Pacific Coastal Airline says business travelers are planning to avoid the Vancouver area during the 2010 Winter Games. There are signs a phenomenon known as Olympic aversion is already hitting the travel industry in B.C., even though the 2010 Winter Games are still more than two months away.

Thousands of people from across the globe will flood into Vancouver and Whistler for the Olympic games but concerns about crowds and high prices are expected to stop thousands of others from visiting.

And the effects of Olympic aversion are not just expected during the two-week period in February when the Games are underway.

In other host cities, the well-documented Olympic effect has been shown to keep people away for months before and after the Games.

'[There is] no indication from any Olympic-type traveler that there is going to be any demand for our service,' — Pacific Coastal Airline vice-president Spencer Smith

In B.C., at least two airlines are already reporting their bookings on flights into Vancouver are already down, months before the Games begin.

Air Canada Jazz recently cancelled one of its regular scheduled flights from the interior B.C. airport of Castlegar to Vancouver for most of January, blaming "soft sales."

And Pacific Coastal Airline vice-president Spencer Smith said their anticipated business into Vancouver is also down significantly, noting business travellers in particular are planning to avoid the area during the Games.

"Those that are saying anything to us are telling us they are going to avoid the Vancouver like the plague," said Smith.

And he sees no sign that Olympic travellers will fill the empty seats on his airline's many regional routes.

"[There is] no indication from any Olympic-type traveller that there is going to be any demand for our service," he said.

Long-term plan

Smith says many in the business are hoping the short-term pain will eventually bring a long-term gain after the world gets a look at British Columbia during the broadcast of the Games, boosting the local travel industry for years to come.

Despite a record snowfall in November, sales on rooms and season's passes, booking at Whistler this winter are down up to 20 per cent. (CBC)

But in the meantime, the slowdown comes as no surprise to the people who market British Columbia as a tourism destination around the world, and they have been preparing for this phenomenon for years.

The Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort has been running an expensive ad campaign to fight the Olympic aversion, offering cheaper accommodation, reducing the price of season passes and trying to get the message out that the mountain will be open for visitors, even during the Games.

But despite their efforts, hotels have been reporting that outside of the two weeks in February when the Games are on, booking for the entire winter are significantly down — as much as 20 per cent below previous years — despite a record snowfall last month that allowed the resort to open two weeks early this year.

Chris Dadson, the president of Kootenay Rockies Tourism said the effect will hit Vancouver and Whistler hardest, but the rest of the province is bracing for the impact as well.

"We also, in other parts of the province, are marketing to make sure the aversion factor doesn't spread to other resorts," said Dadson.

And those efforts may be paying off. 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 was a double-digit booking increase at Silver Star and Big White ski resorts in the Okanagan, even before the start of the season, staff there reported.