Will the Chinese have a yuan for Prince Rupert?

The Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming!

A Chinese/Canadian business group is making plans to visit our little corner of the Northwest at the end of May, a tour designed to explore investment and tourism opportunities between China and Canada.

With China beginning to loosen it’s restrictions on its citizens to travel, they have begun to list approved destination spots for their soon to be traveling public. Canada has been listed as one such approved destination and so the rush is now on to tap into a pool of visitors that one day could probably reach well into the millions.

With the Chinese government still investigating the possibility of operating the New Skeena Forest Products Pulp mill under the Sun Wave banner, this next tour could just be the beginning of another phase of tire kicking by other segments of industry in China.

The Daily has all the details on the upcoming tour of the Northwest listed below.

Chinese firms, officials take a look at Rupert
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, May 8, 2006
Pages One and Three

A Chinese/Canadian business group from Vancouver will be touring Prince Rupert May 24 and 25 as guests of the Prince Rupert and Port Edward Economic Development Corporation and the Port of Prince Rupert.

This is an initiative supported by Western Diversification and the Vancouver based immigrant service organization. S.U.C.C.E.S.S. The visit will include tours, presentations and “business-to-business” meetings between the visitors and local businesses.

“The purpose of the tour is to showcase Prince Rupert and the business/investment opportunities presented by port developments, cruise and tourism, forestry, fisheries, real estate, unique manufacturing and services,” said Jim Rushton, Prince Rupert and Port Edward Economic Development Corporation.

While the Vancouver delegation is not completely filled yet, those who have signed up so far have expressed interests that include exporting products and services to china, wood products, business services and real estate.

Prince Rupert businesses with an interest in participating in the “business-to-business” portion of the visit can contact the Prince Rupert and Port Edward Economic Development Corporation for details at 250- 627-5138 or mail to: predc@citytel.net

Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said the port, economic development and city made a presentation to the program’s proponents back in January and invited them to come to the community.

“The program is designed to bring Chinese entrepreneurs into the country and help them make connections”, he said. “There’s a lot of excitement around what’s happening in the community.”

Given the expanding ties between Canada and the growing Asian economy, Pond said there’s a real opportunity to grow ties in the areas of business, education and commerce.

However, given the geographic size of China and its huge economy, he said the city needs to be strategic about building its partnerships.

On Friday, Tourism Prince Rupert also increased its ties to the Asian tourism markets. The organization played host to 13 tourism business owners who sell into the Chinese tourism market.

Bruce Wishart, executive director of Tourism Prince Rupert, said the group took a circle tour through Terrace, the Nass and Prince Rupert.

It was the first group he’d toured through Prince Rupert and Port Edward since Canada received notice it will be recognized as an “officially approved travel destination” by the Chinese government.

With the “approved destination’ from China, this is very promising,” said Wishart.

The regional tour was spearheaded by George Clark, president of Elan Travel, who worked with both the Terrace and Prince Rupert tourism marketing organizations.

In Prince Rupert, the group toured the city, ate at local restaurants, and visited the Museum and the North Pacific Cannery.

Impressed with the region, one member of the group has already booked a tour in the Northwest for next month.