China becomes top source of international tourists to Canada

Bardish Chagger, Canadian minister of Small Business and Tourism, said China has become Canada's largest source of overseas tourists for the first time in the country's history.

Canada's tourism had a record-breaking year in 2017, welcoming 21 million international visitors including 682,000 from China, said Chagger.

The number of Chinese tourists to Canada reached 178,000 in the first four months of 2018, an increase of 23.9 percent over the same period last year.

Chagger said she led a Canadian tourism delegation to China in June to better understand the potential of the Chinese market and build relationships with key partners.

Data from the agency Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada also showed the approval rate for Chinese temporary resident visa applications is very high, averaging 88.5 percent since 2015.