Chinese travelers to Canada up 15.5% in 2012
Updated: 2013-05-29 15:13
(Xinhua)
|
|||||||||
VANCOUVER - Canada's designation as an Approved Destination Status (ADS) nation is paying dividends for the country's travel sector as more than 273,000 Chinese tourists visited it in 2012, a 15.5-percent jump over the previous year.
According to new figures released recently by the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), the national tourism marketing arm, China has become Canada's fastest growing market for visitors since the country received the ADS designation in June 2010.
In 2011, the first full year of ADS, Canada received 236,700 Chinese visitors.
Last year, Chinese tourists, staying an average of 29.8 nights, collectively spent C$485.5 million ($466.7 million), up 19.2 percent year-on-year.
Apart from the neighboring United States, traditionally Canada's largest tourism market, the number of Chinese tourists to Canada stood at 4th after Britain (597,000 visitors), France (422,800) and Germany (276,600).
Greg Klassen, the CTC's senior vice-president, marketing strategy and communications, called the numbers encouraging with the significant increase in both the volume of travelers from China and the amount of money they were spending while abroad.
"We expect the same this year as well. We think that it will eventually slow down, but we do know that the Chinese interest in travel outbound will reach about 100 million travelers by the year 2020, and we want a piece of that," he said.
"It"s a pretty significant contribution they're making to Canada's tourism economy, which of course includes ad hoc shopping, hotels, restaurants and those kinds of things."
- Michelle lays roses at site along Berlin Wall
- Historic space lecture in Tiangong-1 commences
- 'Sopranos' Star James Gandolfini dead at 51
- UN: Number of refugees hits 18-year high
- Slide: Jet exercises from aircraft carrier
- Talks establish fishery hotline
- Foreign buyers eye Chinese drones
- UN chief hails China's peacekeepers
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Pumping up power of consumption |
From China with love and care |
From the classroom to the boardroom |
Schools open overseas campus |
Domestic power of new energy |
Clearing the air |
Today's Top News
Shenzhou X astronaut gives lecture today
US told to reassess duties on Chinese paper
Chinese seek greater share of satellite market
Russia rejects Obama's nuke cut proposal
US immigration bill sees Senate breakthrough
Brazilian cities revoke fare hikes
Moody's warns on China's local govt debt
Air quality in major cities drops in May
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |