Para Nordic World Cup Finals 2019

By Tommy Osborne

World Sports

Prince George to see huge economic benefits from hosting world championships

Nov 7, 2023 | 4:09 PM

Prince George will once again be hosting the Para Biathlon World Championships and Para Nordic World Cup Finals in March of 2024. Initially hosted in 2019, this will be our city’s second time hosting the event, which the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club (CNSC) is incredibly excited for.

“It’s really amazing to be welcoming the 20 countries, probably about 200 to 250 athletes and the best in the world back. These are the best para-nordic para-biathlon athletes in the world. It was an honor to host them in 2019 and we’ve already got some great responses back from the teams that are looking forward to coming back here for 2024,” said CNSC’s Chair of Competitions Kevin Pettersen.

With an estimated economic impact of seven million dollars, five of which will stay in the City of Prince George, there is even more to look forward to beyond the world-class athletes competing in our community. Tourism Prince George’s CEO Colin Carson explained this will provide a huge economic boost to our hotels, restaurants, and other local businesses, and the timing of the event will be an even bigger help.

“It’s happening in March, which is typically a little bit of a slower season for our businesses that are reliant on tourists and restaurants, so that’s great to see that it’s at a slow period for them as well which helps out,” Carson said.

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Beyond the numbers, Carson added getting Prince George on the international map could bring long lasting benefits that are harder to measure, but definitely there.

“The other great thing about these types of events is the spinoff that we can’t really calculate, there’s live streams available of the skiing so its people over seas that are seeing Otway on their screens in Germany and other countries, and hopefully they can see how great Prince George is and maybe that’s something they would consider for a future visit,” Carson said.

The CNSC also sees big gains from the event, which pays tremendous dividends for our community members who continue to use the facilities even after the sporting events are wrapped up.

“We’ve been able to invest the legacy funds and leverage those funds so that we could actually build the snowmaking system out to cover all seven kilometers of the competition trails. We also had all the accessibility improvements at our club, so by hosting this event again, we’re able to use those, and those are for the benefit of the community,” Pettersen said.

With excitement around the events building, there’s no doubt next year’s March will be a great time for Prince George, for both the event itself and the economic benefits to Prince George.