Bookings are up for rooms in the village at the Big White resort near Kelowna, B.C. (Big White Ski Resort webcam)Some British Columbia ski resort operators say the so-called Olympic aversion effect is boosting their bookings as the 2010 Games in Whistler draw closer.

There has been a double-digit booking increase at Silver Star and Big White ski resorts in the Okanagan, according to general manager Michael Ballingall.

"Now if the snow comes early, if Mother Nature plays her part, we should be in for a bumper year," said Ballingall.

Operators at the Kicking Horse Resort near Golden and Red Mountain in the Southern Interior also say the number of reservations has increased.

And while many people are expected to head to Whistler to see the athletes compete during the Games in February, Vancouver Island residents will be able to get a glimpse of the action leading up to the main events.

Olympic teams from 10 different countries have booked to practise at Vancouver Island's Mount Washington, creating a great opportunity for the locals to see the world-class athletes, according to resort spokesman Brent Curtain.

The resort won't be charging people who just come up to watch, and only skiers will need a lift ticket, said Curtain.

Whistler-Blackcomb on sale

Meanwhile, the Whistler-Blackcomb resort has been promoting discounted hotel rooms and dropped the price on its season passes by several hundred dollars in an effort to increase bookings this winter.

Whistler-Blackcomb has dropped the price of hotel rooms and its season's pass in order to boost bookings leading up to the Olympic Games. (CBC)The resort will have 90 per cent of its runs open to the public this season, but during the Games restrictions will be in place limiting parking and vehicle access to Highway 99 for people without accommodation booked.

CEO Dave Brownlie agreed bookings are down. But he also noted that for the resort, the Olympic effect is not just about the 17 days of the Games, but the 17 years of benefits afterwards.

Casey Vanden Heuvel, director of communications for Tourism Whistler, said the Olympic aversion effect was predicted as long as six years ago.

"It's … a phenomenon that happens at pretty much all Olympic destinations, where the typical consumer that is considering a visit, other than for the Games itself, avoids that destination, just with some assumptions of what that experience will be like."

About 85 percent of the rooms in Whistler are already booked during the games, officials said. The ski resort and the town will host the alpine ski events and the sliding events for the Winter Olympics Feb 12 to 28.

With files from The Canadian Press