Past Winter Games gave a boost to Park City & other Winter Destinations

Past Winter Games gave a boost to Park City & other Winter Destinations

Posted on 12:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 21, 2010; Dallas Morning News
Walt Roessing is a freelance writer in California

PARK CITY, Utah – Watching the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on television can't help but remind Utahans of the positive economic impact such an event can have on a tourism destination.

The February 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games have been responsible for a surge in the state's tourism industry, especially for Park City and Salt Lake City.

Park City, host to one-third of the 2002 Winter Games events, has Utah's greatest concentration of upscale ski resorts with the triad of Deer Valley, the Canyons and Park City Mountain Resort.

"The skier-days of that trio jumped from 1.16 million in the year of the Olympics to a peak of 1.87 million in 2007-08," says Craig McCarthy, of the Park City Chamber/Bureau. For the third consecutive year, he adds, Deer Valley has been named the No. 1 overall resort in North America by the readers of Ski Magazine.

Also, the Canyons, with 3,700 skiable acres, has become Utah's largest resort, and Park City Mountain Resort offers the only ski-in, ski-out access to historic Main Street, McCarthy says.

Since the 2002 Games the three local ski areas have added a combined nine new ski lifts and opened more runs and terrain.

Substantial, too, has been the growth in Park City's tourism infrastructure. It now encompasses about 6,000 lodging rooms plus meeting properties with 3,000 rooms.

New lodging growth continues. On Deer Valley's Flagstaff Mountain, we skied with McCarthy to the doors of the Montage. Slated to open in the winter season of 2010-11, that property will have 174 luxury guest suites, 81 private residences, a spa and two restaurants.


New luxury hotels

My visit included tours of three newly opened luxury hotels: the low-rise Escala Lodge and Dakota Mountain Lodge at the Canyons and the 11-story, slopeside St. Regis Deer Crest hotel at Deer Valley.

At the St. Regis, everything about the architecture – color schemes, lighting fixtures, oversize windows in the public areas – is worthy of a palace. There's an immense lobby, restaurants, library, wine cellar and meeting facilities.

Recent plush lodging newcomers are Sky Lodge and Hotel Park City.

Other local improvements are the Golden Door Spa's debut at the Canyons and a megadollar expansion of the slopeside spa at Deer Valley's Stein Eriksen Lodge.

The legacy of the 2002 Olympics made those projects possible.

Another appealing feature is that the historic mining town (founded 1884) is a blend of old and new. Sixty-four of its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many sit side by side along century-old Main Street, the center for most of Park City's shops and 100 restaurants.

Here's another Main Street bonus. After a two-year, $8.9 million renovation, the Park City Museum has reopened. The exhibits focus on Park City's history as a silver-mining town, its subsequent transition to a renowned ski resort, and the local people who made it all happen.