Chinese inbound tourism to Canada

Chinese inbound tourism to Canada is recovering. But the Chinese traveller has changed.

For Canadian tourism businesses, preparing for the return of the China market is not simply about waiting for visitor numbers to come back. It is about understanding who is coming back, what they are looking for, and how they decide where to travel.

The short answer is this: Chinese travellers are more experienced, increasingly interested in personalized and deeper experiences, and using social media, AI and online travel platforms in new ways to discover and plan trips. For Canadian tourism businesses, China-market readiness now means being discoverable to consumers as well as accessible through travel trade.

Chinese Inbound Tourism to Canada is Recovering

On April 20, 2026, Canada’s Minister of Transport, Steven MacKinnon, announced an incremental increase in the number of direct flights permitted between Canada and China.

Under the new arrangement, Canadian and Chinese airlines can incrementally increase direct passenger flights, operate up to 20 all-cargo flights per week, and gain reciprocal access to all points in each country.

The impact is already visible. Airlines from both countries are adding flights and restoring routes, with Vancouver continuing to be the main Canadian gateway to mainland China.

According to Global Times, seven airlines operated direct passenger services between mainland China and Canada between July 19 and August 18, 2026, with a total of 366 one-way flights. Air Canada accounted for 42.6% of the flights, while six Chinese airlines accounted for the remaining 57.4%. Flight volumes were 45.8% higher than during the same period in 2025.

There is still a long way to go. Current capacity is only about 37.3% of the 2019 level, according to the same report. But the direction is clear: more flights are returning, and the pace of recovery is picking up.

At the same time, China’s outbound tourism market is recovering much faster.

China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism reported 148.36 million outbound trips by mainland Chinese residents in 2025, an increase of 20.8% year over year.

The China Tourism Academy’s Annual Report on the Development of China’s Outbound Tourism 2025–2026 also describes China’s outbound tourism as approaching 2019 levels, while noting a wider distribution of source markets and destinations.

So there is an interesting window for Canadian tourism businesses:

China’s outbound market is coming back, while Canada-China connectivity is still catching up.

This is the time to prepare. But preparing for the old Chinese traveller would be a mistake.

The Chinese Traveller Has Changed

Chinese travellers have accumulated much more international travel experience over the past decade. Their expectations are changing along with that experience.

Recent Chinese tourism research points to growing demand for higher-quality, more personalized and deeper travel experiences.

That can mean tailor-made itineraries, small groups, outdoor adventures, cultural experiences, culinary travel, wellness, family travel and special-interest trips.

They want experiences that feel special, personal and worth travelling a long way for.

This is particularly relevant to Canada when Canadian businesses are preparing for the recovering of Chinese inbound tourism to Canada.

Canada’s greatest strengths are not necessarily all iconic visual attractions. They are our nature, space, wildlife, outdoor experiences, local communities, food, culture and the opportunity to experience something genuinely different.

That creates an opportunity for Canadian tourism businesses.

Canada does not need to win the entire Chinese market.

Long-haul travel represents only a portion of China’s enormous outbound market. Travelling to Canada requires more time, money and planning than travelling to a neighbouring Asian destination.

Rather than chasing volume at all costs, Canadian businesses may be better off identifying the travellers who are willing to travel farther because the experience is worth it.

The question becomes:

Which Chinese travellers are most likely to value what we offer — and how do we make sure they can find us?

How Chinese Travellers Discover and Plan Travel Is Changing

This is perhaps the biggest change Canadian tourism businesses need to understand.

Before the pandemic, the travel trade played a major role in introducing Canadian products to Chinese consumers.

It still does. But today, travellers have many more ways to discover, research and plan a trip.

They may find an experience on Xiaohongshu (REDnote), see a recommendation on WeChat, watch a short video on Douyin (TikTok in China), read reviews on a travel website, ask friends, or increasingly, turn to AI.

And the AI landscape in China is evolving very quickly.

Travellers are using standalone AI models such as Doubao, DeepSeek and Kimi, as well as other general-purpose models such as Qwen, Yuanbao and Ernie Bot, for travel inspiration, information searches, comparisons and itinerary planning.

At the same time, major online travel agencies are building AI directly into their platforms. Examples include Fliggy Bangbang, Trip.com’s AI tools, Mafengwo AI Lushu and Tongcheng’s Chengxin AI, among others.

The boundaries between search, social media, AI and online booking are becoming increasingly blurred.

A traveller’s path to purchase might look something like this — but there is no single, linear journey:

Discovery: A traveller asks an AI tool for inspiration, explores social media and begins narrowing down destinations and experiences.
Exploration: They move between platforms such as Mafengwo and Xiaohongshu to read travel stories, recommendations and practical tips. They may use AI to summarize information, compare options or refine an itinerary.
Booking: They may eventually move to an OTA such as Trip.com or Fliggy, or turn to a travel professional to make the trip happen.

The important point is not which AI model or platform they use, but rather, the traveller may be doing much of the discovery and decision-making before ever speaking to a travel agent or tour operator.

This makes B2C visibility more important than ever.

Your business needs to be discoverable. The information about your business needs to be clear, useful, credible and distinctive enough to survive this increasingly complex journey through search, social media and AI.

Wechat and Xiaohongshu have different features, and their audience behaviours are different. WeChat vs Xiaohongshu: Which Platform Should Tourism Businesses Choose to Market to China has some tips.

They might discover your product months before they are ready to book it.

A Chinese tour operator may still sell your product. But the traveller may have already heard about you before speaking to the operator.

And that changes the role of travel trade.

B2C and Travel Trade Can Work Together

Travel trade tends to come further down the funnel, when inspiration turns into trip planning and booking.

Imagine a traveller sees a beautiful British Columbia wilderness experience on Xiaohongshu.

They save it — a behaviour often described in China as “planting grass” (种草), where content creates the desire to try or buy something.

Then the practical questions begin:

How do we get there? Can we combine it with Vancouver and the Rockies? Is it suitable for our parents and children? Can we learn something special? What happens if the weather changes?

This is where a good travel consultant or tour operator can make a real difference.

Social media can create the desire to travel. Travel trade can turn that desire into a workable trip.

For a long-haul destination like Canada, that human expertise remains valuable.

So, What Should Canadian Tourism Businesses do?

Not every tourism business needs to rush out and open a Chinese social media account. Nor do they need to download Chinese AI apps right away.

But every business interested in the China market should start thinking about its China-market readiness.

China-market readiness is no longer simply about having a Chinese-language brochure or working with a tour operator. It means having the right product, understanding your target traveller, being discoverable through the channels they use, and having the information and partnerships needed to turn interest into a bookable experience.

Know Your Traveller

“Chinese travellers” is far too broad a market segment.

Are you looking for young couples? Families with children? Multi-generational families? Outdoor enthusiasts? Luxury travellers? Food lovers? Photographers?

The clearer the target, the easier it is to create an experience and a message that actually resonates.

Make the Experience Distinctive

Beautiful scenery alone is not enough.

What makes your experience difficult to replace?

Perhaps it is a private wildlife encounter, a local food experience, a wilderness stay, an Indigenous cultural experience, or a family adventure that grandparents and grandchildren can enjoy together.

Give travellers a reason to choose you.

Be Visible Where People Are Looking

For businesses targeting Chinese outbound travellers, Xiaohongshu and WeChat are worth considering.

But simply opening an account is not a strategy. The content needs to answer the questions travellers actually have and, more importantly, help them imagine themselves having the experience.

Show the landscape, tell the story, introduce the people, and explain what the experience feels like.

You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

Language is becoming less of a barrier. AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini can help translate and adapt content into Chinese.

The harder questions are:

What should we say? Who are we trying to reach? Where should we say it? And what will make a Chinese traveller trust us?

For some businesses, working with a specialist may be more effective than trying to figure everything out internally.

And there is no need to create everything from scratch. Existing photographs, videos, blogs, itineraries and customer stories can often be repurposed into Chinese-language content.

There is also another way to think about having a social media presence: it is a way to talk directly to consumers.

The Person Can Become Part of the Brand

Some Canadian tourism business owners are already doing this quite naturally.

One example is Shawn Zhou, owner of David Thompson Resort and Rocky Mountain Scenic Tours, who uses the social handle 加拿大周哥 across Chinese social media.

What makes this approach interesting is that the person becomes part of the brand.

Chinese consumers are not simply seeing another polished marketing message from a tourism company. They are seeing a real tourism business owner sharing his experiences, talking about destinations and showing what is actually happening in his businesses.

Over time, that personal and authentic presence can build trust in the businesses and destinations behind him.

It is less about traditional marketing and more about real people talking about real tourism experiences.

For smaller Canadian tourism businesses, this is worth thinking about. You don’t necessarily need a sophisticated Chinese marketing operation or a large advertising budget.

Sometimes, having a knowledgeable and authentic person from the business willing to show up, share experiences and talk to potential travellers can be much more powerful.

Don’t Get Caught in a Paid-Advertising Bidding War

There is another trap.

Both Xiaohongshu and WeChat can be powerful marketing platforms, but advertising can become expensive, particularly when smaller tourism businesses are competing against large OTAs and other companies with significantly larger marketing budgets.

The answer is not necessarily to spend more.

Instead, businesses can focus on building organic visibility and credibility.

It is more important to build followers who genuinely care about your destination or product by:

Create beautiful content.
Tell authentic stories.
Show the people behind the experience.
Answer questions.
Share useful travel information.
Show what the experience actually feels like.

For a long-haul travel decision, the objective is not always to generate a booking immediately.

Sometimes the objective is simply to plant the idea, so a traveller may see your experience today and save it. A few months down the road, they might entre the trip planning stage, and finally, they may contact a travel consultant.

That first piece of content may have been the beginning of the journey.

Xiaohongshu and REDnote: What Canadian Tourism Businesses Should Know

The evolution of Xiaohongshu itself is a good reminder of how quickly China’s digital environment can change.

In January 2025, more than 700,000 new users reportedly joined Xiaohongshu in about two days, following the disruption surrounding TikTok in the United States. The sudden influx of American users led to the much-discussed “TikTok refugee” phenomenon.

The episode was relatively short-lived for many of those users, but it demonstrated the global reach and influence of the platform.

Since then, Xiaohongshu/REDnote has continued to evolve.

In 2026, the platform has been developing a more distinct international environment, including a separate international web domain and separate terms and privacy policies for Chinese and international users.

For Canadian tourism businesses, the lesson is simple: it is way more complicated than most people can imagine: account setup, platform rules, content styles and audience behaviour all matter.

AI Will Change Travel — But Travel Trade Still Matters

Chinese travellers are increasingly using AI to discover destinations and build preliminary itineraries. That makes it even more important for Canadian tourism businesses to have clear, useful and discoverable information online.

However, AI cannot replace the human expertise required for complex, long-haul travel. It can suggest an itinerary, but it cannot fully understand the dynamics of a multi-generational family, recognize when different travellers have conflicting priorities, or make the judgment calls that can turn a complicated itinerary into a successful trip.

AI helps travellers discover and plan; travel professionals make the trip work. This relies on a seamless connection between B2C visibility and travel trade partnerships.

While the traveller journey is evolving, Canadian tourism businesses have clear opportunities to engage at every stage.

What China’s Changing Tourism Market Means for Canada

Chinese inbound tourism to Canada are bouncing back but the traveller is not the same traveller we knew before 2020.

For Canadian tourism businesses, this is an opportunity to look beyond recovery and think about who the new Chinese traveller is, what they value, and how they want to discover and experience Canada.

The goal is not to attract every Chinese traveller.

It is to be visible and relevant to the right ones — and ready when they are ready to travel.

Sources & Further Reading

(Hero image was generated with the assistance of Google Gemini AI).

About the Author

Leona Zheng is the founder of Meridian Span Strategic Advisors and a tourism consultant with 27+ years of experience in British Columbia’s tourism industry. She specializes in travel trade development, international market readiness, tourism products strategy, and Chinese digital marketing. She supports tourism operators and destination organizations in expanding global market reach, strengthening travel trade partnerships, and improving competitiveness through practical, hands-on consulting.

Chinese Inbound Tourism to Canada Is Recovering: Are Canadian Businesses Ready?

Table of Contents