Canada-China Year of Tourism 2018 Launches

On March 21, Minister of Small Business and Tourism, the Honourable Bardish Chagger and Canada’s Ambassador to China, John McCallum joined senior officials from the China National Tourism Administration in Toronto and several hundred guests  from the tourism industry, including TIAC executives and Board members to celebrate the formal launch of the Canada-China Year of Tourism.

The event was hosted by China's National Tourism Office at Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, and featured tourism displays from several Chinese provinces, a unique Chinese kungfu performance and the lighting of the CN Tower in red to honour the colour of the flags of both countries.

Prior to the official celebrations, TIAC co-hosted a pre-reception with our partners at Ottawa Tourism welcoming a number of TIAC’s China Approved Destination Status (ADS) members as well as other tourism industry stakeholders. We were delighted to be joined by the Minister of Small Business and tourism as well as Canada’s Ambassador to China who both said a few words and mingled with our guests.

In 2017, Canada hosted a record 680,000 Chinese tourists who contributed an estimated $1.5 billion to the country’s economy.

The New Tourism Vision unveiled last May set a bold target of doubling the number of Chinese visitors by 2021.  With the launch of the Canada-China Year of Tourism it’s definitely an exciting time for both the Chinese tourist market and Canada’s tourism industry!