The 2010 Winter Olympics were good for business, but not so good for the environment of British Columbia.
That's the conclusion of a University of British Columbia report commissioned by the International Olympic Committee to measure the impact of the games.
The province's economy grew with new businesses, jobs and increased visitor spending in 2010. Much of that is attributed to the Winter Games, which provided at least $50 million in tax revenue to the province, the report said.
Of all the provinces and territories in Canada, British Columbia had the highest total visitor spending for the first quarter of 2010.
Citing information from the Canada Tourism Commission, the reports states international tourists spent almost $400 million, an increase of 11 percent over the first quarter from the previous year. American visitors spent almost $270 million, an increase of almost 20 percent.
UBC researchers drew from a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report that said about 800 new businesses and up to 20,780 jobs were created in British Columbia by the games.
But greenhouse gas emissions increased during the games to eight times what they are normally. A large part of that output came from carbon emitted by spectators, media, athletes and Olympic personnel flying to and from Vancouver.
The third volume in a series of four reports is a ''Games-time'' report and was released by UBC on Tuesday. It analyzes the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler while they were held.
''This is the kind of rubber-hits-the-road,'' said UBC's Rob VanWynsberghe, who headed the research team at the Centre for Sport and Sustainability.
Two previous studies looked at the preparation for the Olympics. The fourth and final report is a post-games analysis, due for release in 2013.
Organizing committees are now contractually required by the IOC to provide an Olympic impact study, starting with Vancouver (VANOC) and then LOCOG (London 2012). Hosts must use 126 different markers, such as bills and bylaws passed by government for the games, opinion polls, hotel and real estate prices, traffic congestion and the amount of open-air leisure space.
The release of this report originally was scheduled for June 2010. The Canadian Olympic Committee took over responsibility for the report once VANOC ceased operations. Changes in management at the COC after the games delayed the release of the report because new personnel had to get up to speed on it, VanWynsberghe said.
''The games injected millions into the local economy and great strides have been made in making these events more environmentally sound,'' COC President Marcel Aubut said. ''This study confirms what we all saw during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The sense of pride that swept up our nation was a turning point in our nation's history.''
The report doesn't discuss what impact the Olympics had on homelessness or social housing. VanWynsberghe says that information wasn't available in time but will be included in the final report.
''You actually have a situation in Vancouver right now where there's more people on the streets, but there's more shelters,'' he said. ''The difference between the people on the street and the shelters is still the same amount as before, so all that work to build shelters hasn't meant a reduction in homelessness.''
The report also says the social and cultural impact of the games was felt by Aboriginal groups and minorities who participated in bidding, planning and staging the event.
Also, national polls after the Paralympic Games indicated a change in attitude toward people with disabilities.
''People feel more confident hiring people with disabilities because they watched athletes with disabilities compete,'' VanWynsberghe said.
