Canada was left off the list for group tours from China apparently due to the rift created by allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics.
Rebuilding post-pandemic business was already tough for B.C. tour operators and travel agents catering to the Chinese market. Then a week ago, Beijing excluded Canada from its list of countries with approved destination status for group tours, although it lifted travel restrictions to the U.S., Australia, Japan and South Korea, among other countries.
“We’ve suffered over three years already,” said Glynnis Chan, owner of Happy Times Travel.
Photo/Nick Procaylo, PNG
B.C.’s tourism sector has experienced a substantial rebound with the return of visitors from the U.S., Mexico and other destinations, including India. Chinese visitation, without that all-important approved destination status for group tours, is down by 70 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels. Chan’s hope was that China’s lifting of pandemic-era travel restrictions would help to rebuild what had become the second-largest market for tourism after the U.S. “But now it’s all gone,” Chan added.
Canada was left off the list of 78 nations apparently due to the rift created by allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa also raised concerns about “rampant and discriminatory anti-Asian” incidents in Canada. Chan, however, guessed that the concern is more over the political situation, and when Chinese visitors make it to B.C., “it’s fine here.”
Chinese visitors have been returning to B.C. as individuals since China started lifting restrictions. In total, 38,000 Chinese visited B.C. in the first five months of 2023, according to Statistics Canada, still the fifth-largest market for B.C. tourism operators.
(Source: Vancouver Sun, Derrick Penner)
