Click here to email Brenton Driedger
12/3/2009
People working in Alberta's tourism industry are drooling today. That's because we're getting word of a new tourism deal between Canada and China.
China is giving Canada "approved destination status." That means travel agents are now allowed to market Canada as a vacation spot.
Ken Fiske with Edmonton's Economic Development Corporation has been to China half a dozen times in the last three years to pave the way.
The EDC's vice-president of economic and tourism development expects Edmonton will become a popular destination.
"The top reason the Chinese like to travel is to visit vibrant cities close to nature, so that's just an ideal opportunity for us," says Fiske. "They'll like the city. The West Edmonton Mall will be a fantastic attraction for them. And we're close to nature. We have Elk Island National Park, we have Jasper National Park, plus our river valley, so I think we have the perfect product for the Chinese visitor."
Provincewide, Travel Alberta says 22,000 Chinese tourists visited Alberta last year.
"And while they were here they spent $18 million," says Boynton with Travel Alberta. "We would anticipate that those numbers should grow by at least 50 per cent in the next five years."
Fiske won't try to predict how much economic activity the new tourism agreement will create in Edmonton. But he hopes to see between 200 and 300 Chinese tourists in the city next summer, tourists who are typically pretty big spenders.
Boynton says one critical factor for expanding the Chinese market will be getting direct flights from China to Alberta. But a spokesperson for the Edmonton International Airport says that can take a while, because it takes a lot to make a long route like that viable.
(bd)
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