Canada high on list for Chinese planning to travel, invest abroad

Image by Scalino / On The Road Again via Flickr

by Al Campbell
VANCOUVER, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Only a few weeks after finalizing its Approved Destination Status (ADS), Canada has already ranked the third most popular tourist destination among Chinese looking to travel abroad, according to a survey released Monday.
In a telephone poll of 1,080 people living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the "Research Report on China's Outbound Tourism Market" found Australia the most desired destination of prospective Chinese travelers, followed by Singapore and Canada.
The report was conducted jointly by the Vancouver-based SUCCESS Foundation, EMR International and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada,
Japan ranked fourth, just ahead of the United States, South Korea and New Zealand. Europe (16 percent), currently the most popular Western destination with Chinese travelers after Asia (67 percent) according to the Chinese Tourism News Association, surprisingly ranked 11th on the list of 13 countries and regions. The Middle East was last with only about 2 percent showing interest in visiting the region.
Unlike Australia which has had ADS since 1999, Canada, which only had its status finalized late last month during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the country ahead of the G20 summit in Toronto, was a desired destination of about 13 percent of travelers. Last year, Canada received 160,833 Chinese visitors out of the 47.6 million who traveled abroad.
Historically, countries that have been granted ADS, a designation which allows Chinese tourists to visit in organized, pre-sold tourist groups, have experienced a 40-percent jump in Chinese visitors the first year, increasing to more than 50 percent after two years.
With China forecast to have 100 million outbound tourists by 2020, Yuen Pau Woo, head of the Asia Pacific Foundation, said Canada was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the increasing number of travelers because of the "deep and profound" relationship shared by the two countries.
Currently, Canada and China are marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.
"It is this unique connection that we have because of immigration, because of tourists, because of students, because of business ties, that puts Canada, I think, in a unique competitive position to build stronger relations with China. If we have more tourism traffic and Chinese visitors have a better understanding of Canada, in turn Canadians have a better understanding of China and Chinese visitors, suspicions go down, trust goes up," he said.
Other findings listed Canada as the most popular place for emigration among Beijingers, while Shanghai and Guangzhou residents both preferred Australia. Overall, Australia was the most popular destination for emigration among those polled, just ahead of Canada, the United States, Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
While America was the unanimous choice for studying abroad among all three cities polled, Canada ranked first (22 percent) as the favorite country or region for investment. the United States was second (18 percent), followed by Australia (13 percent).
Tung Chan, head of SUCCESS, a non-profit group which helps new immigrants start their lives in Canada, said Chinese investors liked the country for its political stability and that it was seen as a "comfort zone" for its large Chinese community numbering about 1.4 million people.
The survey also found Chinese perceived Canada as a place to lead a relaxed life with its beautiful scenery, fresh air, skiing and maple syrup. About 15 percent of respondents said they would like to travel to the country to ski, while another 15 percent wanted to go for the food and wine.
Last year was historic in terms of Chinese tourism as it was the first time in 30 years the country had a trade deficit. Chinese tourist spent more abroad than what foreign visitors spent in China.

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A few reasons why Canada’s economy is better than the U.S. economy

The United States has long prided itself as being a global superpower, and consequently, celebrating all the things that come with that title. Which is namely, being able to claim you’re the best at most things.
But it looks like Canada can now confidently say it is finally better than the U.S. at one thing (besides winning gold medal Olympic hockey games): economic management.
On Monday, the LA Times ran a piece on why Canada’s economy is defying the nearly ubiquitous trends of economic malaise afflicting the developed world. And it explains why the U.S. is still struggling to recover from the global recession while Canada has almost shrugged off its effects.
“We did a lot of things right going into the financial crisis,” Glen Hodgson, senior vice president at the Conference Board of Canada, told the Times.

It all started in the 1990s, when Canada could have easily been a contemporary member of Europe’s “PIIGS” — an acronym referring to Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, countries with bloated debts and sputtering economies. Canada too had a bloated debt in the early ‘90s. It also faced credit rating cuts across the board, and saw borrowing costs spike as a result.
But Canada responded with deep spending cuts to fix what many economists saw as a ticking economic time bomb. The federal government introduced harsh austerity measures that every Canadian felt — social programs were gutted, civil service pay was cut — as Canada attempted to decrease its massive 70% debt-to-GDP ratio.
In the end, after slowed growth and thousands of lost jobs, it worked. By 2008, Canada went into the global recession with a debt-to-GDP ration of just under 20%.
That meant Canada was better prepared than the rest of the developed world to face the effects of the recession. This year, for example, the country’s fiscal deficit is forecasted be $33 billion, well below the 3%-of-GDP threshold that economists consider manageable. Compare that to the U.S.’s 9.2%.
But that’s not the only thing Canada has done better than the U.S. The Times for instance points out that Canada’s banks were heralded as beacons of stability after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of the credit crisis in 2008. Banks here are relatively conservative compared to their American counterparts — exposure to sub-prime loans was low and home equity lines, which contributed to the credit crisis in the U.S., are recent offerings in Canada.
Another interesting facet of Canada’s economic success is attributed to the handling of immigration. The Times says that while Canada admits 60% of its immigrants as “economic immigrants” — that is skilled workers, entrepreneurs and investors — only one in seven such immigrants to the U.S. match that criteria.
And that might not change anytime soon. Because illegal immigration is such a dominating topic in the U.S., making changes to the country’s immigration system tend to take a back seat in policy discussion. That means Washington will likely continue to emphasize bringing in family members of current immigrants over targeting highly-skilled workers. Which is simply counter-intuitive, since such people are so crucial to today’s knowledge-based economy.
So will the U.S. wake up and adopt Canada’s best practices? Although all of the above issues have been discussed (and extensively debated) in Congress, it seems unlikely. The immigration issue doesn’t look like it will be tackled anytime soon, considering Arizona’s new immigrant law has pushed illegal immigration to the forefront now more than ever before. Meanwhile, austerity measures haven’t gained much traction in the U.S., and banking reform faces significant opposition in Congress.
Whatever the U.S. ends up doing, one thing is for certain: when it comes to economic management, Canada reigns supreme. And that doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon.
jshmuel@nationalpost.com

Posted in: FP Posted  Tags: debt, Canada, Economy, GDP, United States, recession, credit crisis, austerity, PIIGS, Spending Cuts, Conference Board of Canada

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