Ottawa Tourism is taking a different approach to marketing itself to the China market, by getting local inbound tour operators to do all the hard work.
A new incentive program will pay tour operators which bring Chinese travelers to the National Capital Region.
Inbound tour operators specializing in the China market can register with the DMO and will receive a financial incentive for any extra room bookings.
Existing operators working with Ottawa Tourism will be paid for booking volumes above their numbers recorded for last year while new operators will receive the incentive from the first booking.
Ottawa Tourism president and CEO Michael Crockatt wouldn’t disclose how much operators will receive per booking.
"It is already a significant market, relatively fast-growing as well, and the amazing thing is the potential that still exists in that market," Crockatt said.
"We wanted to think of some things that we can do to leverage the attention that tourism is getting between the two countries."
The city welcomed about 41,000 Chinese travelers last year and expects that to increase anyway as 2018 is Canada-China Year of Tourism.
Still, Crockatt wants to make sure ‘we’re getting more than our share.’
