World’s second-largest country begs for more tourists amid European protests | World | News
Tourism is a key economic driver in many countries across the world, bringing in much needed funds.
The sector contributed 9.1% to the global GDP last year, as well as 27 million new jobs.
It is no wonder then that Canada, the second largest country in the world after Russia, is keen to increase visitor numbers.
The government has launched a new campaign called A World Of Opportunity, as it seeks to help the industry get back on its feet in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
Tourist numbers have still not recovered to their peak of 22 million people in 2019.
Last year Canada welcomed 18.3 million visitors to its shores, some 17 percent lower than its pre-pandemic high.
The new campaign aims to increase revenue from Canada’s tourism sector to $CA160billion (£89billion) by 2030, up from $CA109billion last year.
It also wants to see Canada become the world’s seventh most-visited country, up from the current 13th place.
One of the reasons for the sluggish performance of the tourism sector is the drop in Chinese tourists.
Experts believe the country is still suffering a backlash from a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing that erupted in 2018.
It was then that Canada arrested the chief financial officer of Huawei on charges of spying at the request of the US government.
The arrest provoked a furious reaction from Beijing, who responded by detaining two Canadian citizens.
The diplomatic scandal eventually resolved itself, with the trio released in 2021. However, experts believe the incident is still negatively influencing the tourism industry.
James Griffiths, Asia correspondent for the Canadian newspaper Globe & Mail, believes “the freeze in bilateral relations [between China and Canada] still hasn’t really recovered”.
He also points to the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which means that Western airlines can no longer fly through Russian airspace.
This means planes have to take a three-hour detour, which in turn makes the cost of the flight much more expensive.
It comes as demonstrators in Spain continue to protest against mass tourism, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to vent their anger.
