Over the next 6 days, ITAC CEO Keith Henry will be in China promoting Indigenous tourism as part of a tourism trade mission led by the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism. The delegation includes our partners at Destination Canada and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada and is visiting China in support of the Canada-China Year of Tourism.
The delegation will be meeting with key travel trade partners in China with the goal of signing new agreements to sell Canadian tourism experiences to China’s growing number of travellers. ITAC will be promoting our export-ready members to the Chinese travel trade and has produced several key documents in Mandarin to support sales of Indigenous tourism product in Canada. These include:
- Indigenous Travel Packages Booklet (7 MB)
- Canadian Signature Experiences Booklet (6 MB)
- ITAC Members Profile Sheet (2 MB)
The timing of this trade mission could not be better. In the first quarter of 2018, China overtook the U.K. as the largest overseas market for Canadian tourism for the first time ever. Preliminary tourism estimates for January to March of 2018 show that approximately 131,000 Chinese tourists visited Canada, representing growth of 25.6% compared to the first quarter of 2017.
This trade mission is another example of how ITAC is marketing Indigenous tourism in Canada to important markets around the world.