Organisers of the third biennial Winter Games NZ, which begin today, expect the 1000 athletes and team officials taking part will pump millions of dollars into the Otago economy.
The event is the last major qualifier for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Organisers know how important the games are to athletes but this year they also hope to get a comprehensive breakdown of the economic benefits of the event.
Games chief executive Arthur Klap said the surveying for the previous games ''was not robust enough'' and not enough information was collected.
This year the surveying technique had been changed and at each of the finals venues information would be collected about who is attending the games.
''We are really hopeful that after these games we will have some really good figures.''
Mr Klap said ''there is a direct economic flow of somewhere between $3 million to $5 million'' and on top of that the games spends around $3 million on organisation such as wages, stages and local bands.
''Fifty percent of our budget is locally spent.''
A key economic benefit of the games, he said, was that they attracted a large number of international athletes and their management, meaning ''it's new dollars into the country''.
This year the games was investing $1 million in television coverage.
Thirty-eight broadcasters in more than 100 countries would be screening events.
Mr Klap said it was likely 20 million people in China would see the games.
Of the 1000 athletes and team officials, 80% will come to Queenstown, Wanaka or Naseby specifically for the games and it is estimated they will spend an average of 15 nights in the area.
Queenstown Lakes District Council chief executive Adam Feeley said the games were an ''incredible opportunity'' for the district and yesterday the council showed its support by providing $50,000 from the first QLDC event funding round to the games.
The council was ''right behind'' the games and he urged the local community to get involved with what is ''actually a highly accessible event''.
