How Tourism Jasper Harvests Revenue With ITA Powered Value-Adds

Jasper, Alberta has long experienced low occupancy and visitation during its shoulder season. Recognizing an opportunity to leverage their ITA Platform to drive and capture demand, they launched a targeted promotion that added significant local economic value during a period that was "Ripe" for harvesting.

The Challenge: Mastering the Shoulder Season

Historically, late-fall and early-winter in Jasper are periods during which traveler interest is low and demand that does exist is under-converted. In 2024, when the shoulder season delivered only 20 reservations and a conversion rate of 0.5%, Tourism Jasper recognized the need to take strategic action. In considering their options, they needed a plan that would:

Break through the noise of campaigns racing to the bottom of room rates
Ensure economic benefits stayed within the Jasper municipal area
Be simple to implement and track
Offer proof of economic impact to all stakeholders

The Solution: A Winter Value-Add Promotion

Tourism Jasper and their local lodging partners refused to participate in the race to the bottom by slashing prices and, consequently, reducing margins. Instead, they leaned into the functionality of their Ripe ITA Platform to launch a Winter Value-Add promotion that offered prepaid Mastercards for overnight stays. This strategy, which provided prepaid Mastercards up to $175 based on the length of stay, leveraged their ITA's ability to track and tag specific "incentive bookings" in real time. The results were immediate: 71.6% of all bookings included the value-add. Importantly, the prepaid cards were only valid at merchants within the Jasper area, ensuring that value created in Jasper, stayed in Jasper.

Key Points

Hotels Participating: Partners include Jasper Inn & Suites by INN Hotels, Marmot Lodge, Tonquin Inn, Forest ParkHotel, and Lobstick Lodge.
Supplier Impact: By shifting the focus from deep discounting to high-value incentives, local hotels maintain healthy ADR ($216 avg), while filling rooms during a historically low-occupancy window
Gift Card Fulfillment: Fulfillment is managed entirely by Ripe, removing any extra work for Tourism Jasper and the participating hotels. Travelers are emailed their prepaid cards within 24 hours of check-in.

The Results: A Year-Over-Year Transformation

The impact of the 2025 winter promotion was immediate and measurable as compared to the same period in 2024. By utilizing the ITA model, Tourism Jasper didn't just see growth—they saw a total transformation of their digital performance.

Key Performance Insights

Incentive Dominance: The "Value-Add" strategy was a major driver, with 71.6% of all bookings including a promotional incentive.
Source Market Strength: The promotion successfully engaged the regional "micro-community," with Edmonton and Calgary serving as the primary source markets.
Partner Success: Top-performing properties like Jasper Inn & Suites ($10,573 in revenue) and Marmot Lodge ($4,643 in revenue) demonstrated the power of a unified destination front.

Why It Matters: Reaping The Fruits of Labor

This campaign is a textbook example of Ripe’s "Local Value" philosophy. By using prepaid Mastercards as the hook, Tourism Jasper didn't just book rooms; they pre-loaded spendable capital that travelers used at local restaurants, gear shops, and attractions. This created a closed-loop economy where the DMO acted as the architect of the experience, and the community reaped the rewards.