Park City and its sister city are each planning for a Winter Olympics.
The Alps community of Courchevel, France, is set to play an important role in the Games of 2030 while the Park City area is a key to the plans for the Winter Olympics in 2034.
The upcoming Games in the two places could be a topic for discussion in coming weeks as a delegation from Courchevel travels to Park City. Mayor Nann Worel provided information about the upcoming trip during a Park City Council meeting on Thursday. She indicated the Courchevel contingent is scheduled to arrive in Park City on Aug. 30 and depart on Sept. 6. The mayor of Courchevel is slated to lead the eight-person delegation, Worel said.
She said the travelers want to study the tourism industry of Park City, including the efforts to attract visitors outside of the traditionally busy ski season.
“Their goal while they’re here is to learn how we became a year-round, vibrant city. And they have a really vibrant winter season and then they kind of roll up the sidewalks during the summertime. And they want to change that,” Worel said, adding the schedule includes discussions with the Park City Chamber/Bureau and other organizations.
The mayor did not provide a detailed rundown of the itinerary for the travelers.
It seems almost certain representatives from Park City and Courchevel will address the Games of 2030 and 2034, at least at some level, with the visit planned at the outset of the Olympic eras in both places.
The International Olympic Committee in July awarded both of the events. The Games of 2030 will stretch through a swath of the south of France while the 2034 Winter Olympics will be based in Salt Lake City with competition venues across northern Utah.
The Park City area is crucial to the concept for the Games, with Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park identified as important competition venues. The area will also be heavily involved in the transportation, security and celebration plans. The Courchevel area in the Games of 2030 is expected to host skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined competitions, making it one of the keys to the event.
A delegation from the south of France visited the Park City area in January in an effort to learn about the efforts to stage a second Games in the state and about the legacy from the 2002 Winter Olympics. The trip included a stop at the Utah Olympic Park.
The president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional council, Renaud Muselier, led the French delegation in January, expressing confidence in the region’s ability to stage a Games. He said the French Alps are predicted to have adequate snow to host an Olympics through the middle of the century.
A group of Courchevel students, meanwhile, was in Utah in July as part of a student-exchange program. The stay coincided with the IOC selections of the Games of 2030 and 2034 hosts.
Worel at the meeting on Thursday also said a delegation from Park City, including herself, traveled to Courchevel in 2023 to attend skiing championships to learn “how they organize their events and how they deal with their transportation challenges, etc.”