Maple magic

A cyclist takes a break at the Maple Road in Stirling-Rawdon, Ontario.

Nearly 1.3 million people traveled between both nations in 2015, Xinhua News Agency reports.

The takeoff has largely been propelled by enhanced flight connectivity and the recently introduced reciprocal 10-year multiple-entry visa program.

Flights added this summer have brought the number of Chinese cities with direct routes to Canada to 11. Capacity is expected to further increase by 38 percent by the end of the year, with 388,000 additional seats on 4,560 flights, the newsletter reports.

Chinese visits to Montreal alone increased 200 percent following the 2015 launch of direct fights between Beijing and Montreal.

Canada has confirmed plans to open seven new visa centers throughout China next year, as part of the Year of China-Canada Tourism agreement.

The specific locations have not been announced.

But five cities were proposed during an official visit to China by Canadian Minister of Immigration John McCallum this summer, the newsletter reports.

They are Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu; Jiangsu's provincial capital, Nanjing; Hubei's provincial capital, Wuhan; Shandong's provincial capital, Jinan; and Liaoning's provincial capital, Shenyang.

"Group traffic volume continues to grow. Chinese travelers are more affluent, experienced and confident with good English skills; they're looking for experiences other than standard group products," says Destination Canada, the national tourism marketing organization.