BC tourism minister hoping for more Chinese visitors

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC Tourism Minister says a combination of factors, including the global exposure our province received during the 2010 Olympics, should lure more Chinese tourists to BC.

Kevin Krueger says the Games, along with Canada being granted approved destination status by China in December, and a recent trade mission to China will all help boost tourism. He says approved destination status alone is projected to increase Chinese visitors by 15 per cent by 2012. “They’ve had a one-child policy in China for a long time, and these wealthy people spend lavishly on weddings, and they are interested in sending their children when they marry for honeymoons in British Columbia. They’re 11 million weddings a year in China.”

He says numbers have already improved. “We’ve already seen a tremendous uptake in activity just in the time since the Olympics. In July, we had more than 52 per cent higher numbers of Chinese tourists coming here then the July before.”

Krueger says during this week’s trade mission to Shanghai and Beijing, the Canadian delegation met with key representatives of the Chinese tourism industry and travel media.

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