Published on : Saturday, July 7, 2018
Destination Canada, the tourism authority of Canada is expecting to attract more Chinese tourists. For this, the tourism body has just finished a trade mission to China to strengthen relationships between the two countries during the 2018 Canada-China Year of Tourism.
The government’s tourism marketing organization is based in Vancouver and sent a delegation with its president and CEO David F. Goldstein, federal minister of small business and tourism Bardish Chagger and other partners to events in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai.
Bardish Chagger said that the tourism trade mission to China has provided a tremendous opportunity to open new markets and develop the existing relationships.
Destination Canada signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) – one with tourism company UTour and the other with Ctrip, which is the largest online travel agency in China. The renewed MOU with Ctrip will increase the focus on Indigenous experiences and Atlantic Canada.
Ctrip CEO Jane Sun said that by leveraging on Ctrip’s big data and one-stop integrative online services platform, the Canadian tourism market has experienced continuous growth. The 2018 Canada-China Year of Tourism is a timely opportunity for Ctrip and Destination Canada to engage further in-depth cooperation.
The Prime Minister and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang officially declared 2018 the Canada-China Year of Tourism back in September, 2016.
More than 610,000 Chinese tourists visited Canada in 2016 and the federal government has set a goal of doubling the number of Chinese tourists coming to Canada by 2021.
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the U.S. and has opened seven new visa application centres in recent years to help Chinese visitors come to Canada more quickly and easily.