MONTREAL - While Minister of Tourism Julie Boulet is leading a tourism mission to China, Tourisme Montreal and the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding. The two cities have enjoyed close ties for 30 years and this relationship has only grown stronger over time, with several missions being carried out to both Montreal and China. Numerous business sectors, including tourism, constitute areas of opportunity for the cities.
Tourisme Montreal and the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration have agreed to discuss strategies for increasing tourist numbers, promoting urban tourism and developing the business travel market by attracting international events and conferences. They will also share their respective knowledge on topics such as performance indicators, statistics, welcome strategies, technology tools and more to improve the entities' respective operating procedures.
"Adding direct air links to China opens up tremendous opportunities for Montreal. In addition to bringing in more tourists from this strategic market, this memorandum of understanding will allow Tourisme Montreal to learn more about how we can improve Montreal's appeal with enhanced tourist attractions," said Yves Lalumiere, President and CEO of Tourisme Montreal.
Moreover, Tourisme Montreal anticipates that the number of Chinese tourists will increase significantly over the next few years thanks to a new direct flight between Montreal and Shanghai. In fact, a total of 110,000 Chinese tourists are expected in 2017 - which will be a 30% increase over the previous year. "We're encouraging local business operators and hotel owners to prepare for the influx of visitors from this market," added Yves Lalumiere.
"Today I am incredibly honored to have signed the Memorandum of Understanding between Tourisme Montreal and Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration together with Mr. Lalumiere. Through this initiative, I hope we can promote the funding of a full scale and high level cooperation pattern of both sides."
"Shanghai is the largest economic, financial, trade, transportation and tourism center in China. Air Canada's new direct route between Montreal and Shanghai will bring us more Canadian tourists. Shanghai is now devoted to becoming a world-famous tourism city with global influence. We will work more closely with Tourisme Montreal to strengthen exchanges and to boost reciprocal tourism between Shanghai and Montreal" said by Mr Yang Jin Song, Chairman of Shanghai Municipal Tourism.
