Whistler thrives on tourism and international visitors. Where else can you ride a chairlift and meet half a dozen people from different parts of the globe, all visiting the town of Whistler, BC, Canada for the white powder of the winter season.

A number of American’s, who make up a good portion of tourism to Whistler, travel up north to Whistler Blackcomb, BC, Canada for their winter vacation. Though with the soaring loonie and increased fees in cross-border transportation, many American’s may opt to take in their winter vacation more locally – Utah, Colorado or Montana.

The sharp increase in the Canadian dollar will affect the pilgrimage to Whistler this year as American’s review their costs to travel and their accommodations in Whistler. While some would say the luxury lodging and accommodation market in Whistler is worth its price, many American’s and other travelers will think twice about their spending habits.

From a recent post in the paper from one traveler who’s frequent Whistler for the past 10 to 15 years, “I always consider Canada, but I’m not even going to look at Whistler this year because I know it’s going to be 30 per cent more expensive.”

As the loonie rapidly jumps to record heights, workers in Canada’s tourism industry are among those that might suffer, although they’ve been coping with the dollar’s gradual rise for years.

So what will Whistler 2007 / 2008 be like this year…it’s hard to say, but with the Whistler 2010 Olympics approaching rapidly, the soaring Canadian dollar and the low volume of Whistler accomodations and lodging for the Olympics, there is a low likeliness Whistler, BC, Canada and their tourism market will be hurting for to long.

It will be interesting to see any international impact on Whistler this year, as any declines in travel over the peak winter season, should see some competition among vacation rental owners and savings and specials passed on to the local Vancouver resident….though time will tell how the locals will benefit from this. In the meantime, it’s business as usual in Whistler, accommodations and lodging vacancy rates are at a low and booking fast for the 2007 / 2008 Whistler winter ski season.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Whistler Village. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.