JUNE 7, 2002
Formula 1 still packing in the people
"The Grand Prix is the single biggest weekend of the year," Johanne Gagnon of the Hotel Place d'Armes told the Ottawa Star. "We will continue to see the economic spinoffs for another eight months."
Montreal boasts 26,000 hotel rooms in the greater downtown area and all have been booked for months with the cheapest rates being around $200 a night. Room rates go up to around three times the normal figure.
The Montreal Gazette quoted Suzanne, a waitress, saying that she takes $325 a night in tips during the F1 weekend. The newspaper also reported on a lunch party for three in one Italian restaurant which cost $4500m thanks to two bottles of wine each costing $2000.
There is also believed to be an boom in prostitution and the drug trade although the police do not have any official figures.