Canada gung-ho about arrival of Chinese tourists under new agreement
- Source: Xinhua
- [16:43 August 18 2010]
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Canadians value Chinese tourists. Statistics issued by the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper show Chinese tourists spend about 1,650 Canadian dollars (about 1,597 US dollars) per visit, and they have the longest average stay in Canada, 28 nights per visit.
Canadian tourism officials say they pressed hard for Harper's government to negotiate for an ADS agreement. The United States has begun to attract Chinese tour groups in greater numbers, leaving Canada on the sidelines.
Goldstein said Chinese tourists will be impressed by Canada's major cities -- Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, which are similar to US cities but much safer. Because Canada is a multicultural country with large Asian communities in all of its major cities, Canada's metropolitan areas have many restaurants selling high-quality Chinese food. They are surrounded by areas with pristine countryside, forests and mountains with many resorts that cater to travelers.
"Where else in the world can you visit safe, multicultural cities that have incredible scenery? Canada has wild mountain areas, the Banff hot springs, Niagara Falls, and cultural festivals. And Canada has a long history of friendship with the people and government of China," he said.
Goldstein says Canada's tourism attractions will market themselves as reasonably-priced, safe, and welcoming.
"If you are going to travel the world for the first time, you want to make sure you're safe, welcome, and that you will have a good time," he said. "We want to make sure that Chinese visitors feel that way."
Miki Morikawa, manager of Asian marketing for Niagara Falls Tourism, says his group, which promotes Canada's most famous natural attraction, has very high hopes for Chinese tourism.
"We hope that within five years, Chinese people will be the largest group of tourists from Asia. Right now, they are a distant third behind Japan and the Republic of Korea," he said.
"With this agreement, we can market directly to the Chinese public, through advertisements in China's media. We also will be part of two big trade shows in China," Morikawa said. "We are definitely excited about the Approved Destination Status."
He added that Niagara Falls is already popular with Chinese visitors. It attracts about 10 million people each year from all over the world.
"The falls are an incredible natural attraction that are known throughout Asia, and we are making Niagara Falls very amenable to Chinese visitors," Morikawa said.
