Winter Games New Zealand has achieved a double triumph, with expectations of a $50,000 profit on this year's games, and Korean plans to base its seven-year Winter Olympics snowsports preparations in Wanaka.
Following a post-games WGNZ board meeting on Tuesday, chairman Sir Eion Edgar told the Otago Daily Times the few remaining bills to be settled would balance out to a profit.
"We will make a profit of $50,000 which is no small feat considering the size of the outfit and the economic situation," said Sir Eion.
"The credit really goes to Arthur [Klap, WGNZ chief executive] and his team, who in a very difficult environment delivered an outstanding event."
With the 2011 games now behind it, Sir Eion said the board was "looking to how we grow it", and was working with sponsors and supporters to identify areas for improvement.
The result came on the back of an eight-day promotional visit to Asia last month, which WGNZ chief executive Arthur Klap called "more successful" than expected.
A small group, including Mr Klap, travelled to Korea and Japan visiting winter sports training and drug-testing facilities, and meeting their international counterparts.
"What we were trying to do is establish really good relationships, especially in the Asian market - Korea, China and Japan," said Mr Klap.
"[It was] not just for participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics . . . That provided lots of opportunities for our Winter Olympics athletes in the build-up to 2018."
Far exceeding expectations, the trip has now set up possibilities of joint training camps, preferred access for Kiwi athletes in 2018, and most importantly, the potential of using Wanaka as Korea's off-season training base for the next seven years.
The build-up would be across fields including alpine ski racing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, and snow-boarding, with the possibility of free-skiing dependent on slope availability.
"If we can help do that, it automatically makes the Lakes District a snowsports destination . . . so we would almost be getting a free ride in promotion for the next seven-eight years," Mr Klap said.
Sir Eion said the opportunities this provided for New Zealand, and in particular, the country's Winter Sports, were "very important".
"There's an awful lot of skiers in Japan, and with numbers of visitors from Japan dropping, promoting our winter facilities is a fantastic way of getting those numbers up and also getting the Korean numbers up."
