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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Vancouver Olympics bring a renewed interest in Salt Lake City. According to the Utah Office of Tourism, just before Christmas, at least $1 million was pumped into the economy because of it.
Utah got an unexpected Christmas gift when two major companies picked the state to shoot their Vancouver Olympic advertisements.
"AT&T and Proctor & Gamble made some commercials that will air in the Vancouver Winter Olympics, using a lot of the venues that were used in the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City," explained Marshall Moore, director of the Utah Film Commission.
The commercials were shot on location with Olympians.
"Apolo Ohno was in one; Shaun White was in one. They filled at Utah Olympics Park, Snowbasin, EnergySolutions Arena, Rio Tinto and the E Center," Moore said. "This gave a lot of people employment for a few weeks."
This is just the beginning of an economic boost Utah is expected to experience thanks to the Vancouver games.
"The Olympics in Vancouver will be great for Salt Lake," said Tracie Cayford, with the Utah Office of Tourism.
The tourism office expects Utah to be mentioned several times during the upcoming games.
"Many of the athletes train in Utah. So, when they talk about the athletes, they'll talk about Salt Lake and Park City and Utah. So, it's great publicity for our state," Cayford said.
The 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics put Utah on the map as a winter destination with world-class facilities. Cayford anticipates every winter games to come will only keep Utah on people's minds.
"We have gone from 17 million visitors a year back in 2002 to over 20 million visitors now. Our tourism is now a $7 billion industry," Cayford said.
Since the Olympics were in Utah, the state has had four record-breaking ski seasons at the 13 different resorts.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
