New overseas flights coming to YVR

Tourism Whistler (TW) and others in the industry are hopeful that new overseas flights will bring more visitors to the resort from across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The provincial Ministry of Transportation announced this week that return-service flights from Chengdu, China and London, England will land at the Vancouver International Airport on a regular basis in 2012, said TW press release issued Tuesday (Nov. 8). TW has been working with various levels of government, tourism boards and airlines “to increase air access out of the resort’s key destination markets (existing and emerging),” said the release.

“We are ecstatic with the news,” said TW president Barrett Fisher in the release.

From London, a Virgin Atlantic flight will arrive in Vancouver four times per week starting in May 2012 through to the end of October. The release said Tourism B.C. reports that the addition of the flights will increase capacity from the U.K. to Vancouver by 10 per cent.

“The U.K. continues to be Whistler’s number one overseas market in both summer and winter,” said the release.

Meanwhile, it was also announced Monday that Sichuan Airlines will run three flights per week starting next year from Chengdu, pending Transport Canada approval. Chengdu is “considered a fairly affluent city” and home to a large skier and snowboarder population, said the release.

It will be the first time Sichuan Airlines will provide service to North America.

“Sichuan Airlines’ plans to start this new service will provide another way for British Columbian and Chinese businesses and individuals to expand trade, and will create jobs, new personal connections and $50 million in additional tourism-related revenue annually between Canada and China,” said Premier Christy Clark in a press release from the Province.

The flight would also stop in Shenyang before continuing on to Canada, said the provincial release. TW research indicates that eight per cent of all Chinese skiers and snowboarders live in Shenyang.

The Province predicts that the new service would bring 31,000 additional visitors to B.C. per year.

Fisher said this week’s announcements are the end result of several partners working together to increase the number of destination visitors coming from the Chinese and British markets.

“Tourism Whistler and our industry and government partners have worked collaboratively to achieve results that drive visitation to the province.

“Leveraging partnerships with the provincial and federal governments (and other partners) is vital in achieving results, especially when we look at emerging markets like China. These initiatives are the results of months — and in some cases years — of efforts to align our marketing efforts and leverage our partnerships to ultimately achieve our goal of increasing visitation.”