Photo by Xue Liang
On May 11th, we were invited to attend a private luncheon at the Wyndham Garden Hotel to discover why Québec City is not only the best sightseeing destination in Canada, the only ice hotel in the world, and the world’s best city for romance. Most importantly, Quebec City is so close to New York with any transportation. Besides, Quebec City is also the obvious summer destination for 2016 and 2017 with all the upcoming events including museum opening and the New France Festival as well as the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation.
The event started with representatives answering questions and introducing their organizations to the media and New York based traveling agencies. Representatives traveling from Quebec to New York for the trade tour including Hilton Hotels, Hotel Chateau Laurier, Delta hotels, as well as delegates from Grands Feux Loto-Québec and The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
During the press conference, The City of Québec, Québec International, and Québec City Tourism announced the objectives of the New York 2016 trade mission as well as fun events planned enticing New Yorkers and international tourists to visit Québec City.
In March last year, a few representatives of the City of Québec and Québec International accompanied nine businesses—primarily from key information and communications technology industries—to New York City. After the mission, Constellio, Cortex Media, OVA, Libeo, and Ingeno returned to New York to get strategic advice from U.S. experts. The five Québec City–based businesses have since opened a satellite office in New York City and landed contracts in the U.S.
“It proved to be such a rewarding experience that we wanted to take it a step further,” said Québec City mayor Régis Labeaume. By organizing these kinds of events, we lay the groundwork to help our businesses achieve their international goals—a challenge they probably wouldn’t tackle on their own. New York City is a huge market and it’s right next door. The province of Québec does billions of dollars in trade every year with New York state.”
Québec International and the City of Québec plan to pursue their efforts to develop this business corridor. The scope of collaboration between the two cities has grown in recent years. Trade missions have helped spawn a slew of investment projects and other spinoffs, including some $11 million in potential sales for participating businesses.
“Québec International is proud to contribute to business growth and to further developing economic trade between Québec City and New York—a prime market for companies from our region,” said Line Lagacé, Québec International’s vice-president for Business Growth and Foreign Investment.
Québec City Tourism hopes to turn the higher U.S. exchange rate to its advantage. Major events will be highlighted, including the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, the Rendez-vous 2017 tall ships regatta, the Québec City Summer Festival, the New France Festival, and the inauguration of the new pavilion at Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
“The New York City area is the leading source of American tourists to our region, and is also home to the highest concentration of travel journalists in the United States, so this is a must-attend mission for us. Our success last year shows just how popular Québec City is as a destination for U.S. travellers,” added Québec City Tourism general manager André Roy.
Not only will the mission be an opportunity to develop tourism and support Québec businesses, it will also be a chance to promote the Québec City Saint Patrick’s Day parade with the New York Police Department’s Pipes & Drums musical ensemble.
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