Richard T. Geiger, the president of the Greater Buffalo Convention and Visitors Bureau sees dollar signs when he things about Toronto hosting the 2008 Summer Games.
And Thomas Darro, a vice president at the Niagara Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau said “everyone who visits or attends the Olympics has heard of Niagara Falls. And I would think that Niagara Falls would be on top of everyone’s list of places to visit while they were here”.
If there’s a shortage of hotel rooms in Toronto, Geiger hopes Olympic visitors will spend a few nights in a Buffalo hotel. “I think it would be a huge boom for our hotels and our attractions” he says. “There’s the potential for some huge spin-offs. The whole area would benefit”. Western New York could also get some overflow business from the Olympics being in Toronto.
Geiger says he’s had preliminary talks with Toronto Olympic organizers about the possiblity of using some of Western New York’s athletic facilities for some qualifying events leading up to the Sames. “If they’re successful, I think they’ll need to rely on the entire region, which includes Western New York, both for our sporting facilities and hotel accommodations to really make it all work” he says.
