don't plan to fail - they fail to plan."
Q&A
Business Lexington asked local business owners what they would like to know about the World Equestrian Games. Their most common questions are addressed below.
What will the demographics of the visitors be? How many will be foreign, and how many will be American?
As of mid-January, the World Games 2010 Foundation was reporting that 150,000 competition tickets had been sold, but the organization did not specify how many individuals that represented. (It can be assumed that many spectators would purchase tickets for more than one event.) Tickets have been sold in 48 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
More than 47,000 room nights have been booked through the foundation's travel partners, representing roughly half of the total expected to be filled for the Games. The average length of stay for individuals is currently six nights, with the average for group bookings climbing to nine nights. Those guests hail from all 50 states, and from 24 countries and two U.S. territories. According to the Foundation, the top states represented in accommodations bookings include California, New York, Virginia, Ohio and Illinois, and the top foreign countries represented so far are Canada, Australia, Mexico, Great Britain, South Africa and the Netherlands.
While Europeans are often late buyers for similar events, the top nationalities listed so far would require a much smaller learning curve for hospitality and front-line staff than other nations, particularly in terms of language barriers, said David Lord, president of the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Relatively little specific demographic information about the typical WEG spectator has been released, and because the event is being held for the first time in the United States, it is difficult to predict who will attend.
The statistics on equine enthusiasts in the United States, however, show a very high-income, upscale market. Equestrian Magazine, the official publication of the United States Equestrian Foundation and the 2010 World Equestrian Games, reports that its readers are 85 percent women, with an average income of $185,000. The magazine also reports that 38 percent have a net worth above $500,000, and 22 percent own two or more homes. In addition, roughly two-thirds have a college degree, and they compete at least six times per year, spending an average of 30 nights annually in hotels. They own an average of four horses each, with 40 percent owning horse farms, and they spend an average of $16,000 per year on equine-related purchases ranging from horse feed and trailers to vitamin supplements and leather care products.
I would like to know the particulars on what type of vendors will be at the Horse Park.
The Kentucky Horse Park will host a trade show on-site for the duration of the World Equestrian Games, with space for 300 vendor booths. A list of exhibitors can be found on the World Equestrian Games' Web site, and it includes an international collection of vendors specializing primarily in all things equine, including equine art, apparel, feed and equipment, and horse barn construction. Sellers of high-end retail items such as fur coats, custom hats and hand-painted tiles and mosaics, will also be present.
Most of the companies scheduled to participate in the on-site trade show are from outside of Kentucky, but Kentucky-based exhibitors include Bob Mickler's, Inc.; Cross Gate Gallery; Longwood Antique Woods; Lucas Equine Equipment, Inc.; Justice Real Estate and Embry's. The cost for booth space at the trade show ranges from $10,000 to $17,500.
In addition to the trade show, the Kentucky Experience pavilion on-site at the Games is designed to promote the state's products and attractions. It will feature interactive exhibits of Kentucky's tourism highlights, Kentucky-based entertainment, and a Kentucky-based product pavilion. The Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Distillers' Association, the Kentucky Wine Council, the Kentucky Artisan Center and the Kentucky Proud program will assist in determining the selection of products to be featured at the product pavilion.
The Horse Park will also feature an Equine Village, dedicated to promoting a wide variety of equine breeds and disciplines, which will include educational booth exhibits by horse associations and organizations along with entertainment, guest lectures, drill team presentations and kid's activities.
Will local people be insulated from the "Johnny-Come-Lately" out to make a quick buck?
The city has established an ordinance to create a "clean zone" from August 26 to October 11, primarily for the area along Newtown Pike and within a four-mile radius of the Horse Park. Individuals will not be allowed to conduct any promotional or commercial activities within this clean zone unless they are considered the usual activities for a previously existing business that has operated on that property.
Outside of the official clean zone, the city's Spotlight Lexington festival has established its own version of a "clean zone" in the downtown area, from Midland Avenue to Jefferson Street and from Second Street to High Street, said Krista Greathouse, the city's liaison to the World Equestrian Games. Spotlight Lexington will basically operate within the parameters established for similar festival events in Lexington, such as the Fourth of July festival, which include a requirement for all street vendors to be approved by the city and purchase a required permit. That includes vendors who want to apply for a temporary liquor license, Greathouse said.
"If they're not on our approved vendor list, then we have the authority to remove them from the public property," Greathouse said.
What is being done to promote local businesses? Is anyone going to publish a comprehensive guide to shopping and dining in Lexington (including those businesses outside the downtown area)?
The Spotlight Lexington festival is open to working with local businesses on low-cost promotional opportunities during the Festival, said the city's liaison to the World Equestrian Games, Krista Greathouse. The festival's Brown Bag program, which promotes restaurants and catering businesses with specific dining specials at a pricepoint of $8 or less, is one example. Local businesses can also submit free calendar listings of any special planned events for the festival's program guide, which will also offer businesses advertising opportunities as well.
While there are multiple shopping and dining guides for Lexington, particularly online, said David Lord, there is no single comprehensive guide available. The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau (LCVB) Web site (www.visitlex.com) lists many local restaurants and a few of the largest retail destinations. There is also a local business directory, including a variety of products and services listed by business category, on the Local First Lexington Web site (www.localfirstlexington.com).
Lord said the LCVB has worked over the years to encourage the development of dining and shopping maps with local partners, but those projects have not come to fruition.
Any chance of offering rudimentary language/etiquette courses so as not to offend our visitors and come across as ugly Americans?
On March 5 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., Midway College will host a seminar on International Protocol in preparation for the WEG by international public relations and political consultant Harvey Thomas,
press and communications chief for former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Lexington Rotary Club will host a presentation by Thomas on March 11. You can listen to Tom Martin's podcast interview with Harvey Thomas online at bizlex.com.
The Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau (LCVB) will be offering a short information session closer to the event, specifically targeted for restaurant staff and front-of-house employees at hotels. The training will include details about the various information centers around the city, event schedules and some international etiquette basics.
The LCVB also offers a half-day ambassador's training course to help citizens serve as better information resources for out-of-towners with questions about the city of Lexington and its offerings. For more information on the ambassador's course, call the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau at (859) 233-1221.