[SFUVancouver]

Global advertising dollars are in short supply right now. I suspect VANOC is going to keep its media buys in reserve until after Christmas in order to keep its message from being drowned out.

As for Tourism BC it is on the chopping block as it is and doesn't have many resources to go around.

Tourism Vancouver is financially on the ropes due to the impact lower booking rate for hotels has on its 2% hotel tax take.

The Canadian Tourism Commission has a large war chest in the order of $100 million but that really doesn't go to far when you have an entire world to advertise to. I suspect they are going to follow VANOC's lead and start their push post-Christmas. Canada not having official destination status in China certainly doesn't help our tourism pitch there.

The narrative about the recession and this Olympic Games seems to be that the money from sponsorships and ticket sales will be enough to run one hell of a winter games and the public money to build venues and provide security is secured, but there just isn't very much left over to advertise internationally in an effort to try and leverage the Games to Canada's benefit. This is obviously folly but that's the way it seems to be playing out. The "free" advertising of the games is hoped to build the positive associations between Vancouver, BC, and Canada with the Olympics.