The numbers are in and it looks like Whistler could be heading for another record winter season.
Tourism Whistler reports the resort saw a significant overall increase in hotel occupancy for November and December. The numbers were also up for the Christmas and New Year’s period.
"In the first two months of the winter season Whistler experienced an increase of 13 per cent in hotel occupancy over the same months in 1999," said Barrett Fisher, vice president of marketing and sales for Tourism Whistler.
"Whistler has experienced progressive growth in visitation each successive winter season."
For November, room nights were up by 19 per cent over last year and December saw an 11 per cent increase over 1999.
During the Christmas to New Year period, Whistler enjoyed an overall occupancy increase of 10 per cent over the same period last year.
Tourism Whistler says this season’s results are particularly impressive coming on top of a 10 per cent increase in the number of rooms available in resort over last season.
The marketing organization also noted an increase in the number of visitors from traditional key markets including Britain, Australia, Japan and the United States.
The number of guests coming from the United Kingdom was up 59 per cent. There was a whopping jump of 135 per cent in the number of anitpodeans visiting from Down Under. The numbers from Japan saw a 16 per cent hike and a 52 per cent increase was reported in the number of guests hailing from the Southern Atlantic region of the United States.
The number of visitors from other parts of Canada increased by five per cent over the same time last year.
