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You don’t just need big fluffy flakes of snow to have a great time on a ski vacation (though it helps, of course). The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has just launched its US winter campaign that places fun and the youthfulness of winter at its heart. It’s not just about the great skiing, boarding dog sledding and snowshoeing… there’s relaxing in a hot tub, après-ski and some great local food too.

The campaign focuses on three key US markets: New York, California and Chicago, IL. Chicago has been included as part of the stimulus funding program from the $40 million allocated to the CTC this year by the federal government.

Cultural Explorers and Free Spirits—as defined by CTC’s pioneering Explorer Quotient (EQ) web tool—are the target audiences through traditional and new-media channels, including interactive banner ads on sites such as NYTimes, Weather.com and Travelzoo. Also, CTC is encouraging industry partners participating in the campaign to post (for free) three value-driven packages.

The CTC’s partners for the winter program are the Canadian Destination Ski Consortium (CDSC), Tourism British Columbia, Tourisme Mont-Tremblant, Quebec Ski Alliance, Banff Lake Louise Tourism and Tourism Whistler.

“There’s no better time to come to Canada for winter fun,” says Paul Hawes, Americas marketing specialist. “There are experiences here that can’t be found anywhere else in the world, and the 2010 Winter Games make our mountains a hotter destination than ever.”