VANCOUVER — Vancouver Foodie Tours is hoping to dine out on an influx of visitors for the FIFA World Cup, when soccer fans begin converging on the city next month.
"We've actually custom curated the script and the tastings in each of our tours to be themed with what's going on in the city for that time and to really highlight the history of football in Vancouver," said Veronica Irvine, operations manager for the company, which takes food lovers on dining journeys through the city.
Irvine said the company previously did themed tours for fans in town for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in December 2024.
Building momentum
As FIFA banners and signage begin popping up, Destination Vancouver CEO Royce Chwin said he can "feel the momentum building" in the city.
"We've seen our businesses start to get on board with their plans and announce their events in and around the city, whether or not it's viewing parties, any of those kinds of things," he said.
But while businesses like Vancouver Foodie Tours and tourism authorities are hoping for a boost when the tournament hits Vancouver and Toronto, some experts warn that it's easier to identify winners and losers on the soccer pitch than when it comes to the economics of the World Cup.
Unclear economic picture
It's just a month before the kickoff, but firm figures around the final price tag of the event, its economic benefits and legacy remain unclear. Calculating the immediate boost is complicated by the fact the tournament is displacing other events and occurring in what would be already be peak tourism season in both cities.
Wayne Smith, the director for the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the longer-term impact of hosting such an event could last decades — but those benefits may never be quantifiable either.
"I've been looking at economic impact analysis of events for over 20 years, and I can't think of a way you could do it legitimately and not be guessing," he said. "For the World Cup, you have to look at it more (as) a marketing exercise as opposed to tourism impact."
Smith said it's a chance for cities to show off on a world stage, and potentially attract tourists for years to come.
Budget and costs
Toronto and Vancouver are among 16 cities across Canada, the United States and Mexico that will host a combined 104 games during the expanded 48-team tournament, running June 11 through July 19.
Toronto has set a $380-million budget for the tournament, which includes funding from the federal and provincial governments. FIFA has previously estimated up to $940 million in economic output for the Greater Toronto Area.
The latest cost estimate for B.C., meanwhile, was provided by the province last June, where it said the estimate had jumped to between $532 million and $624 million, an increase of up to 10 per cent on 2024 estimates. No new figure was provided at an update on preparations last week.
The B.C. government justified the costs last year by saying the event would bring about 350,000 fans to the province and generate more than a billion dollars of tourism in the five years after the games.
Questions remain
Jarrett Vaughan, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, said it's a fair estimate for B.C., but "whether those numbers are accurate or not — it's nearly impossible for anybody to know."
"It's certainly very difficult for the government to know these numbers, which is shocking because they seemingly are putting the money in (so) how does the government not know how much is actually going to be spent?
"This is where, as taxpayers, we as citizens, need to question the government on the investment that they're putting into events like this, and how they could not understand how much money it is going to cost and what are the benefits of it."