Recent actions by the Chinese government may have benefits to the valley in attracting more visitors in the future.
The Chinese Government has given Canada an Approved Destination Status. This allows for the first time for Chinese citizens to travel to Canada with tourist Visas. Previously any visitation to Canada had to be done through special visas for business or student visas, for example. This week the first group of tourist from China arrived in Canada.
Andrew Neuman, director of the Royal Tyrrell Museum said the changes have the potential of increasing visitation to the valley from China, a country that the Tyrrell has forged a strong relationship.
“Over the last decade we have seen a major increase of visitation from China,” said Neuman. “When I first started working here our major visitors from Asia was from Japan, and while we still get pretty good Japanese visitation, both China and Korea has equalled or surpassed Japanese visitation. It is certainly a very interesting market for us, I am aware that there are lots of you Chinese travelling in North America.”
The gift shop carries products that are in a Chinese language.
“It’s certainly a market that is growing and it is great to hear the Chinese government is encouraging that,” he said.
Neuman said the museum’s relationship with China goes back to the mid-to late 1980s.
“A lot our staff have gone back and forth ever since,” said Neuman. “We just had a contingent here last weekend from Henan Province. There is a group there building a large fossil museum, and they are looking at potential relationships.”
He estimates that international visitation accounts for about 20 per cent of its visitation, including the United States.
According to a conference Board of Canada Survey, the new status is expected to boost the yearly rate of travel from China up as much as 50 per cent by the year 2015.
