Tourism Whistler is offering rewards to its loyal customers from B.C. and Washington state.
Guests who book through www.whistler.com will receive a $50 credit for every fifth night booked through the website, as well as access to special offers.
"We have had thoughts around this for a couple of years," said Louise Walker, Tourism Whistler's vice president of marketing.
"When we create our marketing strategies we look at a lot of research, we look at our visitor data, and there's obviously different approaches you take for different markets ... We felt that with the regional campaign, really, they were very familiar with Whistler, they've been loyal to us, and really we wanted to go out and thank them for their loyalty and make them feel like locals."
Walker said the regional market accounts for about 40 per cent of overnight visits in the winter and about 60 per cent in the summer.
"So it's a really important market to us," she said.
"We also have done research in that market and it became very clear that they feel like Whistler is their backyard, and they feel like locals, and so we should treat them like locals."
Profits generated through the website are reinvested back into marketing, Walker said, "... so it's a good cycle there where we are able to reward our customers and at the same time able to do marketing to get new customers."
Visit www.whistler.com for more.
