A visitor loyalty app is not just an app.
Done well, it is a quiet invitation. It says: don’t stop at the obvious place. Go one step further. Try the market. Find the lighthouse. Visit the gallery. Take the road east. Stay longer. Come back.
Across Canada, destination teams are already experimenting with this idea. Some use digital passports. Some use points. Some use savings passes. Some use sticker stations, QR codes, prizes, or attraction bundles.
The models are different, but the tension is the same: every destination is trying to turn attention into movement.
Here are some of the strongest Canadian visitor loyalty and destination engagement examples — and how they compare to Tahpin.
1. Explore the Bruce Rewards — #Bruce County, Ontario
Explore the Bruce Rewards is one of the clearest Canadian examples of a tourism loyalty app in action.
Visitors download the Driftscape app, find participating attractions, tours, farms, and restaurants, visit locations to earn points, and unlock rewards at point milestones. The program gives users 10 points per location and offers year-round rewards, with featured businesses and points of interest changing throughout the year.
What makes this strong is its regional logic. It is not just pushing one attraction. It encourages movement across trails, art galleries, lighthouses, beaches, markets, and local businesses. Bruce County’s Driftscape case also notes that the program supported 139 participating businesses and helped create a more measurable visitor experience.
Compared to Tahpin: Explore the Bruce is a strong proof point for destination-wide exploration and points-based discovery. Tahpin’s opportunity is to go beyond check-ins by adding AI-guided preparation, personalized journey support, and a broader rewards ecosystem.
2. Visit Ottawa Passes and #MyOttawa Savings Pass — Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa has used pass-based models in multiple ways. Visit Ottawa Passes currently offers attraction and museum passes, including a Visit Ottawa Pass with admission to five premium attractions or experiences plus discounts on participating attractions, tours, dining, shopping, and festivals.
Ottawa Tourism also used Bandwango for the #MyOttawa Savings Pass, a locals-first initiative designed to encourage backyard tourism through discounts on cultural exhibits, retail, and accommodations. In its first month, the pass generated 5,759 sign-ups, 4,518 marketing opt-ins, and 549 redemptions.
Compared to Tahpin: Ottawa’s model is strong for passes, discounts, bundled attractions, and campaign conversion. Tahpin's key differentiation is by focusing less on “buy this pass” and more on “prepare for this journey, unlock this experience, and build confidence as you go.”
3. Tourism Challenge — Greater Vancouver and surrounding regions
Tourism Challenge is a powerful example because it shows how gamified tourism can work inside the industry itself.
The 2026 Tourism Challenge reported 32,000 passport holders, 12,685 Privilege Pass earners, 100 attractions, 66 hotels, 25 neighbourhood and day-out partners, and more than 450,000 stamps earned over six weeks.
This is not just visitor loyalty. It is workforce engagement, partner education, destination familiarity, and reward motivation wrapped into one passport-style program.
Compared to Tahpin: Tourism Challenge is strong for industry engagement and partner participation. Tahpin could adapt this logic for tourism staff, park workers, hospitality teams, insurance partners, and local merchants — then connect learning, preparation, and rewards into one experience.
4. #exploreKelowna Local Savings Pass — Kelowna, British Columbia
The #exploreKelowna Local Savings Pass was built to support local businesses by driving traffic directly to them. Tourism Kelowna reported that residents could access discounts and special offers from more than 80 local businesses through a mobile passport landing page.
Users could redeem by showing their phone at participating businesses, and redeeming offers at five businesses entered them into a gift card draw.
This is a practical model. It does not ask users to learn a complex system. It gives them a reason to rediscover their own backyard.
Compared to Tahpin: Kelowna’s pass is strong for local savings and merchant traffic. Tahpin can build on that idea by making local discovery part of a larger game loop: prepare, explore, earn, redeem, and return.
5. Go East of Edmonton Roadtrip Adventure Game — Alberta
Go East of Edmonton uses a roadtrip adventure model across a large regional footprint. The site promotes more than 60 communities, more than 450 attractions, campgrounds, and accommodations, and a Roadtrip Adventure Game with more than $10,000 in prizes.
This is a different kind of loyalty experience. It is not necessarily a polished app-first points program. It is a regional quest. It turns distance into anticipation and rural discovery into a game.
Compared to Tahpin: Go East of Edmonton is strong for regional storytelling, roadtrip motivation, and prize-based exploration. Tahpin can borrow the emotional structure — the journey, the quest, the reward — while adding a more personalized digital companion layer.
Comparison summary
| Platform / Program | Strongest use | Main mechanic | How Tahpin can differentiate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explore the Bruce Rewards | Regional exploration | Points, check-ins, rewards | Add AI preparation, personalization, and richer reward journeys |
| Visit Ottawa Passes / #MyOttawa | Attraction bundles and savings | Passes, discounts, redemptions | Move from offer redemption to guided journey support |
| Tourism Challenge | Industry and partner engagement | Stamps, privilege pass, prizes | Support workforce learning, partner missions, and travel confidence |
| #exploreKelowna Savings Pass | Local business recovery and deals | Mobile offers and merchant redemptions | Connect savings to habit-building and repeat exploration |
| Go East of Edmonton | Roadtrip storytelling | Stickers, QR/prize game, regional discovery | Add dynamic quests, route intelligence, and reward ecosystems |
| Tahpin | Emerging AI + rewards journey platform | Preparation, gamification, loyalty, financially enabled rewards | Become the intelligent layer between visitor intent, local discovery, and reward action |
The gap Tahpin can own
Most Canadian destination loyalty programs answer a simple question:
How do we get people to visit more places?
Tahpin can answer a deeper one:
How do we help people feel ready, supported, rewarded, and connected enough to explore more?
That is a different emotional promise.
A digital passport says: “Go here and collect.”
Tahpin can say: “Here is your journey. Here is what to prepare. Here is what you can unlock. Here is why this stop matters. Here is how the community benefits when you take one more step.”
Tahpin’s public direction already points toward gamification, logistical modelling, and a rewards ecosystem. Its Mira recognition also supports the idea that travel preparation and human-centered engagement can become part of the platform’s identity.
That is where the opportunity sits.
Not as another visitor app.
Not as another coupon book.
Not as another stamp card.
But as the system that turns exploration into a prepared, rewarding, emotionally supported journey.
