Destination Canada signs memorandum of understanding with Chinese social media giant Sina Weibo to promote Canada to Chinese travellers

VANCOUVER, Dec. 4, 2017 /CNW/ - Destination Canada, Canada's national marketing organisation, 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," said 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.

About Destination Canada:
Destination Canada markets Canada internationally as a premier four-season tourism destination. In collaboration with partners in the Canadian tourism industry, Destination Canada creates marketing campaigns designed to showcase the best our country has to offer. Destination Canada also provides research and industry data to our partners?equipping them to optimize their businesses. For more information, please visit: www.destinationcanada.com, follow @DestinationCAN and @ExploreCanada on Twitter.

About Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo is one of the most popular social media sites in China and currently used by well over 30% of Internet users, with a market penetration similar to Twitter. Launched in 2009, Sina Weibo now has 376 million active monthly users (compared to 330 million Twitter users globally), representing a 30% increase since last year. The platform has increasingly become a leading source of news, with most mainland Chinese newspapers and TV stations now having a presence with millions of followers. In 2014, e-commerce giant Alibaba, which owns a 31.4% stake of Sina Weibo, helped boost the platform's e-commerce capabilities with the introduction of "Weibo Payment", enabling users to shop online using the service. Last year, seeing how popular live streaming video was set to become, Sina Weibo launched its own live streaming app, Yoshiro, nicknamed "Yi" and now widely considered to be one of the leading streaming apps in China.

SOURCE Destination Canada