{"id":260141,"date":"2025-11-04T02:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T02:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/260141\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T02:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T02:58:07","slug":"china-approves-group-tourism-travel-to-canada-after-carney-xi-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/260141\/","title":{"rendered":"China approves group tourism travel to Canada after Carney-Xi meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the start of a meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Oct. 31.Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Chinese government has allowed the country\u2019s group tour operators to resume travel to Canada, a potential boon for tourism that follows Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a>\u2018s efforts to repair relations with Beijing.<\/p>\n

Mr. Carney and Xi Jinping met Oct. 31 in South Korea for the first sit-down meeting between a Canadian prime minister and the Chinese President in eight years.<\/p>\n

Canada was left off the list in 2023 when China loosened restrictions on group travel for its citizens that had been imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, Canada was embroiled in a debate over Chinese foreign interference. Then-prime minister Justin Trudeau announced a public inquiry into the matter.<\/p>\n

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced the change in Beijing Monday, saying her government believes it will \u201cpromote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and deepen mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand ready to work with Canada to make cross-border travel easier and hope that Canada will work with China and provide a safe and enjoyable environment for Chinese tourists,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Carney says he raised foreign interference with Xi<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Carney and Mr. Xi met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, as the Prime Minister seeks new markets for Canada to offset the economic damage wrought by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n

S\u00e9bastien Benedict, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said his group is pleased to see approved destination status restored for travellers from China.<\/p>\n

\u201cChinese visitors are among our highest\u2011value travellers, staying longer and spending more, and this decision jumpstarts the return of group tours, helps rebuild air links and supports jobs and businesses in every region,\u201d Mr. Benedict said.<\/p>\n

In 2019, before pandemic travel restrictions, Canada saw more than 700,000 visitors from China. In 2025, according to TIAC, visits from China are down to less than 60 per cent of 2019 levels. <\/p>\n

Goldy Hyder, president of the Business Council of Canada, said permission to resume group travel from China was \u201cthe signal that the Canadian government had hoped to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it\u2019s evidence the Carney-Xi meeting went as well as the government had described.<\/p>\n

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said the granting of approved destination status for Canada by China \u201cmarks another important step in the recalibrated bilateral relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doug Saunders: Carney wants a China \u2018reset.\u2019 May he avoid the mistakes of the previous four<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada and China, however, have yet to make progress on a punishing trade war that is hurting Canadian farmers and fishermen. <\/p>\n

Canada imposed a 100-per-cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles last year in tandem with the former Biden administration, as well as a 25-per-cent levy on steel and aluminum from China. China retaliated with tariffs on Canadian canola oil, canola meal, peas and Canadian seafood and pork products. It ratcheted up the pressure in August by imposing a duty of more than 75 per cent on Canadian canola seed<\/a>, a major crop in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.<\/p>\n

Mr. Carney\u2019s courting of Mr. Xi is an abrupt change of course in Ottawa\u2019s approach to China, a country Ottawa publicly characterized<\/a> less than three years ago as an \u201cincreasingly disruptive\u201d global power.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s protectionism is driving U.S. allies to look far and wide for new markets, including in countries Canada has often criticized for human-rights abuses.<\/p>\n

During the same Monday press conference in Beijing where the resumption of tours was announced, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson signalled disapproval of Canada signing a joint military pact with the Philippines on Nov. 2, an agreement that Manila\u2019s defence minister said would help counter China\u2019s expansionist ambitions in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo flex muscle and stoke confrontation is not conducive to regional peace and stability,\u201d Ms. Mao said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-260141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}