Rendez-vous Canada 2016: Ambitious Together

Montreal hosts the world for Rendez-vous Canada 2016 and sets a record for buyer-seller appointments.

VANCOUVER, April 22, 2016 /CNW/ - The 40^th Annual Rendez-vous Canada (RVC), Canada's premier tourism marketplace, will take place from April 24-27, 2016 in Montreal, Québec. During the conference, international tourism buyers will meet with Canadian sellers at a record-breaking 26,000 face-to-face business appointments.

"I'm thrilled to be part of this amazing trade show which showcases our country to the world and I'm looking forward to speaking to you about our new programs, including the Connecting America program," says the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism. "We're excited to work with Destination Canada to reach out to American tourists and further boost travel and tourism to Canada. Rendez-vous Canada positions our small and medium-sized tourism businesses to benefit from international growth opportunities – wouldn't have missed it for the world!"

Hosted by Tourism Québec and Tourism Montreal, and taking place in the iconic Palais des congrès, this year's sold out event features 536 buyers from 28 countries and 582 Canadian sellers from coast to coast to coast—boasting the best seller-to-buyer ratio ever with one seller for every one buyer.

"With a record attendance of 1,680 delegates at this year's RVC, buyers and sellers are working to captivate and drive more people to visit Canada," says David Goldstein, President and CEO of Destination Canada. "With the incredible range of diverse, fun and authentic Canadian experiences showcased at RVC, we are demonstrating to the world that we're not cold, we're cool."

There is no better time to #ExploreCanada and that will be made evident by the quality of experiences and products showcased for buyers. With every province, territory and sector of the tourism industry represented – the ripple effect of the connections made at RVC are sure to be monumental.

About Rendez-vous Canada

Rendez-vous Canada is Canada's premier international tourism marketplace. The event reunites more than 1,500 international tourism professionals gathered over four days for a series of twelve-minute appointments to promote or discover unique Canadian experiences. RVC is an important industry-trade platform for Canadians to potentially generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the Canadian tourism business.

About Destination Canada

Destination Canada is Canada's national tourism marketing organization. A federal Crown corporation of the Government of Canada, we lead the Canadian tourism industry in marketing Canada as a premier four-season tourism destination. Our vision is to inspire the world to explore Canada. With our partners in the tourism industry and the governments of Canada, the provinces and the territories, we promote Canada's extraordinary experiences in 11 leisure markets around the world, conduct market research plus provide resources and toolkits to help industry leverage Canada's successful tourism brand, Canada. Keep Exploring. For regular updates on Destination Canada initiatives follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

SOURCE Destination Canada