Expo 86 promised tourism benefits for BC but did they come true?

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Millions of people from near and far delighted in the festivities of Expo 86, and BC was promised long-term increases in tourism in the years after the World’s Fair. As we continue to reflect on the event 30 years later, we’ve been finding out whether those expectations came true.

Destination BC doesn’t have numbers of overseas tourists, but has a good idea of how the number of visitors from the US changed.

In 1986, BC welcomed more than 3.5 million overnight visitors from the United States throughout the year. Not surprisingly, that number dropped down to 2.2 million in 1987, still higher than every pre-Expo year going back to 1981.

During the five years after Expo, the number of American arrivals went up nearly 30 per cent compared to the five years prior to the fair. A study done in 1996 found the fair didn’t have an impact on US visitors by plane, rather, the extra tourists in the years after came by car.

Annual data before/after 1986 (Source: Statistics Canada)

* In 1986, overnight entries from the US to BC showed an increase of 82.9 per cent compared to the previous year, 1985. (spikes like this for international events of this scale are the norm and expected/hoped for; we saw a spike for the 2010 Games)
* In 1986, BC’s share of total US overnight arrivals to Canada was 26 per cent. This was the largest share BC held between 1981 and 1991.
* Compared to the visitor numbers in 1986, visitor arrivals then dropped back down/stabilized after Expo
*Overnight visitor arrivals from the US to BC following 1986: down 37.4 per cent in 1987 over 1986; however, the number of annual US visitor arrivals to BC increased 27.7 per cent in the five years following 1986 compared to the five years prior to 1986.

Do people attend world’s fairs anymore?

There hasn’t been another world’s fair in North America since Expo closed its gates back in 1986 and that begs the question: have world’s fair has become obsolete?

The whole idea may be rooted back in the forward-looking optimism of the 19th and 20th centuries. But historian Arthur Heller, president of publisher World’s Fair Inc. says there’s another reason we haven’t seen one in the US or Canada for decades. “The short answer might be money. Who has the money to put it on?”

He adds the popular view is that world’s fairs are obsolete. “The Internet and other forms of communication have kind of superseded the show ‘em and see ‘em mentality of the 19th century. But the odd thing is the attendance of world’s fairs has gone up.”