The final accounting for the 2018 Manitoba Games in Thompson was completed earlier this spring which resulted in a $10,000 holdback being presented from the host society to the City of Thompson at the end of April.
The games resulted in $423,120.44 in equipment and funding for Thompson recreation facilities and organizations, the city said, including the Thompson Regional Community Centre, the Burntwood Curling Club, Mystery Mountain Winter Park and Thompson’s community cross-country ski trails. Clubs that received funding and equipment as a result of the games included the Thompson Tumblers gymnastics club, the Thompson Badminton Club and the archery club.
In a news release about the final funding being received from the host society, the city referred back to an economic impact study completed in 2018, which found that the games generated an economic impact of $1.1 million in the city. An additional $200,000 of economic activity was generated within Manitoba and the economic impact for Canada was calculated at $1.7 million.
The economic data compiled by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA) found that direct spending by out-of-town athletes, family members, spectators and other visitors, combined with money spent by event organizers, totalled $859,000 and supported $506,000 in wages and salaries across Canada, the equivalent of nine jobs across the country, with two-thirds of that total in Thompson. A majority of the household income that resulted – $326,000 – stayed in the Thompson area.
The city said virtually all of the attendees surveyed stayed in Thompson for at least one night during the games, with 70 per cent of them staying in hotels and nearly 60 per cent staying three nights or more. The study found that they spent an average of $767 during their stay.
The economic impact study was discussed at the May 25 council meeting, with deputy mayor Duncan Wong noting that the survey results were based on fewer than 400 respondents and that his anecdotal experience differed, though he said the games were a good event.
“As a business I did not benefit a single dollar,” he said. “To me, when you have to brag three or four times about the event, something’s wrong with this report.”
Cou. Kathy Valentino took issue with his remarks.
“When you have to talk about an event being successful three or four times it means the event was successful,” she said, and something Thompson needs more of. “We, as a city, with whatever user group or community-led group we have, we need to encourage them to host provincial events. They need to look at events that we can host here because it’s definitely a benefit when we have visitors that come here.”
Wong said Valentino’s involvement with the games made her assessment suspect.
“Of course she’s going to defend it,” he said.
