– Paul Nursey is the President and CEO of Tourism Victoria. For more information on the organization, visit www.tourismvictoria.com.
GREATER VICTORIA – We’ve recently returned from our October sales mission to China, where our team was running flat out. We were meeting clients and networking at trade shows almost from the moment we awoke to minutes before our heads hit the pillow each night.
During all of these interactions with tourism movers and shakers, one of the highlights for me was seeing how much attention we received whenever we were with Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps and Councillor Margaret Lucas. Mayors are revered in Chinese business culture, and it was a massive advantage to have Lisa and Margaret join our delegation, take meetings with operators, hold media interviews and support our industry.
I’m happy to say the Victoria team absolutely hit it out of the park at Destination Canada’s Showcase Canada trade show in Nanjing, China. We had 94 appointments over three days and our delegation was the talk of the trade-show floor.
Competition is fierce among Canadian destinations trying to reach the modern Chinese traveller. This is an emerging market segment that has the potential to be exceptionally lucrative.
The Chinese and Canadian governments have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for 2018.
With seven new Canadian Visa Application Centres set to open next year, and with ongoing growth in air capacity to Canada from China, our Team Greater Victoria is working night and day. We are determined to capture as much as we can of the more than 20 per cent annualized growth Canada has been seeing out of the Chinese market over the last six years.
As tourism around the world changes, China is no exception. Travellers want deeper experiences, and there was serious interest in higher-end tours that showcased our farms, golf courses, vineyards and family-friendly activities.
There is also growing interest in visits that include trips into the U.S., and, notably, around our traditional off seasons — Chinese New Year is a national holiday in January or February, and Golden Week is in October. Having visitors during these times of year is a great fit with our strategy to address seasonality in the industry.
Speaking on behalf of the tourism industry, we are fortunate and grateful to have cultivated such a strong working relationship with our government officials. That trust comes from paying close attention in order to be the link that enables our industry to support government’s priorities and strategic plans. We strive to be a positive, constructive and solutions-oriented partner to government at all levels.
The pay-off of that relationship could not have been more obvious than on the trade-room floor in Nanjing.
