Approximately 1,900 of the 7,600 visitors to Whitehorse for the Canada Winter Games including athletes are expected to return to the territory within two years, says a report released Saturday.

And a full 70 per cent have expressed an interest in coming back at some time in the future.

The estimates are contained in the economic impact assessment conducted to measure the financial impact the Games had on the local economy.

Results are based on personal surveys of 997 visitors by 16 trained interviewers. They spent some 300 hours conducting interviews at all the Games' venues, though most were completed at the Whitehorse airport during departures.

Whitehorse economist Luigi Zanasi presented the assessment following Saturday's final rally held to unveil a commemorative plaque at the Canada Games Centre.

The assessment shows visitors spent an average of about $1,000 each, with a low of $90 for athletes to a high of $1,850 for VIPs and media, for a total of $8.7 million.

Most of the expenditures, $2.53 million, were for accommodations. As well:

$1.94 million was spent on airfare;

$1.64 million was spent in restaurants;

$900,000 was spent on shopping in general;

$810,000 was spent on Games merchandise specifically;

$870,00 was spent on vehicles;

$300,000 was spent on entertainment;

and $300,000 was spent on purchasing tickets for the Games.

Of the 7,600 visitors, there were 2,654 athletes and 1,244 coaches and trainers from outside the Yukon, 1,744 mission staff from across Canada and 250 performers, support staff and volunteers from Outside.

The Games attracted another 1,449 relatives and friends of participating athletes, and 251 came to the Yukon simply as fans with no ties to competitors.

All but two per cent of the visitors arrived by air, according to the survey.

The assessment also noted that contributing to the success of the Games was the turnout of 3,889 volunteers, some of whom had all or part of the volunteer time covered by their government and private sector employers.

Northwestel Inc. and Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd., for instance, provided volunteer programs for their employees. The Yukon government spent $1 million providing paid time for employees who volunteered.

The financial statement and economic impact assessment shows a zero balance after four years, with no deficit, and no surplus.

'I am extremely pleased for the City of Whitehorse,' Robert Fendrick, the city's director of administrative services, said during the briefing.

'Because as you know, the city was on the hook for any deficit, and now there is no deficit.'

Altogether, from 2003 to 2007, the total amount of money spent preparing for and during the Games was estimated at $94.8 million, though Zanasi expects it was actually over $100 million if everything down to the last penny was accounted for.

Of the $94.8 million, $69.1 million was spent on capital works, like the $33 million for phase two of the Canada Games Centre, the $34.3 million for the athletes' village and the cost of the new chalet for Mount Sima.

The $12.3-million cost of the new pool was not included, as it would have been built regardless of whether the city hosted the Games.

The Yukon government paid for approximately $35 million of the capital works, while Ottawa picked up about $23 million. The city covered about $11 million.

There was another $12.4 million spent purchasing goods and services in the Yukon over the four-year period, and an additional $4.4 million in salaries and benefits for the equivalent of 100-full time positions.

And there was the $8.7 million in visitor spending.

When calculating the direct and indirect economic impacts on Whitehorse and the territory, the Yukon's gross domestic product rose by $60.2 million over the four years, with an additional 1,167 person years of employment created and an increase in incomes of $39.8 million.

Income tax revenues for the federal government rose by at least $6 million, and by $2.8 million for the Yukon government.

Zanasi said the trickle-down effect is no longer measured by Statistics Canada.

But if one takes the $39.8 million in additional incomes and business revenues, there was quite likely another $8 million in benefits winding their way through the territory's economy somewhere, Zanasi explained.