Tours.com & Canadascope Bring Whistler to the San Francisco Bay Area on TV & On-Line

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire – December 9, 2010) – More than 1,600 kilometers from the base of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, Whistler Resort is now front and center to hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents living in the San Francisco Bay area.

Whistler, in all its glory, is being brought into the homes of Bay Area residents thanks to a broadcasting partnership between Tourism Whistler, Vancouver Coast and Mountains Tourism Region, NBC, Canadascope.com and tours.com.

Whistler is featured in a 30-minute program broadcast on NBC San Francisco, on five different air dates over two months. The show is called NBC – Whistler’s Alpine Adventures.

“This is a significant win for Whistler,” said Tourism Whistler Vice President of Marketing, Arlene Schieven. “The project is an excellent example of how we’re working to leverage our strong partnerships in order to enhance awareness of Whistler as a year-round destination of choice,” she said. “The San Francisco Bay Area represents one of our key markets — and this program brings Whistler into the living rooms of more than 500,000 potential visitors.”

The program runs Saturdays and Sundays on NBC Bay Area. In addition, there will be 10 two-minute weekend segments integrated into NBC Sports programming and 50 thirty-second promos to run during NBC programming Monday through Sunday, and you can always view it on line by going to www.whistler.com.

The format sees host David Mulligan bringing viewers along vicariously to Whistler via segments featuring a variety of Whistler activities. Mulligan hosts the show from the NBC studio in San Francisco, telling Whistler stories with the help of Chili Thom, Whistler artist, adventurer, DJ, filmmaker and man-about-town. Tourism Whistler collaborated with NBC on the script for the show, which uses Tourism Whistler video footage and features Thom profiling Whistler activities and discussing all that the resort has to offer. It’s a talk-show format which integrates Whistler stories with exclusive travel deals for NBC viewers. The entire show, with the exception of interviews with Thom, was produced with B-Roll footage provided by Tourism Whistler, a testament to the quality and compelling nature of the footage, which is available for media use at www.whistler.com/media.

The program features Mulligan and Thom talking about Whistler’s welcoming and celebratory nature, its historic path toward becoming Host Mountain Resort for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and legacies such as the Whistler Olympic Park and the Whistler Sliding Center. Highlighting stunning winter imagery of the mountains and activities including horse-drawn sleigh rides, dog-sledding, backcountry tours, heli-skiing and boarding, the program also includes an introduction to summer offerings such as mountain biking, canoeing and golf while promising “something for everyone — any time of the year” with options ranging from zip-lining to sightseeing and the Peak2Peak Gondola. The show also features the pedestrian-friendly village, the vast array of shopping and dining options, the thriving après scene, the Valley Trail, water sports and events such as Kokanee Crankworx.

The first broadcast aired on November 20 prior to the 2010 American Ski Classic, reaching 35,000 households. Subsequent broadcasts, which aired on November 27 (following college football), December 4 (following the Golf World Challenge) and December 5 (following the NFL showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens), reached a total of more than 580,000 households.

The final show will air on December 18 at 3 p.m. following the NBC Sports special: Iron Man World Championships, reaching 53,000 households. 

The program can be viewed here. The show and updated offers are posted at www.nbcbayarea.com, www.canadascope.com, www.tours.com and www.sightseeing.com. NBCBayArea.com receives over 800,000 unique visits and 5.5 million page views per month. The site will promote the show and the best deals offered with 50 thirty-second promos.

Nearly 7 million people live in the San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose market. Ranked fifth in the United States for television households with more than 2.3 million homes, and representing 2.1 per cent of the U.S. total, the market ranks number one in the country for average household EBI (effective buying income).

To find out more about the activities featured in this program and to book your winter vacation package, visit www.whistler.com. Five-night/ four-day lift ticket packages start at $395 CAD per person. Three-night/ two-day lift ticket packages start at $243 CAD per person and two-night getaway packages, with lift ticket, start at $224 CAD per person. To book your winter package, call 1.800.WHISTLER (1.800.944.7853) to speak to a reservation agent or visit www.whistler.com.

Media can visit www.whistler.com/media for Whistler facts, media releases, story starters, local personality profiles and access to images and B-roll.

Whistler is Canada’s premier year-round leisure and meeting destination located in the Coast Mountains 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Consistently rated the top ski resort in North America for the past 12 years in a row, Whistler was the Host Mountain Resort of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The resort offers an extensive range of accommodations totaling 10,000 bedrooms among 24 hotels as well as town homes, condos, B&Bs and chalets. Whistler also boasts more than 100 restaurants and bars, 200 retail shops, 25 spas and countless activity options from world-renowned skiing and snowboarding, mountain biking and golf, to hiking, rock climbing, and water sports. The Resort Municipality of Whistler is home to a diverse community of more than 9,000 permanent residents.

Tourism Whistler is the member-based marketing and sales organization representing Whistler, operating the Whistler Conference Center, Whistler Golf Club, Whistler Visitor Center, as well as 1.800.WHISTLER and whistler.com — Whistler’s official source for visitor bookings and information. As the convention and visitors bureau for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, Tourism Whistler represents more than 7,000 members who own, manage and operate properties or businesses on resort lands including hotels, restaurants, activity operators and retail shops.

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