Travel agents hope for return of ‘glory times’ as China resumes group tours to Canada

VANCOUVER — Travel agents are celebrating Beijing’s decision to resume group tourism to Canada after a five-year halt, hoping for the return of big-spending Chinese visitors who were a dominant presence for the industry before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Glynnis Chan, president of Vancouver-based Happy Times Travel and Tour Ltd., has been leading group tours for Chinese visitors to the city since the mid-1980s.

She said she expected a big boost for the local economy after Monday’s decision by China to resume group tours that Chan said “ground to a halt” in 2020 amid the pandemic.

Chan said the tourists she hosted would typically spend six weeks travelling Canada, estimating they’d spend more than $1,300 a day, with Stanley Park in Vancouver, the Rocky Mountains and Parliament Hill in Ottawa on their sightseeing list.

“(Monday’s) news was like a shot in the arm to the local tourism industry, and I am ready to show them the beauty of the country,” said Chan in an interview in Mandarin on Tuesday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a statement on Monday that the resumption of Chinese group tourism to Canada was “an important step in the recalibrated bilateral relationship.”

The move came after Prime Minister Mark Carney met Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Friday, with Anand calling it a “turning point” in the relations between the two countries.

Destination BC data shows Chinese travel to the province in the year to August is down 45 per cent compared to 2019, although numbers are already tracking upwards, by 24 per cent since last year.

Nationally, Chinese visitor numbers are down 51 per cent since 2019, when there were more than 500,000 Chinese visitors to Canada, according to Destination BC.

Chan said Chinese tourists often prefer to spend more time in Canada than other tourists in order to understand the country as they consider immigration.

“For Chinese group tourists, my tour will focus on showing them Canadian natural wonders, and then we will do some city tours. It has been a fun experience to hang out with them,” said Chan, recalling her pre-pandemic tours.

While Chinese tourists are able to travel to Canada and elsewhere as individuals, tour group travel must be mandated by the national government. China relaxed a group travel ban on most countries in 2023, but Canada was left off the list of more than 100 countries where it was allowed, amid heightened political tensions over allegations of Chinese foreign interference.

Chan said it was exciting to see Carney and Xi shake hands and resume relationships between the two countries. She said this would make it easier for travel agents to promote their businesses.

Chan said the biggest group of Chinese travellers she ever led in B.C. consisted of 112 people on a trade mission in 1998.

Fellow travel agent Mabel Wu, who owns Next Vacation Ltd. in Richmond, B.C., said that in the “glory times” of Chinese tourism before the pandemic, groups would visit restaurants to order the most expensive seafood available.

“During those old days before the pandemic, tourists from the tour bus always asked restaurants if they can get groupers, king crab and lobsters right away once they got off the bus. They didn’t even care about the price,” said Wu.

Daniel Xu, executive director of the Elite Forward travel company in Toronto, said the prospect of Chinese tour groups returning was encouraging news, but there were still hurdles for some Chinese travellers visiting Canada.

Xu said many tourists from China felt the visa application process took too long.

“If there is any way for the Canadian government to speed up its visa process, then the number of visitors will pick up,” said Xu.

Xu also pointed to the number of flights operating from China to Canada, which he said had yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

He said he previously led groups of up to 30 Chinese travellers in Canada, with Banff National Park and Niagara Falls always on the go-to list.

“It’s great news, and we will wait and see how things unfold,” said Xu.

In Alberta, the general manager of the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, which lost some of its buildings to the 2024 wildfire in Jasper National Park, was happy to hear about the possibility of more visitors to the site.

“I love our country, I love what we have to offer, and the more areas that we can open up to, the better we can showcase how beautiful our country is,” Garrett Turta said in an interview Tuesday.

“I don’t think any hotel or location in Canada is running over at 100 per cent anyway, so just getting more travel into Canada is critical. The more the merrier.”

Andrew Boitchenko, Albert’s minister for tourism and sports, said in a statement that they were happy to hear the news and “welcome our Chinese friends to visit our beautiful province.”

“We are excited to continue growing Alberta’s visitor economy and welcoming the opportunities and growth it brings to every corner of our province,” said Boitchenko in a statement.

– with files from Fakiha Baig and Jack Farrell in Edmonton

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2025.

Nono Shen, The Canadian Press