Ten days of competition wrap up this weekend as Kamloops prepares to bid farewell to the Western Canada Summer Games and about 2,000 athletes.

The athletes begin heading home on Monday, taking their medals and fond memories with them, but they'll be leaving behind something much more valuable, say Games organizers and those who are watching the event from an economic perspective.

"A lot of it is anecdotal right now, but the spinoff will be about $9 million," said Dan Sulz, executive director of Venture Kamloops. "That's what's being estimated."

How does that figure break down?

Games president Henry Pejril said about $3.5 million can be attributed to the event's operating expenses — on everything from the manufacturing of Games merchandise to the estimated $700,000 it's costing to feed and house all the athletes in TRU's dorms.

"Every one of these Games, they've been averaging about a $10-million benefit to the host community," said Pejril. "That's between what we spend directly and all the other spinoffs."

Some of those spinoffs are easy to measure.

At Enterprise Rent A Car, for example, the entire fleet of vehicles has been occupied ever since team officials started arriving in Kamloops on Aug. 2.

"On that first day, we did 10 rentals to the Manitoba team and another 30 to parents who came here to watch their kids compete," said Julie Knight, branch manager.

"We're sold out all the way to (Monday). And that's everybody in town."

Most hotels in Kamloops are also seeing a boost in occupancy rates since the Games came to town, said Katie Bahnsen, president of the Kamloops Accommodation Association.

"I think definitely we've all had a benefit," said Bahnsen, who also manages the Accent Inns.

"And that's because they're not overnighters. Anyone associated with the Games is staying more than one night, and that's really nice for everybody, when you get someone staying three, four days."

On Friday, every room at Bahnsen's hotel had been spoken for.

Across town, Arthur Malkoske's Hospitality inn still had half its rooms available. He said the Games have helped boost business this summer, but he expressed some concern that the university was benefiting more than the city's hotels.

It's a sentiment that has made its way back to Games officials.

"I'm certain there's a little feeling that, because all the athletes are housed at the university, there's not a lot of spinoff in the way of hotels and restaurants, that sort of thing," said Pejril.

"But, from my understanding, the hotels are full and they're full with longer stays."

Hotel accommodations aside, there are other Games spinoffs that are being watched, the "unmeasurable" ones, as Dan Sulz calls them.

These include the potential for some of the visiting athletes to choose Thompson Rivers University for their post-secondary education and for some of the visiting officials or parents to return for vacations or, better yet, to choose Kamloops as a new home or place of business. Those are possibilities, not just long shots, said Sulz.

"I've been spending a lot of time with the VIPs and I've had at least five different conversations with interested people."

In the meantime, it could take weeks before Games officials tally their budget figures for the event.

Pejril said he expects the Games to break even when all is said and done.

Lasting Legacies

Long after the Western Canada Summer Games leave town, there will be some lasting, physical reminders of its existence.

The most notable is the new beach volleyball court at Overlander Park, which cost about $85,000 to construct and was made specifically for the Games.

Another lasting legacy is the buoyed racecourse and accompanying docks, towers and platforms at Shumway Lake, where the canoe and kayak races took place.

litt@kamloopsnews.ca