Destination Canada and Chinese social media giant Sina Weibo to promote Canada to Chinese travellers

Destination Canada has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Sina Weibo, one of the most popular social media sites in China.

This strategic decision will allow us to tap into the 80% of Chinese travellers who use the internet to plan their trips and raise the profile of Canadian tourism products among prospective Chinese travellers.

This strategic partnership framework will boost Canada’s exposure in China, the second largest contributor of tourism dollars to the Canadian economy. As part of this agreement, Sina Weibo will provide Destination Canada with access to its influencer resources and analytics to tailor our campaigns and access the growing number of millennial travellers. The agreement also establishes a Strategic Cooperation Committee to explore how Destination Canada and Sina Weibo can maximize exposure during the Canada-China Year of Tourism in 2018.

As of September 2017, year-to-date arrivals from Chinese travellers have reached 557,178. Strong economic growth, a rapidly growing middle class, and increasing air access bode well for this market.

“This agreement is another important step in building closer ties between our two countries through tourism,” says the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism. As we get ready for the Canada-China Year of Tourism in 2018, we are working to promote more cultural exchanges, closer people-to-people ties, and more visitors to Canada, which will help to create good, middle class jobs in communities from coast to coast to coast.”

"To be heard in a market as large as China, we need an always-on, digitally-based marketing strategy,” says David F. Goldstein, Destination Canada’s President & CEO. “Sina Weibo is a powerful tool that allows us to reach our target consumer: hyper-connected Chinese traveller.”

Quick facts

• Destination Canada launched its Sina Weibo account in 2010 and now has almost 1M fans. Since joining the platform, Destination Canada has enjoyed an extensive relationship with Sina Weibo and Sina.com, a leading Chinese portal site with over 500M viewers.
• Sina Weibo is one of the most popular social media sites in China with over 376 million monthly users, and used by 30% of internet users worldwide.
• In 2014, e-commerce giant Alibaba, which owns 31% of Sina Weibo, created Weibo Payment enabling users to shop online.

Chinese travellers can visit the Canada-China Year of Tourism website for more information.