SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui thinks that Yellowknife is a city that stands to greatly benefit from growing Chinese tourism and investment abroad, as long as infrastructure and marketing meets this demand.

Premier Bob McLeod and Chinese Ambassador to Canada Lou Zhaohui at the legislative assembly on Sept. 14. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

"I've been to Aurora Village twice and I think this is really a God-blessed territory," he told Yellowknifer while seated next to Premier Bob McLeod during his last day in the city. "You have a lot of resources and tourist sites but Chinese tourists don't know about that."

The ambassador and his wife, embassy counsellor Jiang Yili, were in Yellowknife and other areas of the territory for the first time for a four-day trip after officially being invited by the premier, following a dinner in Ottawa.

During his interview in the premier's office, Luo said there is much more tourism marketing, advertising and promotion done by countries from Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, European countries, even Africa.

"I know that Premier Bob (McLeod) have already visited China a few times, but that's not enough," he said.

Luo said there are a lot of official tourist agencies in China that can encourage more visitors from Yellowknife to China in order to promote the city's resources.

Luo also suggested inviting more tourism delegations to Yellowknife and said the high price of air fares, hotel availabilities and a lack of Chinese language options on websites are barriers to tourism.

"We encourage Chinese to invest in any areas," he said. "It's a win-win situation for both sides."

Luo called Yellowknife and the NWT "relatively remote areas" and said they needed much more briefing and promotions among the Chinese people.

"Before I met my friend Bob, I didn't know the diamond mines were one of the major products in Canada, in the territories," he said with a grin.

Luo also said awareness about Canadian culture was limited to major cities and a few, rare individuals like Dr. Norman Bethune, the surgeon who brought modern medicine to rural China, and Dashan, the stage name of popular Canadian performer and media personality Mark Henry Roswell.

At a private reception held at the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre's Museum Cafe on Sept. 14, Luo also said the number of Chinese tourists is expected to grow to 550 million in five years. During his interview, he called his personal trip to Yellowknife an experience that would serve to be a very good example for other tourists.

"The Chinese embassy, we will do what we can to promote the territories," he said.

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