SALT LAKE CITY — The 2002 Winter Games have an official answer for visitors' questions.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee has signed a contract with Visitors Information Services, a group of Utah governmental agencies and businesses, to provide staffing at information centers at Olympic venues.
"We will have people right at the Olympic site who are knowledgeable about the broader issues spectators are concerned with, such as where to eat and what is the best way to get from one place to another," said Fraser Bullock, SLOC's chief operating officer.
"We want to make sure our spectators are taken care of and these are the people who are best equipped to do that," he said.
SLOC and the Visitors Information Services Coalition have been working on an agreement since July 1999, when Bullock announced cuts in the Games budget, including the elimination of $2 million for spectator services.
In addition to staffing information centers, VIS will provide a call center and a Web site that the public can access for questions about public transportation, hotel reservations and Games-related events.
Clifford "Rip" Rippetoe, the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau's Olympic liaison, said he expects VIS to spend $3 million on start-up costs between now and 2002. Half of that will come from membership fees and in-kind donations. The rest of the money will be collected from companies that either are official Olympic sponsors or will agree not to seek any recognition for their participation in the Games.