When Salt Lake hosted the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, it served as notice to the world that this was a state ready to compete—particularly in world markets.

 

“We have had remarkable success, particularly in the past five years,” said Lew Cramer, president and CEO of the World Trade Center Utah. “We have doubled our international exports over the past five years, we expect to set a new state-record for exports and export related jobs this year and a great deal of that can be traced back to the time we hosted the Olympics.”

To capitalize on Utah’s elevated status on the world stage, the state helped establish the World Trade Center Utah, an organization that has helped Utah double merchandise exports over the past five years. In 2010, Utah exports exceeded $13.5 billion.

 

Visitors
Leaders from 77 countries and eight Presidential Cabinet members attended the Games. In addition, 220,000 people visited Utah during the Games.

Trade missions helped take advantage of the momentum created by the Games. The Utah Governor’s Office led post-Olympic trade missions to five countries: Canada, China, Mexico, Greece and Italy.

 

Awareness
Utah/Salt Lake City’s image and awareness changed dramatically after the Games. Surveys in France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Holland yielded these results:

- One in five respondents had knowledge of Salt Lake City as the host city pre Olympics; one in three knew after the Games.

- One in ten respondents had knowledge of Utah as the host state pre Olympics; one in six knew after the Games.

- Europeans’ images of Utah’s mountains and deserts increased dramatically as a result of the Olympics.