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Minister Fast Promotes Canada as Tourism Destination

Minister Fast with Chinese-Canadian TV personality 'Mai Xiao Long'(Chelsey Mark)

April 17, 2013 - Beijing, China - The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, together with Chinese-Canadian TV personality "Mai Xiao Long" (Chelsey Mark), launches the second season of the Canada, You Can Be a Star television series during a press conference in Beijing. The very popular contest, in which winners get their dream trip to Canada, is sponsored by the Canadian Tourism Commission and helps to increase Chinese interest in Canada as a tourism destination.

China is a significant and rapidly growing source of tourists to Canada. In fact, it became the world’s top source of tourism spending in 2012, according to the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization. Since Canada obtained approved destination status in June 2010, the number of overnight visits from China has expanded. In 2012, Canada welcomed over 298,000 overnight Chinese visitors, up almost 20 percent from 2011, and the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) forecasts 20-percent growth again for 2013. The CTC estimates that Chinese visitors spent $411 million while in Canada in 2011, which made China Canada’s fifth-most important overseas market for tourism.

For more information about the Canadian Tourism Commission’s Canada, You Can Be a Star campaign, please see Canada returns as the star of the show in China.

Minister Fast is on a two-week visit to Asia that includes stops in the cities of Tokyo, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Beijing, Harbin and Tianjin before he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting in Indonesia.

For more information, please consult Deepening Trade with Asia.

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For further information, media representatives may contact:

Rudy Husny
Press Secretary
Office of the Honourable Ed Fast
Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway
613-992-7332

Trade Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-996-2000
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